5 years ago
I have been fascinated by these panels for such a long time. I love the idea that you get a design to use on a project with complimentary fabrics that work with that to create a whole design. The idea being that you can create a t-shirt, dress or even a complete outfit for a child if you’re savvy enough.
Now I love llamas, so this panel really felt like it was made for me. I love the different prints that come with the large llama face and although I’m not a huge pink fan, it really is a lovely shade. This panel is a sweater weight jersey with a lovely soft feel to it. They do however do these panels in lots of different designs and fabric types.
In my view the way to get the best from all the fabrics in a panel like this is to make a raglan style top. I raided my pattern stash and found the Peek-a-boo Pattern Shop Grand slam Tee and Dress pattern and decided to use this as a guide for the cutting (It’s a pattern I’ve used before and found it comes up short and very tight on the neckline so knew I would need to make alterations to it for it to work on this fabric as although it’s a stretch fabric, it’s not the stretchiest). If you don’t have a raglan pattern, you could easily use an existing t-shirt as a guide to cut around, but a good raglan style t-shirt pattern is a great one to have in your stash for a quick and satisfying project. I chose to do a dress length version of this as in the size I needed for my daughter the t-shirt would be too short to fit the whole llama head on.
Cutting out, with a panel like this is important to think about and get right to avoid cutting something in the wrong place that will stop you being able to get all the pieces you need in the prints you want. The first thing I needed to do was fold the large llama head piece in half centring the llama on the fold so I could ensure I cut the front section with the llama symmetrically on it. I cut the size 12 months, and the llama head fit on it perfectly (in dress length) if you were cutting much smaller, I think you’d struggle to get the whole face on as its very large. I then cut the back from the print with the smaller llamas on. I wanted to do long sleeves for it (given we’re heading into winter) but actually found I didn’t have sufficient length on the leaf print section to do this whilst keeping the grain (and stretch) going in the right direction. After spending some time fiddling with the pattern piece and thinking whether I wanted to use the plain pink I had left over I decided that I would cut a ¾ length sleeve… and then inspiration hit…. Cuffs! Cuffs would give me the extra length I needed to make a full-length sleeve (something that wouldn’t work in any larger size).
Cutting the pieces from this panel really was probably the most complex part, as raglan sleeve garments are wonderfully simple to sew together. The sleeves get sewn to the front and the back first to create the full neckline.
The side and underarm seams are then sewn in one line on each side and instantly you have something that looks like a garment. If you weren’t doing cuffs, the neckline and a few hems is all that would be needed to finish it off.
The neckline is finished off using a band. The band is sewn together on the short edges to create a circular piece, which is then folded in half (wrong sides together) and then both edges of the band are sewn to the neck edge (right sides together) stretching slightly to fit. The seam allowance is then pushed away from the band and topstitched in place.
Cuffs are an extra that I love to add to things. They create such a neat and professional looking finish to a garment. For children’s wear the added tightness around either the wrists or the ankles helps keep the garment in place (especially helpful when dressing wriggly bodies). But also, it is an easy way of finishing off an edge that needs to be able to stretch without having to do a zig zag hem if this is the only stretch stitch option you have on your machine. (nothing more annoying than pushing your sleeves up to your elbows and feeling all those stitches popping) On this occasion they also gave me the extra I needed to make the sleeves the right length.
Cuffs are really simple to do; they are a rectangular piece of fabric where one edge is just narrower than the hem edge and the other is double the depth of the cuff that you’d like. They are sewn together to create a circle before being folded in half (wrong sides together) and then attached to the hem edge… the process is just like attaching the neckline band.
It is always recommended to pre-shrink fabric prior to cutting… but on this occasion it really is a must… and I say that because I didn’t and have therefore noticed how significant the shrinkage is on this particular fabric as it’s a little on the tight side since it had its first wash.
I am still totally thrilled with this make though. The panel has made the cutest dress for my daughter and left me with a fair amount of fabric left to either make something else small or to incorporate with other fabrics into another project. (There is definitely enough fabric in this panel to make a significantly larger sized garment (with either short sleeves or a creative approach to seaming together some pieces to make a full-length sleeve). I have had so many compliments on the dress too, as the way this panel works it doesn’t look homemade at all so people are shocked to hear it’s a garment I’ve made.
I am absolutely going to buy one of this style of panels again, this project has really given me the confidence to know what can be achieved with them and I’d love to see if I could get a garment for myself out of one.
#grandslamdress #peekaboopatterns #peekaboograndslamdress #minervamakes #minervamakers #isew #memade #memades #sewing #sewist #sewists #sewinginspo #sewinginspiration #sew #sewcialist #sewingproject #sewingprojects #sewingideas #sewingprojectideas #sewingpatterninspo #lovesewing #ilovesewing #sewsewsew #sewersgonnasew #makersgonnamake #sewaholic #sewaholics #shareyoursewing #sewinglove #handmadewardrobe #handemadeclothes #isewmyclothes #diyclothes #dressmaking #fabricinspo #seamstress #memadeeveryday #imakemyclothes #imakemyownclothes #fashion #fashioninspo #memadewardrobe #memadefashion #diyfashion #diywardrobe #fashionsewing #indiepatterns #indiesewingpatterns #sewingforkids #sewingforchildren #sewingforfamilies #selflesssewing #sewingwithknits #fabricpanels #sewingwithfabricpanels
Now I love llamas, so this panel really felt like it was made for me. I love the different prints that come with the large llama face and although I’m not a huge pink fan, it really is a lovely shade. This panel is a sweater weight jersey with a lovely soft feel to it. They do however do these panels in lots of different designs and fabric types.
