Hello everyone! My name is Kelle and I usually blog at justsewsomething.com. Today I wanted to share with you a modification to the brand new Not-So-Cold-Shoulder Sweater from Amelia Lane Designs. We thought it might be fun to do a double cold shoulder version and, with a few easy pattern changes, it works great!
To begin, we will be cutting our fabric. To get the right angle for the shoulders, we need to modify the front bodice and back bodice pieces and the front and back shelf bra pieces. I folded the pattern pieces in half down the grainline, folded the fabric in half, and placed the fold of the pattern piece on the fold of the fabric. The bodice pattern pieces are curved with one higher shoulder and one lower shoulder. Make sure to fold so you are cutting the lower side on both front and back bodice pieces. Transfer all notches to fabric pieces.
Because the necklines are curved on the front and back bodice pieces, we need to straighten the neckline just where the fabric fold is. Rather than altering my pattern pieces, I just simply shave the tip of the cut fabric piece to make a straight line. Do this on both front and back bodice pieces.
For the optional shelf bra, the process is similar. Fold the pattern pieces down the grainline (ensuring the bottom corners match up), fold fabric, and cut on the fold of the fabric so both front and back shelf bra have two straps rather than one.
For the sleeves, cut two mirrored left sleeves. Simply cut one with the pattern piece text face up, then flip the pattern piece so the text is not visible, and cut another.
We will need a neckband piece, but as we are altering the final shape and size of the neck, we will need to recalculate that later. Wait until the shirt is constructed to cut the neckband!
To begin sewing, the pile of pieces should look similar to this: Front bodice, back bodice, two sleeves mirrored, front shelf bra, and back shelf bra.
We will begin with the shelf bra. Sew the shoulder seams of both straps together and then sew down both side seams of the shelf bra. Press all around the neckline and armscyes 1/2 inch. Sew at 3/8 inch with a stretch stitch.
Follow the pattern instructions to attach the elastic to the shelf bra (step 15).
To assemble the bodice, follow the pattern instructions (steps 1 and 5).
Now at this point, measure the neckline of the shirt. To calculate the new neckband, take this measurement and multiply it by 0.90. Then add 1/2 inch for seam allowance. Cut your new band the same length as the original neckband pattern piece (3.5 inches) by this new measurement. The long edge should be parallel with the greatest stretch of your fabric.
Follow pattern instructions to prepare and attach neckband (steps 3 and 4).
Finish sleeves and hem bottom of shirt according to pattern instructions (step 6 and 18 if doing cuffs).
At this point, you can wear these two pieces separately though the neckband may require some alteration depending on the width of your shoulders and recovery of your fabric. However, I chose to attach the shelf bra and shirt for stability. To do this, I started by finding the center front and center back of the shelf bra and marking with pins. Then find center front and center back of the shirt and place pins there. (Ignore the pins near the shoulders as I found those were not helpful in attaching the shelf bra!)
Match the armscye side seam of the bra right side to the wrong side of the armscye of the top. Place a pin there. Match the seams of the armscye up to where the neckband meets the neckband of the shirt and place a pin there. Do this on both sides of the armscye for the right side, then repeat for the left side.
Match the center front shelf bra with the center front shirt. Pin the right side of the shelf bra to the wrong side of the front shirt and pin. Repeat this process with the back shelf bra and back shirt. At this point, there should be 3 pins in each armscye and 1 in the center front and 1 in the center back. I basted at these points and tried the shirt on to see if I wanted to adjust anything. You can also just leave the pins in and try it on. This was extremely hard to get a picture of so sorry for the overload.
Then I simply sewed over my basting stitches in the seam line between neckband and the shirt, making sure to catch the shelf bra in the back. I sewed two points on each armscye, one point in center front, and one point in center back (pictured above). Make sure to remove all pins! The stitches are slightly visible, but didn’t bother me too much. For a completely invisible solution, you could hand stitch the shelf bra to the inside of the shirt.
And with that, your double cold shoulder is complete! We’d love to see your versions. Feel free to share in the Amelia Lane Designs Facebook group. If you have any questions, let me know and I’ll do my best to answer them.
The fabric used for this tutorial was Dresden double brushed poly (no longer in stock), but feel free to shop other double brushed polys here.