What do you do when you have a large pattern stash but an idea for a piece that doesn’t quite fit what you already have? Why, you dream up the perfect Frankenpattern, of course!
UrbanDictionary.com defines the term “Frankenpattern” as:
To pattern using multiple styles and mis-matched pattern pieces. The end result is a combination of the garments that leaves the patternmaker horrified as to how it was put together, but usually no one else knows that from the end result. (phew!)
They asked me to Frankenpattern a spandex short with a woven attached fanny pack!
Although I wouldn’t say that I’m horrified as a result of my newest Frankenpattern; in fact, I’m very pleased! Meet the Bruyereville! Or.. um…. the Granyere!! Whatever – it’s the Deer and Doe Bruyere Shirt AND the Sewaholic Granville Shirt!
I love both patterns standalone, but they came with their own [minor] issues. The Granville is made for pear-shaped women, which works great for my ample tush, but I have wide shoulders which makes me hourglass shaped (first world problems, amirite?). So, I get some tugging when I flail my arms around in my long-sleeved Granvilles. It isn’t as bad as my Ready-to-Wear shirts of the past, but after I made the Bruyere, I realized it’s a perfect fit for my bust and shoulders!! The only problem with the Bruyere is that it’s more of a tunic instead of your normal button-down shirt.
So the remedy was to make my own pattern combining the best of both worlds!
I used the top half of the Bruyere and the bottom half of the Granville and smushed them together for my new traced pieces. I needed that under-bust dart to stay since it helps with shaping, so I made it into a fish-eye dart. I did the same for the back darts and it’s like magic! It somehow all went together seamlessly.
In the photos below, you can see the new pattern pieces I made – you only need to modify 2 pieces! I traced the top part of the Bruyere front piece and the bottom part of the Granville front piece. The blue arrow shows the new part of the fish-eye dart I added in by hand. I basically mirrored the dart of the Bruyere since the Granville has no shaping… easy peasy!
For the back piece, I did the same thing. The Granville back piece(s) comes as a side back and center back piece. I put them together so I could trace that beautiful curved hem you see. 🙂
I then used the Bruyere pattern for the rest of the shirt (collar, placket, sleeves, etc.) except for the pockets – those are from the Granville. A true collaboration of patterns!
The fabric is this cozy black and white plaid flannel from Cali Fabrics. I chose to mix up the print by sewing the back yoke, collar, button band,pockets, and sleeve cuffs on the bias for visual interest.
The only issue I had was keeping the fabric straight enough while I was cutting the pattern pieces. I’m not sure if it’s a result of the pattern being printed slightly off-grain or that this fabric is a little shifty. As a result, my “stripes” don’t match up across the front like I had hoped.
At least the shirt is busy enough that it’s not that noticeable… I hope? Oh, well!
This will be a great layering piece when the weather cools down again. Unfortunately, it looks like summer is coming upon us here in the desert. We had a very mild winter so hopefully we’ll have an early fall this year. (Ha! Who am I kidding?)
Anyway, you can check out two other plaid flannel shirts I made with Cali Fabrics fabric on my personal blog, if you’re interested! I made a straight-up Granville here and a straight-up Bruyere here. I guess you could say this shirt is a result of their romance. <3
Have you made a Frankenpattern recently? How did it go? Which patterns did you use?
-RED
You can follow more of Rachel’s adventures in sewing and cat wrangling at sewredy.wordpress.com!