Making the Drew sweatshirt sewing pattern and looking for some advice on fitting? Then this post is for you!
Drew is available in printed and PDF formats, in sizes UK 6-34 / US 2-30 / EUR 34-62 / AUS 6-34.
The good news is, with its deep raglan sleeves and plenty of ease, Drew is designed to be oversized and easy-fitting, so you might find you only need to make a couple of adjustments, or perhaps none at all!
If you only take one thing from this post, remember that you're always going to see some folds and drag lines with this style of sweatshirt - it's all part of the slouchy style, so don't be tempted to overfit it!
In this post, we're going to cover:
- Making a toile
- Choosing your size
- Lengthening or shortening pattern pieces
- Combining pattern sizes
- Making adjustments for a larger bust
- Adjusting the raglan seams for narrow or wide shoulders
- Raising or lowering the neckline
- Adapting the cuff for differing wrist sizes
What's a toile and do I need to make one?
A toile - or a "muslin"- is an initial mock up of your garment in fabric you don't mind using for testing purposes. Making a toile is a great opportunity to test the fit of a sewing pattern, or practise a technique on sacrificial fabric before you cut into the fabric you've chosen for your project. If you want to delve deeper into the subject, check out our post on everything you need to know about toiles.
However, making a toile definitely isn't a requirement for Drew, since it's designed to be oversized and is made with knit fabric. While fitting a woven garment to your unique body shape can sometimes take a bit of work, knit fabrics will naturally stretch over the curvier parts of your body. Hooray!
We would suggest you consider your first version a "wearable toile" (AKA "wearable muslin"), in other words, a mock-up in a fabric that’s not so special that you’d be annoyed if the fit isn’t perfect first time, but nice enough that you can wear the sweatshirt if it does fit you well enough (fingers crossed!).
How do I choose my sewing pattern size?
Using a flexible tape measure, find the circumference of your:
- high bust - take this measurement around your upper chest, just under your armpits
- full bust - take the measurement at the fullest point i.e. around your nipples
- waist - where you bend at the side
- hips - the fullest part - it helps to turn to the side and look in a mirror to see where this is
Circle your measurements on the ‘Body Measurements’ chart in the pattern instructions. If a measurement falls between two sizes (for example, if your full bust is 37in rather than 36in or 38in), it’s usually better to choose the larger size as you can take it in more easily than you can let it out. However, for the Drew sweatshirt pattern, it doesn’t matter too much whether you size up or down as it’s not close-fitting.
If your body measurements all fall into one size row on the chart, then that’s easy-peasy – you’re going to cut out that size. If your bust, waist and hips fall into different sizes, don’t worry, that’s absolutely normal and we'll get onto how to combine pattern sizes, but if you want to lengthen or shorten the pattern bodice and/or sleeve, it's best to do this adjustment first, before you tackle anything else.
How do I lengthen or shorten the pattern?
Our patterns are drafted for a height of 5ft 5in (165cm), so if you're a little (or a lot) taller or shorter than this, have a particularly long or short torso or arms, or you want to change the length of the sweatshirt to suit your own personal style it's easy peasy to adjust the pattern pieces.
We have a blog post dedicated to explaining how to lengthen or shorten pattern pieces, which shows you step-by-step how to make this adjustment.
We have included the following sets of lengthen or shorten lines on the Drew pattern pieces:
1) Bodice
If you often find that tops are a bit too long or short for you in the body, you can lengthen or shorten the front and back bodice pattern pieces using the lengthen or shorten lines. We've included the back length measurements for both versions of Drew in the finished garment measurements section of the booklet, so you can check if this length is right for you, before cutting into your fabric.
The lengthen or shorten lines on the Drew bodices are between the side seam notch and the cropped hemline. You can adjust your pattern here if you feel like you need a bit more length, or conversely a bit less, in the torso.
If you're lengthening or shortening the bodice, remember to adjust both the front and back bodice pattern pieces by the same amount, so that the side seams match up.
2) Sleeves (both versions)
Whether you're keeping it classic with the solid sleeves or adding some extra fun with the colour block sleeves, the process for altering the length is exactly the same. Both sleeves are designed to sit just past the wrist, between the bottom of the hand and base of the thumb, so if you have particularly long or short arms you can adjust the sleeve accordingly.
How do I combine pattern sizes?
If your full bust, waist and hip measurements fall into different pattern sizes, you can to re-draw the side seams on the front bodice and back bodice between your full bust size at the top, to either your waist size at the cropped hemline or your hip size at the hip-length hemline. Check out our blog post which explains in detail how to combine sizes.
