Hi Readers, is this a cute wrap or what!!   Its stylish and practical, and seems cozy enough for very mild winters in my area.

It has a sleeve for one arm and the other arm is put through an opening which is hidden under a flap. Slick! Or, the stole can be thrown over the shoulder instead of the arm going through the opening. The pattern is from Decades of Style pattern company which reproduces vintage styles for the modern seamstress. This is a reproduction of a 1950s look.

So, you know me, right? I complicate perfectly good things.The stole is lined, but I decided to keep it unlined to showcase the two-sided feature of a knit purchased from Sew Much Fabric. Also, it would serve as a “wearable muslin”, should I decide to make a lined version.

I planned to make it reversible (in addition to being unlined); to make an unlined garment reversible takes some thoughtful decisions way ahead of time, and not all decisions work the way you think they should.

The wrap is the easiest, fastest and in my opinion, the chicest thing you can make this autumn. Even a lined version is quite fast.  Should you want to check out more opinions, there are a few reviews on the PatternReview site. It was released in 2011 – it’s just that I get to the new patterns a few years too late.

To begin, I cut out each piece in a single layer in my double sided knit. The creation of the flap plus lower extension of the back is the first step, then the underarm and shoulder/sleeve seam is sewn. In the photo, the extension coming over my shoulder, showing my hand coming through the flap , is actually the back piece – the other side of this extension is the sleeve back.

My plan was to make the three seams into fake flat felled seams. Why not a real flat felled seam? Because the knit fabric is a tad lofty for the layers formed with a real FF seam.  To make the fake FF seam, I stitched at 5/8”, trimmed one side down to ¼”, pressed the other (5/8) over the trimmed layer without folding as it’s done in real ff seams, topstitched evenly down the seam, and trimmed again close to the stitching. That worked ok, but just ok. This is was a “meh” moment.

Then came the arm opening/flap conundrum. In my dreams I wanted the flap to flip over to either side, depending on which side would be worn. Well, I fake-flat-felled the  seam (with the flap attached) and had to clip the lower seam (on the black side in the opening at the corners to finish it off. That clip was going to stretch with the weight of the knit!!! See the stress points below on the “wrong” side. Whether the wrap is reversible or not, these stress points need to be addressed.

The addition of two layers of Fray Check isn’t going to ease my concerns. But I decided to go for it. How to stabilize the two corners of the opening? One option was to add a leather patch to make it look intentional. But then sewing it close to the flap ends definitely would prevent it from flipping over to the other side. Or, I should forget about flipping the flap and just make the black side look neat and clean, and not worry about reversibility?

The other decision involved finishing the stole’s edges – and there is a mile of edges. Just turning over and sewing a hem will take away the reversible look, which is looking like a distant goal at this point.  I could leave the edges raw since knit will not ravel. Or, I could use  fold-over elastic. Or, I should forget about making this wrap reversible. The fold-over elastic won. But, I have another question: how do you finish off the ends of the fold-over elastic?  To end it all, this wrap is not reversible. Sorry.

The wrap feels great when it’s on, and I feel good in it.  Now, on to the lined version plan. What should I use for the fashion and lining fabrics? I don’t think a slippery lining is a good idea, since it may have sliding issues.  Tell me your suggestions!

Keep sewing this fall!

Love, Samina