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Hi everyone! I hope this post finds you well. I’m so honored to be able to share this latest project with you!
If you haven’t been by before, I’m April Simpson-Hunt. I’m a wife and mama to 4 crazy kids. I love to sew, create, bargain hunt, and share my makes/finds. It’s lovely to meet you! Today’s post is a special one, as it’s part of a blog tour. The tour is all about Love Notions & the Origami Tunic pattern. It’s an incredible pattern that’s perfect for all the seasons, but especially fall and winter. There are quite a few talented seamstresses on the tour and everyone really brought their A game. I’m so excited about all the hacks and modifications everyone has made, including me! So let’s get to it!
*Be sure to stay tuned (or scroll through) all the way to the end, as there is a big SALE and a GIVEAWAY!!!
I’m a big fan of Love Notions patterns. I stumbled upon their Laundry day Tee on Pinterest (searching for free sewing patterns) and ran to grab a copy of the pattern for myself. The “LDT” pattern is one of my all time favorites, and is free if you join the Love Notions Facebook group! Below is one of the first Laundry Day tees (and also one of the first pieces of clothing) that I ever made! There is such a following for the pattern, it has its own page on their blog, full of hacks and tricks. When I first grabbed grabbed a copy, it was a simple shirt/ tunic, but now it’s been updated to include a dress length and 2 different waistline variations (slim or swing style).
My favorite thing about Love Notions patterns is the amount of options each pattern comes with. The possibilities are endless! Just like the LDT above, the Origami Tunic & Cardigan is full of tons of great options. I’m a sucker for interesting hemlines, and had yet to conquer a handkerchief hem, so I jumped on the call for the tour quickly. I also adore matching mommy and mommy and me sets, (examples of that fascination here and here) so I grabbed both patterns & quickly ran to get fabric. (you can find the mommy and me bundle Mommy & Me Origami bundle here)
For our first set of cardigans, I knew I wanted to do a bolder print. I am a firm believer that you can never have too many timeless/classic pieces, which sounds great in theory, but it amounts to a wardrobe full of solids more often than not. I had originally envisioned a stripe or boho print, (no, I’m not sick of boho yet. Not florals either, apparently. haha.) but when I stumbled upon this floral in the clearance rack at Hobby Lobby, I knew it was meant to be. At $3/yard, I knew it would come in handy at some point, even if I didn’t end up using it. Can I also share that this was the first time I’ve purchased more than 2 yards of a fabric at once? I bought 5 yards & felt like I had finally joined “the big leagues”. 🙂 What is the maximum yardage you have purchased at one time?
I was so excited to make this set, but thought that it would take forever, considering how big the hem is, but it was surprisingly quick! I prefer to work in batches, so I cut all the pieces for both cardigans out first (only cutting things the wrong direction twice, before realizing that the flowers had a definite TOP), then sewed them up and finished them together. The pattern instructions are clear, concise and incredibly helpful, as with all the other Love Notions patterns I’ve made.
The only modification I made for this set was to create a cardigan front on the girls’ version, so that it would match mine exactly. The girls’ version is a tunic version, so I simply took the front piece off the fold and before cutting, mapped out a piece of fabric onto the 2 front pieces that was approximately 3″ wide by the length of the front of the cardigan, which was 15″ long for a size 2T. I essentially just copied the front of the women’s cardigan, so I’m confident any of you could have figured it out by yourselves, but wanted to share so that I look like I know what I’m doing here you could see exactly what I had done. 🙂
Photo credit: Laura Akins Asup
The knit from Hobby Lobby was pretty thin, so I opted to use small strips of interfacing on the handkerchief hems. I cut and pressed those in as I went along, then top stitched the hem in place for added security. I’m so thankful that there were instructions to use the interfacing, as my hems are gorgeous! Considering how incredibly thin this fabric is, I’m still amazed that they came out as nicely as they did. I didn’t manage to snag any photos up close, so you’ll just have to trust me when I tell you, I’m super proud of them. I knew it would be a challenge and never imagined that they would be remotely pretty, so I’m ecstatic that it turned out so well! This is one of my new favorite things, and we have worn them several times since I made them.