If you’re making the hip-length version, to keep the side seams nice and smooth, don't worry about grading to your waist size, as that part is loose-fitting anyway. You can just grade from your full bust size at the top, to your hip size at the hip-length hemline.
Whichever version you’re making, remember to make the same alteration to both the front bodice and back bodice pieces, and pick the hem band for the the size you've graded to at the hemline.
How do adjust Drew for a larger bust?
Sizes 1-6 in our patterns (or UK 6-16) are drafted for a 5cm (2in) difference between the high bust and full bust, while sizes 7-15 (or UK 18-34) are drafted for a 10cm (4in) difference between the high bust and full bust.
If the difference between your high bust and full bust is significantly more than this for the size you’re making, or if you know you usually need to make a full bust adjustment, then you can select your size based on your high bust measurement – because if you picked your size based on your full bust measurement instead, the shoulders and upper chest could end up much too baggy for your frame.
With Drew, as there’s so much ease in the pattern, in most cases you won’t need to do a bust adjustment when picking a size based on your high bust measurement, unless your full bust is 5 or more pattern sizes bigger than your high bust - in which case, check out our blog post on how to make a full bust adjustment on a raglan seam bodice.
How do I adjust the raglan seams for narrow or wide shoulders?
Drew is a raglan style sweatshirt - this means that the sleeve continues in one piece directly to the neckline, rather than joining a separate shoulder seam. This design creates diagonal raglan seams from the neckline to the underarm, which result in an undefined shape around the shoulder, armhole and upper chest, allowing for a lot of ease of movement.
If you usually make adjustments for wide or narrow shoulders, you could try making a larger or smaller size in the upper part of the bodice, and grading to your waist or hip measurement at the side seams.
Alternatively, you can fit the raglan seams as you go. Before sewing the raglan and side seams up for real, you can tack (baste) them together with a long, straight stitch on a regular sewing machine, and take the raglan seams in or out to your preference. Then remember to transfer any adjustments you made back to the pattern for next time.
How do I raise or lower the neckline on a raglan sweatshirt?
The neckline on the Drew sweatshirt is designed to be high enough to cover the neckline of a t-shirt should you want to wear one underneath, but not so high that it feels restrictive.
However, if, like me, you're specific about how you like a neckline to fit, you can easily raise or lower the neckline on the Drew pattern using the following method:
First, mark and fold back the seam allowances on the following pieces:
- Front bodice (A): front raglan seam
- Back bodice (B): back raglan seam
- If you're making the solid colour version - Sleeve (G): front raglan seam + back raglan seam
- If you're making the colour block sleeve version - Front upper sleeve (H): front raglan seam + forward shoulder seam AND Back upper sleeve (I): back raglan seam + forward shoulder seam
Lay the pieces out with the necklines end to end, and starting at the centre front, measure down from the neckline by the amount you want to lower it by at that point - or to raise it, stick paper underneath the neckline and measure up.
Repeat all the way around the neckline on the front bodice, sleeve, and back bodice marking a small dot or dash every 1-2cm (3/8-3/4in) or so.
Sketch in the the new neckline curve connecting the dots or dashes. Check the new neckline curve flows smoothly across the pieces, and that it meets the centre front and centre back at a right angle. Transfer the notches around the neckline to the new neckline curve.
You’ll also need to change the length of the neckband. With the raglan (+ forward shoulder if you're making the colour block version) seam allowances still folded out of the way, draw in the neckline stitching line 15mm or 5/8in inside your new neckline curve, on the front bodice, back bodice, and sleeve for solid colour version or front upper and back upper sleeves for the colour block version. With a tape measure standing on its side, measure these stitching lines, and add them together. Now take 15% off this measurement, and add 15mm (5/8in) for the seam allowance, and that’s the length your new neckband pattern piece should be (to be cut on the fold like on the original pattern).
How do I adjust the cuffs on a sweatshirt?
The fit of the cuffs on Drew will vary slightly depending on the thickness and stretchiness of your ribbing, so it's best to tack (baste) the cuffs onto the sleeve to check the fit and let them out or take them in at the underarm seam as needed. You can make a note of the change you made, but remember different ribbings have different stretch so you might not need to make exactly the same adjustment next time.
I hope this post has helped you decide which (if any!) fitting adjustments you need to make to your Drew sweatshirt. Lean into the slouchy vibes of this design, and don't get carried away with too many alterations!
We love seeing your me-mades, so please don't forget to tag us @TillyButtons using the hashtag #SewingDrew in your progress shots and finished makes!
