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Golden Rippy Cinnabar Sky Top – Pattern Review

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PDF sewing patterns that are nursing-accessible will be my focus for any Stephanie-sewing in the months to come. For the first several months of my son’s cluster feeding I stayed at home, in the dead of winter, in my (grotty) pajamas. This time around, I will have a two year old to entertain and chase so I’m thinking more nursing in public will be on the agenda! Enter the  Cinnabar Sky Top & Dress from Golden Rippy.

I did receive the pattern for free; I was supposed to test but had printer issues and wasn’t able to!

It has a wrap bodice with optional nursing openings. I would highly recommend making a test muslin first – I adjusted the wrap pieces a lot tighter in and now looking at the photos, think I could’ve pulled them in a bit more even (although I will definitely continue to get larger and stay large for a while after birth).

I measured for, and sewed, a size small but I think it runs fairly big!

I left the nursing openings, obviously, but they would be easy to sew up (instructions included in the pattern) and wear as a non-maternity, non-nursing style shirt.

I seemed to have a lot of extra fabric in the back, and clearly need to check myself in a mirror before taking back pictures.

I used my triple-straight stitch (highly technical term) to turn and topstitch both bodice pieces, and then reinforced the shoulder seams with clear elastic. With this particular pattern/interlock fabric it seemed to widen the neck a little and prevent it from recovering, but not enough to ruin the fit entirely.

 

Pattern: Cinnabar Sky Top & Dress* from Golden Rippy

Price & Sizes:  $12, XXS – XXXL

Fabric I used: The same Fabric.com organic interlock from the Julia cardigan, leopard trim scraps from the maternity Union St. tee.

Changes I made: I added sleeve & waist bands. I knew that the pattern fell a little short on me (I carry babies like a whale) but thought a stretchier band would be more flattering than just extending the pattern down since the interlock I used didn’t have as much recovery. The sleeve bands were just to tie it together, the sleeve length didn’t bother me.

I also pulled the bodice wrap pieces in about 1.5 inches towards the top. I have a very short torso/high waist and I think the pattern’s waistline just didn’t’ work for me.

What I might do if I make it again: I’ve stumbled on a few knit fit alterations and I’m pretty sure I could use a sway back adjustment on this top – but I am not sure if that need is exacerbated by pregnancy. Surely my lower back becomes more arched as this tiny human grows heavier and pulls me forward. I like this visual/explanation of what that means from Paper Scissors Cloth.

I also think I’d play a little more with the bodice, after seeing it in pictures. I am not sure where I’d start though! And I wholly grant that my shape is peculiar, even/especially pregnant.

Overall thoughts on the garment: I think I will wear it often while nursing! I probably won’t wear it too often while still pregnant because I don’t want to stretch it out, and it will surely become too short before too long (I am 26 weeks in these pictures). The ease in which this interlock pressed and topstitched was amazing, and I am half tempted to buy 5 MORE yards, just because.

Overall thoughts on the pattern: I had no problems following the assembly or sewing of the shirt, and think it was pretty easy if tedious to do all that turning & top stitching. I’m not sure what other methods might be feasible for a bodice like this though. I still need fit tweaking but am not prepared to blame that on the pattern – this style is equally tricky for me to pull off from store-bought garments due to my odd proportions. The illustrations & directions were clear and I had no issues with the pattern pieces!

See other versions:

 Gal Originals CreationsStudio 280 Stitches

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I’d love to hear if you know of any other nursing-friendly patterns or tutorials!

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Rebecca

Wednesday 17th of December 2014

That turned out super cute. I always just layered a nursing tank under a tshirt and pulled the top layer up. And yeah, I totally lived on the couch for the first few months the first time around, but it's not as easy to do that with the second!

I think it's super neat that you're making your own nursing wardrobe. It's so hard to find stuff that really works like you want it to, so customizing your own is awesome.

Stephanie - Swoodson Says

Friday 19th of December 2014

Thanks! I did mostly the same with the pulling up/down but will have to report back how this works out. Buying nursing-specific clothes could be super pricey but with cheap knits, sewing them isn't that bad :)

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