For our next set, I envisioned something for fall/winter. For this set, I wanted to us to coordinate but not be matchy matchy (I may have made another matching set, but my stash had other plans, as the biggest piece I currently have was 2 yards.). I used the tunic style for Aquila and the cardigan (again) for me. I went with a grey color scheme this time around (now I’m back in the solids comfort zone!) I added a bit of length to hers by skipping the height adjustment. (I normally have to shorten everything about 2″) turning it into a long tunic/dress that I felt would transition well from fall to winter. I also created long strips of a white fleece knit around the necks and hems of both, to tie them together and help them coordinate. I’m in love with how they turned out! Feel free to read all the banding tutorial/details below…or skip to the and grab the link for this beautiful pattern….and the giveaway for a Love Notions gift card or free fabric! 🙂
It’s a little harder to see the detail on this set, as we used a point and shoot camera for the photos, but I believe that this set is my favorite of the two! I love the combination on my cardigan of the lightweight sweater knit, 3/4 length sleeve and heavier binding, which pulls the hem down and out (perfect for twirling!). For Aquila’s, the fabric is thick and soft (french terry), and the length is perfect for her. She’s at that stage where she’s constantly flashing her diaper, so I love that I can use this as a church dress, but also throw some leggings underneath it if we are having a rough and tumble day.
I didn’t follow an exact formula for the bands. To be honest, I just kinda winged it, once I figured out what I wanted to do. So for her bands, I followed the pattern pieces for the neck, then just cut strips to the same size as her handkerchief hem. (3″ X Length of bottom of front/bottom of side) I used a reverse v-neck shape to form the rectangle,(think of a shirt with 4 v points of intersection at the collar) then pinned the heck out of it. I sewed it to each point, going slowly and taking my time to ensure I got a perfect V at each and didn’t pull any other pieces into the band. Then I trimmed the points, ironed, topstitched and called it a day. *please note: I did the tutorial pics below…then realized I had the shape wrong. To get the correct rectangular binding, you want them to end in a V shape with the tip of the v at the end of each strip, not the inverted one pictured.
I essentially followed the same method for mine (using 4″ wide by length of the hem pieces), except that mine wasn’t a straight shape. I wanted the banding/binding to go around the entire raw edge, as this sweater knit would have fallen apart at the edges without something holding it together. 🙂 ) For mine, I just cut 4″ wide strips (by the width of the fabric), trimmed them to the exact length of each individual straight line of the hem (I belive there were 6 straightaways. Any time I came to a corner, I stopped and used a new piece) then acted like I was banding it by folding it in half, attaching the edges of that to the right side of the cardigan edges. The corners are a little wonky, as there was a band on band issue there, so I tried to sew them at 45 degree angles and true them up where possible…but again, it was super late and I was winging it. This is my first attempt at a clothing tutorial and I didn’t take very good notes. I’m sorry! Hopefully, that helps!
Those are our cardigans/tunics! This pattern is definitely one for the books! There are so many options that you could create a wardrobe full of them in different fabric choices and it would look incredibly diverse! I’m so glad we could take part in the tour so that I could find the motivation I needed to get some fall pieces made! I already have a new laundry Day Tee cut out and waiting to be sewn up,as well. these patterns are addictive! 🙂
I would like to spend a special thank you to Kelly and Tammy for their amazing designs, as well as their support. I’m so thrilled to be part of this tour! I have had so much fun sewing these and reading about all the other versions the ladies on the tour have made! I love sharing my creations, so feel free to let me know if you have any questions! I hope you found something here that you enjoyed!
You can find
Love Notions patterns here.
The Love Notions Facebook group here.
And the listings for the tunic/cardigans are below!
I’ll leave a little slice of our crazy outtakes below, as that is probably one of my favorite parts of this process. This time, my camera stopped working, so my four year old, Kalel had to be our photographer. It made for quite a few funny shots!
Have a great day! Thanks so much for stopping by.
Until next time,
Sewing and swimming,
**** Sale and Giveaway info here: *****
Tours LOVE to have a sale!
Be sure to stop by and say hi to all the fantastic bloggers who are a part of the tour!
And while you’re at it…
Mermaid Mama Designs 
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