In my view the way to get the best from all the fabrics in a panel like this is to make a raglan style top. I raided my pattern stash and found the Peek-a-boo Pattern Shop Grand slam Tee and Dress pattern and decided to use this as a guide for the cutting (It’s a pattern I’ve used before and found it comes up short and very tight on the neckline so knew I would need to make alterations to it for it to work on this fabric as although it’s a stretch fabric, it’s not the stretchiest). If you don’t have a raglan pattern, you could easily use an existing t-shirt as a guide to cut around, but a good raglan style t-shirt pattern is a great one to have in your stash for a quick and satisfying project. I chose to do a dress length version of this as in the size I needed for my daughter the t-shirt would be too short to fit the whole llama head on.
Cutting out, with a panel like this is important to think about and get right to avoid cutting something in the wrong place that will stop you being able to get all the pieces you need in the prints you want. The first thing I needed to do was fold the large llama head piece in half centring the llama on the fold so I could ensure I cut the front section with the llama symmetrically on it. I cut the size 12 months, and the llama head fit on it perfectly (in dress length) if you were cutting much smaller, I think you’d struggle to get the whole face on as its very large. I then cut the back from the print with the smaller llamas on. I wanted to do long sleeves for it (given we’re heading into winter) but actually found I didn’t have sufficient length on the leaf print section to do this whilst keeping the grain (and stretch) going in the right direction. After spending some time fiddling with the pattern piece and thinking whether I wanted to use the plain pink I had left over I decided that I would cut a ¾ length sleeve… and then inspiration hit…. Cuffs! Cuffs would give me the extra length I needed to make a full-length sleeve (something that wouldn’t work in any larger size).
Cutting the pieces from this panel really was probably the most complex part, as raglan sleeve garments are wonderfully simple to sew together. The sleeves get sewn to the front and the back first to create the full neckline.
The side and underarm seams are then sewn in one line on each side and instantly you have something that looks like a garment. If you weren’t doing cuffs, the neckline and a few hems is all that would be needed to finish it off.
The neckline is finished off using a band. The band is sewn together on the short edges to create a circular piece, which is then folded in half (wrong sides together) and then both edges of the band are sewn to the neck edge (right sides together) stretching slightly to fit. The seam allowance is then pushed away from the band and topstitched in place.
Cuffs are an extra that I love to add to things. They create such a neat and professional looking finish to a garment. For children’s wear the added tightness around either the wrists or the ankles helps keep the garment in place (especially helpful when dressing wriggly bodies). But also, it is an easy way of finishing off an edge that needs to be able to stretch without having to do a zig zag hem if this is the only stretch stitch option you have on your machine. (nothing more annoying than pushing your sleeves up to your elbows and feeling all those stitches popping) On this occasion they also gave me the extra I needed to make the sleeves the right length.
Cuffs are really simple to do; they are a rectangular piece of fabric where one edge is just narrower than the hem edge and the other is double the depth of the cuff that you’d like. They are sewn together to create a circle before being folded in half (wrong sides together) and then attached to the hem edge… the process is just like attaching the neckline band.
It is always recommended to pre-shrink fabric prior to cutting… but on this occasion it really is a must… and I say that because I didn’t and have therefore noticed how significant the shrinkage is on this particular fabric as it’s a little on the tight side since it had its first wash.
I am still totally thrilled with this make though. The panel has made the cutest dress for my daughter and left me with a fair amount of fabric left to either make something else small or to incorporate with other fabrics into another project. (There is definitely enough fabric in this panel to make a significantly larger sized garment (with either short sleeves or a creative approach to seaming together some pieces to make a full-length sleeve). I have had so many compliments on the dress too, as the way this panel works it doesn’t look homemade at all so people are shocked to hear it’s a garment I’ve made.
I am absolutely going to buy one of this style of panels again, this project has really given me the confidence to know what can be achieved with them and I’d love to see if I could get a garment for myself out of one.
#grandslamdress #peekaboopatterns #peekaboograndslamdress #minervamakes #minervamakers #isew #memade #memades #sewing #sewist #sewists #sewinginspo #sewinginspiration #sew #sewcialist #sewingproject #sewingprojects #sewingideas #sewingprojectideas #sewingpatterninspo #lovesewing #ilovesewing #sewsewsew #sewersgonnasew #makersgonnamake #sewaholic #sewaholics #shareyoursewing #sewinglove #handmadewardrobe #handemadeclothes #isewmyclothes #diyclothes #dressmaking #fabricinspo #seamstress #memadeeveryday #imakemyclothes #imakemyownclothes #fashion #fashioninspo #memadewardrobe #memadefashion #diyfashion #diywardrobe #fashionsewing #indiepatterns #indiesewingpatterns #sewingforkids #sewingforchildren #sewingforfamilies #selflesssewing #sewingwithknits #fabricpanels #sewingwithfabricpanels
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