Little Bit Halloween

Today is the first day of Halloween.

I picked up the Relaxed Raglan pattern from Patterns for Pirates along with the  Raglan Add-on pack to make some raglan shirts. I picked this pattern because it had several options - sleeves, hemline, and length - and the add-on includes hoods and pockets.

I went to the local big-box store to pick up some knit. These are all from Joann Fabrics. The Halloween prints were on sale for 50% off. Seemed like a good deal. I over-purchased what I needed because this fabric is 100% cotton. I bought a yard of each of them, except for the black 1x1 ribbing, which I only bought 1/2 yard. I put it all through the wash on warm wash/cold rinse, and normal dry. This goes against what the care label says. Why did it do it that way? Because that's how I intend to wash the finished shirts. I want anything that's going to happen to the fabric to happen before I spend hours making the shirt. It's a good thing, too. This fabric, when washed how I wash almost every stitch of clothing I own, shrank 20%.

Yes, you read that right, TWENTY percent. The one yard cuts of fabric that went into the machine came out measuring only 30 inches. This meant I couldn't make the shirts full tunic length (one is shorter by about 1", the other by about 2"). I also had to add cuffs to the sleeves because you need more than 30" of fabric to make the full sleeves without a cuff. There was plenty of fabric to do it that way, but it wasn't my original plan.

I traced the pattern onto my working paper and cut out two shirts. I cut the extra large and am considering cutting the large next time. I would have to retrace the pattern, but I might get a slightly better fit.

This was one of the best workouts my machine has had in a long time. Maybe I should make up some more fleece hats or something.

The fit on this shirt is definitely loose, but I want to be comfortable. And warm. Mostly warm. 

The sewing part of this project took about 45 minutes, with a 10 minute break to figure out how to thread the machine for the hem. I don't know how long it took to cut, but I would still put this project in the area of less than 1.5 hours from start to finish.

I think the next one I make will include a hood. I think there is some skull and crossbones fabric that wouldn't have so much of a Halloween feel but might still be on sale next week.

Tools (affiliate links):
Creative Grids 6.5" x 24.5" Rectangle
Fiskars Rotary Cutter
Fiskars Self Healing Rotary Cutting Mat
BLACK+DECKER Vitessa Advanced Steam Iron
Grabbit Magnetic Pin Cushion
Fiskars 8-inch scissors