Happy Raglan Thursday to you! I'm so excited to be bringing you another edition of the Women's Raglan Review Blog Tour. When you get ALL the way to the bottom, you'll see our very full schedule. The permalinks are all there, so just wait for the right day and the links will be live. Be sure to click over to The Art Of Oh to see her Raglan review too!

Please note, that raglans are presented in no particular order of preference or alphabet or really anything. For your ease of reading, every review will include the same chart that will help you quickly compare and contrast. The final round up will do a side by side comparison chart, awards in multiple categories, AND a HUGE fabric giveaway so don't miss it.

Today's raglan is the Duck Butt Designs RAWR (Really Awesome Women's Raglan). Details first, review after.

The Duck Butt Designs RAWR Raglan is really fun and has a TON of options. While the printable pages for the pattern is massive at 84 pages, you don't actually need to print all the pages. (WHEW). Given the number of options, the designers opted to split up the different features. I think this helps keep all the cutting lines clear and prevents mistakes.

The size chart looks likes its drafted for a pear body shape and so my sizes were all over the place. 4 bust, 6 waist and 2 hip. Thanks to the layers printing option I was able to blend the sizes pretty easily and ended up with a usable pattern piece. I added a 1" full bust adjustment to the pattern AND shortened the entire body pattern pieces by 1.5". I used the Tunic length, slim fit, 3/4 sleeve, v-neck line and am pretty happy with the results. I should have shortened the sleeve about 1" to sit better as a true 3/4 sleeve, but that is pretty typical for me since I am 5'1" tall.

Both my black cotton lycra and awesome batman fabric are from Purple Seamstress. They make a good fitted raglan with a bit of fun. I have to admit I'm normally pretty hesitant to do v-necklines. They require a lot more precision than the regular crew neckline. I cheated on the neckline and used a 1/2" seam allowance rather than the pattern drafted 1/4" seam allowance. I found this gave me just enough extra room to maneuver the neckband around. I actually think the v-neckline turned out really nice and I may even try to do the m more often.

This pattern is VERY different from the others in that it doesn't include any neckband cutting charts or pattern pieces. It requires that you measure your garment neckline, do some math and then cut a band from that information. I actually prefer this method as it accounts for any variability in seam allowances and teaches you how to draft your own neckbands. Now that I have this information, I can now comfortably draft a v-neckline on any pattern and know exactly how long to make my neckbands.

I actually really like this raglan. The fabric is playful and the fit is pretty good. You will notice a weird wrinkly thing going on at the raglan line. I'm thankful to know there is a way to fix this! Check out this link over to Madalynne to see how to smooth out the raglan sleeve. I may or may not take the time to actually do this. I'm sort of lazy and don't care that much about a t-shirt having wrinkles. But in theory it really only takes a few minutes to turn the shirt inside out and pin out the weird wrinkles from the shoulder to underarm. And my one problem with this pattern is the 1/4" seam allowance. I HATE 1/4" seam allowances. I know it saves a little money on fabric, but my sewing machine is a little finicky when I sew knits with a 1/4" seam allowance and I really prefer the nice tight stitches of my sewing machine than the 1/4" seam allowance on my serger.

Now maybe I've become a bit too spoiled by the Patterns for Pirates "tunic" length, but I feel like the length on this is not "quite" tunic length. But that is more my preference for full butt coverage. I know some of you are probably thinking, but doesn't that just mean you shouldn't take out that 1.5" from the length of the body. My answer is no, and here's why. The length of my torso from shoulder to waist is short. I have to take out that 1.5" else the high hip will hit me some where around the middle of my butt. BUT, the distance from my waist to my full hip is actually comparatively long. So my body shape is Short from shoulder to natural waist. Long from natural waist to full hip and then short again from full hip through the inseam. Essentially I have a long rise but am short everywhere else. But what that all comes down to is next time, I'll add 1" to the entire hem and it should hit exactly where I want it. Please note that isn't a problem with the pattern itself, it is a variation of my body compared to "averages" AND my personal preference for hem lengths. Both of which are very easy to fix.

This pattern has TONS of features and you really are getting a LOT for your pattern dollar. I love that you have the choice of 2 different fits, 2 hem lengths as well as 3 different finishes for those 2 different hems. You also have 3 sleeve lengths and 4 necklines (crew, v-neck, cowl or hood). Put all those features together and you've got 144 possible different raglans. So who is this pattern best for? Anyone who likes lots of choices. Pear shapes since you won't have to modify the pattern pieces much. People in a wide size range. And pregnant mamas, because the maternity options are INCLUDED! And just for fun, this pattern includes a recipe for "Yummy Toffee".

Is this the raglan for you? Grab your copy of the Duck Butt Designs RAWR using coupon code: DBDRAWR20 to save 20% off of your copy of this great pattern.