For the longest time i’ve wanted to alter the Briar to have a sweeping swing back – and this winter i finally did it! I’m so happy with how this turned out. This is a pretty good example of my winter uniform this year, i’ve been sick a lot and having comfortable pieces in my wardrobe that still look stylish was a real must for me. It’s dramatic but also really comfortable – hows that for winning!
I honestly wish it was possible to show you how amazing this fabric is in real life. It’s a silk cotton knit – if you can believe that! I’ve never seen anything like it before. I must admit i’m a bit precious about it and handwash because it feels so special. I found it at my favourite knit store KnitWit.
Anyway, if you’d like to see how easy it is to alter the Briar sewing pattern to create a dramatic swing back, heres how!
We will only be altering the back pattern piece (yay for very few alterations!). Trace that sucker so that you preserve the original pattern piece and only alter on a new tracing.
Draw some slash lines – i recommend slashing horizontally from the armhole notch to the centre fold line. The reason for this is that you don’t want to alter the fit across the shoulders as you will introduce some fit issues later. This way we keep the entire shoulder region intact and that way the tee will still be nicely fitted across the shoulders, and not too oversized. Then draw about three more slash downs vertically down from that line towards the hemline. These should be equally spaced.
When you cut, start from the centre fold line and cut horizontally until the armhole notch. Leave a small amount of paper so that you can use it as a hinge. Then cut along your vertical slash lines from the hemline up towards your first horizontal slash line. Do not cut through the horizontal slash line, make sure you leave a small amount of fabric to act as a hinge.
Now spread! I’ve shown two options above for how you could spread the pattern piece. The “tame” version which will result in a nice swing back but not too much extension of length. Here you simply pivot out the side seam as far as you like, keeping the armsyce unaltered. Then make sure you pivot the other slashed pieces so that they are equally spaced. The pattern piece along the centre fold should never change it angle, thought it will have to extend downwards to make sure that the pieces remain attached. The “extreme” version is where i break all the rules i just told you hehehe. Here you separate out all the pieces to add extra length.
Lastly, add extra pattern paper to fill in the gaps – then blend and true all the seams.
Sew the rest of the tee or sweater using the instructions from the Briar sewing pattern.
That’s it! Easy peasy! I hope you like this one!
Meg xoxo
[Make this look]
Top: Megan Nielsen // Briar tee + swing back alteration
Jeans: Country Road
Boots: Beaucoops via Zomp
Necklace: Merl Kinzie // Clydes Rebirth
