Del Mar Dolman
We actually had a 70 degree day this past week. Can you believe it! With that, I certainly want to make more things that are geared towards summer and my D pattern for the #ABCPatternStashChallenge fits the bill! The Del Mar Dolman from So Sew English has so many options and the one I settled on just has me wanting the summer weather!
The Pattern
The Del Mar Dolman Top & Hoodie is a relaxed fit Dolman sleeve pattern.
Dolman Sleeve: a sleeve tapered from a very large armhole to fit closely at the wrist, usu. cut in one piece with the body of the garment.This pattern comes with so many options making it possible to have a wide variety of garments made from the same pattern.
Length Options: Crop top – Top Length – Tunic
Sleeve Options: Long cuffed – Short Hemmed – Banded Cap Sleeve
Additional Options: Crew Neck – V-neck – Demi Cowl – Cowl Neck – Hood
The hem allows for a drawstring on all views OR a regular hem and there is a band option included as well.
You can make the Del Mar in virtually any knit fabric such as french terry, performance fabrics, sweater knits, waffle knits, double brushed poly, etc
I made the Cropped hoodie, short sleeve, with a combination of a banded bottom with drawstring.
The Fabric
While I pride myself on my current fabric stash catalog, this fabric slipped through the cracks before I started keeping track of all my fabric purchases.
What I love about this fabric though is that it has great horizontal stretch and recovery, while maintaining some structure with limited vertical stretch.
Also.. the pattern makes me just want to go to the beach for some reason 😀 I will probably end up wearing this as a top cover for my swim suits that I plan on making later this year!
I am not sure where I got this, but it was likely from one of the many mystery boxes I’ve ordered over the past two years.
It is some type of sweater knit that has 100% Horizontal stretch and 20% vertical stretch.
Feedback and Final Thoughts
One other thing I want to point out about the hood on this pattern, is that there are 2 options for cutting depending on the look you are going for. There is a self lining option as well as the standard hood, which requires you to sew a seem down the middle for construction. This has it’s pros if you are looking for a much lighter hood that does not necessarily need to be lined. I personally went with the self lining option as, for one it sounded neat, and if I could get away with not sewing another seam, I did!
I did run into some issues early on however, as the pattern is drafted for those that are 5’5 where I am 5’7. So when I initially cut out the crop, it was too short! I almost gave up on the project completely to start from scratch, but after thinking about it overnight, I had an idea.
Typically, adding in the drawstring would require folding the bottom of the piece up by 1″. Since it was already too short I couldn’t afford to do that. But what about adding a band? HAZAH! I cut out the band piece which typically is used for the shirt or tunic lengths, and added it to the crop. from there, I added two button holes and made my draw string, and it’s the length I was looking for!
Get the Look!
I’m very excited to hopefully make it to the beach this summer. This crop dolman gives me a great sense of coverage as well as warmth, but at the same time I am able to also remain cool with the short sleeves.
Pattern: The Del Mar Dolman from So Sew English is only $7.99.
Fabric: Mystery sweater knit that I hope to find the source of someday!
What do you think of the cropped version of the Del Mar Dolman? Would you have made something else? Let me know in the comments!
Up next… the letter E!
Some Bonus Content!
