Raglan Re-Do

Over at the Oliver + S blog, they've been doing a series of posts about changing up their raglan t-shirt pattern.  There's a whole bunch of great ideas there, but the one that got me going was the color blocking one.

Now, I've made probably a bazillion raglan t-shirts in my sewing career.  I've sewn with knits for years, and the raglan t-shirt pattern from Kwik Sew (my back-up go-to pattern company) was a staple of mine.  There's something really satisfying in making up one of these t-shirts; they're so quick, and I've never had one rejected by any of my kids for not being comfortable/stylish or any other reason.

Well, one of my co-workers went on a six-week visit to her home in India.  Lucky woman.  I really don't even know how you return to work after being gone 6 weeks.  She brought me back a lovely bag:

I, however, am not a funky bag type of person.  I have one purse, that I use until it dies.  Then, I buy another.  I don't change bags to go with what I'm wearing - I generally wear black, and my purse is always black.  Yeah, boring, I know!  Well, when I looked at this bag, I thought about what I could turn it into....and, after cutting it up into strips, came up with this:

 

My original idea was much more ornate, but when I put the trim on the sweatshirt, I knew simple would be better.  I used some wonderful cottony sweatshirt fleece.  I bought it at least 19 years ago from a shop in Toronto.  I used to go there all the time, and bought many, many meters of his wonderful fleece.  I still have about 3 yards of a light blue left, but this little bit of the off-white is the last of this.  I really feel like I'll never find fleece as nice as this ever again.

I added a hood to the size 6 t-shirt.  I knew I had to go up a couple of sizes to accommodate the heavier fabric.  I also made a bit of a high/low hem to make it a bit more girly.  I used a hood from a Kwik Sew pattern I had for my older kids and the size  6 hood fit EXACTLY in the neck for the raglan.  Yes, meant to be!  I lined the hood with some random cotton print I had, and I think it works.

The sweatshirt is perfect for a gray morning on the beach.  I walked along the beach with Julia this morning, and based on her request, I may add a kangaroo pocket to the front.  I believe I can squeeze one out of the remnants.

 

I'm really, really happy with the way this turned out!