Pattern Review: Jalie Dolman Top

In August, I (Major Moma) shared my sewing plan for my 11 year old's school wardrobe.  Today I will review one of the tops in that plan.  It turned out every bit as great as I hoped and it will be a staple in my sewing.  It is a dolman top which is quite trendy.  On an installment of Would They Wear That, I looked at a few dolman tops and this was one of the ones I decided to try myself.

Name of the pattern:  Jalie 3352

source

Pattern Source:  Jalie is a Canadian pattern company.  They sell both paper and pdf patterns and have a wide variety of styles.  If you need dance wear, they seem to specialize in that genre of clothing.

Sizes available: This, like many of Jalie's patterns comes in a HUGE range of sizes from little girls to plus size women.  The Jalie 3352 comes in 27 sizes so no matter who you are sewing for, you could use this pattern.

Special materials required:  This was a simple knit top but the pattern does recommend a knit with at least a 40% stretch.  I think I will try one for me with knit on the sleeves.

Skill level required: This is certainly a beginner level pattern and if you are new to knits, a great one for you to start with ... especially if you go with the short sleeve version because the sleeves are cut on!

How you came to choose the pattern: I have wanted to try a Jalie pattern for a long time and this seemed like a good one to try.  I love a dolman top so I bought it as much for me as for my tween.

Good:  This pattern was so easy and a quick sew.  It is also right on trend and helps make a tee shirt not so basic.

Bad:  Jalie patterns do not have extensive instructions.  There are step by step directions but not a lot of pictures.  If you are new to sewing, I highly recommend you read all the instructions a couple of times before you start, just so you understand everything.  The Jalie instructions are not near as sparse as a Burda pattern, but there is not not a lot of hand holding.

Overall pattern rating:  I give this one 5 of 5 bolts!