Today's post is a short one but a good one. We're going to revisit the Once Upon A Sewing Machine Cecilia. If you remember, we talked about this great free pattern 3 weeks ago, here. I want to thank my daughter for suffering for 5 whole minutes in the freezing cold so we could get half way decent photos. Lessons learned. #1- Its hard to model in the cold. #2- don't wait for the last minute to get photos.

In my previous post I talked about some possible hacks. Today I bring you not 1 but 2 hacks in 1 garment.

Hack #1 is the long sleeves. You can grab the free long sleeve pattern on the OUSM website here. Don't forget to true up the top of the sleeve cap!

The one problem with the long sleeve pattern is that the cuff pattern piece is the same size as the width of the sleeve. That doesn't seem very much like a "cuff" to me. So to remedy that, I shorted the pattern piece a little. I used the measurements from another one of my patterns to get it just right, BUT, you could use your child's wrist measurement to choose your width.

Next time, I really think I'm going to smooth out the sleeve cap to get rid of the puff. I feel like it isn't quite enough "puff" to look right.

Hack #2 is the turtle neck/cowl piece. Today my hack looks like a turtle neck and that's just fine. I measured out the finished neckline and then cut a pattern piece that was that width+seam allowance and the same length. This made a great fold over turtle neck piece.

If you want a looser cowl looking pattern piece you will need to either scoop out the neckline (a lot), or draft a pattern piece that is an inverted trapezoid (or both). Don't be afraid of geometry! Here's what your pattern piece will look like.

To do that math, the bottom (skinny) part will be the width of the neckline. You will need to cut the pattern on the fold, with the top line being the fold. Your top line should be at least 3-4" wider than your lower line. To estimate this, I recommend taking a cowl that you like and measuring it. For the height, I liked the length I got using the same measurement as my full neckline width. So to cut this, it would be 1/2 the neckline. Don't forget to add seam allowances on all sides. You'll be cutting just one of these pieces on the fold. Sew up the size seams and then fold in half and attach at the neckline.

There you have it, 2 hacks for the Cecilia. We're well on our way to having everything we need in a t-shirt for our spring capsule. Tomorrow on the blog will be my favorite Winter Wear Designs Aviator Pants as part of the Winter Wear Designs Blog Tour. I've got great content for women coming up later this week as well as a review of the Sofilantjes Hibernis. And behind the scenes, I'm working like crazy for a pattern review tour you're going to love. Keep checking back!