Thursday, January 19, 2017

Testing, testing: Women's Waterfall Raglan

Gabriela of Chalk and Notch reached out to me to test her first foray into women's patterns, the Waterfall Raglan, and I was honored to join in the fun!

The Waterfall Raglan is a relaxed fit raglan t-shirt (or dress) with a curved, ruffled hem. It's an adult-sized version of Chalk and Notch's popular girls' pattern by the same name.


I'll be honest: I was a bit worried about the ruffle, because ruffles are not really my jam... but I was pleasantly surprised to find that I liked it! Well, I liked wearing it, but not really gathering it... ug, gathering! 

That's one of the things I like about pattern testing (well, besides copy editing, which nerdily pleases me): it forces me to try out styles I might not otherwise gravitate towards!


This is the earliest version of the Waterfall Raglan, so a few minor changes have been made to the pattern since testing to the sleeve for the final pattern.


My fabric is a sheer (hello, bra!) heathered cotton jersey; it's super soft and has great drape for the Waterfall Raglan. A little bit more transparent than I would like, but eh.


One detail I really liked about the pattern is the inclusion of two different neckbands depending on your fabric's stretch percentage, along with a chart in the pattern to help you determine the stretch percentage! So helpful and smart! It worked out perfectly for me.



I opted for the short sleeves, but after seeing all of the different versions in the tester group (check out testers here), I think the 3/4 length sleeve is my favorite. Something about the proportions of it are exactly right. 



I am pleasantly surprised at how much I like the Waterfall Raglan. It's incredibly comfortable and feels stylish. I am wearing it here with skinny jeans (the Baste + Gather Kendall skinnies, the skinnified version of the Birkin Flares), but I also wore it with cropped leggings and it looked pretty cute!