July is Pattern Hacking Month| #Patternhackathon Round Up

Did you know that July is Pattern Hacking Month? Well, Kris from @unsewcial on IG held a sewing challenge this month and she asked me to participate, and I said YES! Kris deemed July as Pattern Hacking month and invited me to be a part of the #patternhackathon sewing challenge. I’m sharing a roundup of all the participants of the #patternhackathon so you all can see the amazing creations these creators sewed up.

Pattern Hackathon Participant Round Up

How it worked was that all participants were paired up with someone else and the team then decided on a pattern they would hack and on their designated day, they would share their makes. There were 8 teams and from July 16- 23 we all shared our makes on Instagram.

First up was the team of Jamara – @sewsewjam and Es – @sew_es – They hacked the Blanca Flight Suit Pattern from Closet Core Patterns. Jamara hacked the Blanca Flight Suit into a Blanca Mini Dress and Es hacked the pattern into her version of the Blanca Flight Suit.

Julian – @juliancreates and Tino – @sewstartino – Julian and Tino hacked Julian’s Know Me Pattern ME2018. Julian hacked the pattern into a vintage sport shirt and Tino hacked the pattern into a sleeveless Ankara and Denim jacket.

Tea – @crumpetsteaandsewing and Carol – @carrosi.sews – Tea hacked Butterick B6930 into a tiered dress with short sleeves and Carol hacked B6931 which is the plus size version. Carol also made a dress with some sleeve modifications.

Keira – @islandsewcialist and Emmanuel – @theycallhim_spade Keira and Emmanuel hacked Simplicity S9718. Keira created some magic and hacked the cargo pants into a gorgeous wrap over maxi skirt. Emmanuel hacked the top into a zip up hoodie with pockets and a lining.

Nateida – @sewnaturaldane and Sylvia – @theravelout – Nateida and Sylvia hacked the Mia Crop Top from Tammy Handmade. Nateida hacked the crop top by widening the straps and tying them at the shoulders and then added it to the Sybil Box Pleated Skirt by @lovenotions. Sylvia hacked the Mia Crop top by adding a twist back detail, made skinny straps and added a peplum.

Sasha – @sashasewing and Sophia – @thedocishaute – Sasha and Sophia hacked McCall’s M7908 which is a jumpsuit pattern. Sasha made the jumpsuit and added a cool cold shoulder sleeve with a zipper detail. Sophia also made the jumpsuit, and she self-drafted a cold shoulder sleeve.

Jo @soveryjo and Esther @ninetostitch – Esther and I decided to hack McCall’s 7994. Esther shortened the sleeves, slashed, and spread the sleeves to give them more volume and lengthened the skirt. I’ll share my modifications of the pattern below. Incase you were wondering, this is the same fabric I used for my birthday dress I made. You can read all about it HERE.

Monica – @thatssewmonica and Kris @unsewcial – Monica and Kris hacked McCall’s M7543. Monica hacked her top by widening the sleeves and adding elastic. Kris hacked her make by shortening the sleeves and making a tiered dress.

Hacking McCall’s 7994

The first thing I did to hack McCall’s 7994 was to grade between sizes to make sure it fit. I’m a 16 at the chest and a 24 at the waist, so those were the sizes I graded in between. I also removed 1/2″ from the neckline and 1″ from the waistline hem.

For the facing, I measured down 2 1/2″ inches and followed that around the neck for the front and the back. For the sleeve, I loosely measured around the armscye of the front and back of the bodice and made it 4 inches wide. I then gathered it in to fit.

For the peplum, I used the skirt waist for the waist measurement and made it 10″ long. I also added horsehair braid to the hem to give it some volume and so the peplum wouldn’t just lay flat.

I really enjoyed making this hack. When Esther and I decided to make this pattern, McCall’s was on sale on the website and we both purchased the PDF pattern. Good thing we did because 1. Esther is in the UK, and they don’t have pattern sales like we do. 2. When I went to look for the physical pattern in the store, I couldn’t find it. Apparently, this is an old pattern. The pattern itself is easy to put together and is classified as a Learn to Sew for Fun Level 2. The only thing I wasn’t so fond of were the darts. I thought they were too high up on the bust. Kind of threw me off since I modified the pattern. I thought I was doing it wrong. I just went with it, and it worked out. Other than that, I think this is a great pattern for a beginner.

The #Patternhackathon

I want to thank Kris for including me in the #patternhackathon. I love hacking patterns and it was so cool to see what everyone else did to their patterns. I thought everyone did an amazing job. My favorite hack was Keira’s skirt. She did an amazing job at turning the cargo pants into a skirt. I thought it was really fashion forward. All the pattern hackers got to vote on our favorite hack and Keira won! I wasn’t surprised at all.

Kris was also able to get sponsors and we all had giveaways. My sponsor was @staystichpatternco and the winner was Tami from @sewconspicuous. Tami won a 2 pattern bundle from Staystitch Pattern Co.

I hope you guys loved my hack as much as I did. Make sure you check out and follow all the other pattern hackers over on their IG pages.

Until next time!

Johanna