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One of my favorite features of the girls version of the Laundry Day Tee (Li’l LDT) is the drape-y cowl. I love a good cowl! It’s like a built in scarf. After releasing the Li’l LDT I have gotten SO many requests for a ladies add-on. I have done a couple of patterns (Origami Tunic, La Bella Donna) with a cowl and it is possible to use one of those pattern pieces to add to the LDT but that requires a little tweaking, not to mention buying another pattern if you don’t already have it. So, I’ve decided to post the cowl here on the blog for your use. You can probably even use this cowl piece on other patterns! You’d just need to be sure the neckline of whatever you’re using is the same as the LDT or a smidgen smaller.

Girls Li'l LDT PDF sewing pattern

The Li’l LDT shirt with cowl

For those wondering about the other features of the Li’l for the LDT- I won’t be offering an add-on pattern pack in the shop. I’ll just be posting quick tutorials with needed pattern pieces here on the blog as I get to them. The next one I do will most likely be the hood.

Let’s Sew

First, download & print the attached file: Love Notions free cowl add-on. As always, be sure you are opening the file directly from Adobe, print at 100% and check the 1″ square for accuracy.
fabric requirements

See the first page in the download for help assembling the pattern. The add-on follows my trimless + layers format. See here for more help.

Sew up your tops shoulder seams, sleeves and side seams. You can even hem the bottom and sleeves at this point or you can wait until you’ve completed the cowl.

1. Align cowl pieces right sides together. Stitch/serge upper curved edge. Press seam open or to one side if serged.

Step 1 adding a cowl to the LDT

Step 1

2. Open up sewn cowl and align straight edges right sides together. Stitch/serge seam. Press seam open or to one side if serged.
Fold top of cowl down over the bottom matching curved raw edges. The right sides will now be facing out.

Step 2

Step 2

Step 2b

Step 2b

3. Mark center front and center back of cowl as well as the points inbetween those. The center back is the seam created in the previous step. Mark quarter points on neckline.

Step 3

Step 3

4. Slip cowl over neckline matching center front and center back, right sides together. Stitch/serge cowl to neckline, stretching cowl slightly to fit.
Press seam allowance down towards body. Topstitch if desired. Press well.

Step 4

Step 4

And there you have it! A Laundry Day Tee with cowl. You’ll notice the cowl will lie differently based on the fabric chosen (just like the LDT itself). The tutorial here shows a cowl made with Art Gallery cotton/lycra. It’s lies stiffer and doesn’t have as much drape as if I were to use something like a jersey/rayon blend like in the last picture below.

LDT cowl in cotton/lycra

LDT cowl in cotton/lycra

LDT cowl in a drape-y french terry

LDT cowl in a drape-y french terry

Be sure to post your finished top in the pattern support group so we can all admire your work!

Tami Meyer

Author Tami Meyer

More posts by Tami Meyer

Join the discussion 5 Comments

  • Pami says:

    “For those wondering about the other features of the Li’l for the LDT- I won’t be offering an add-on pattern pack in the shop. I’ll just be posting quick tutorials with needed pattern pieces here on the blog as I get to them. The next one I do will most likely be the hood.”

    Did you post a hood? My searching isn’t turning up anything. Thanks for everything!

  • Danielle Hart says:

    I was desperate to find an “add on” cowl neck to a t shirt I made recently but couldn’t remember how from my days of making clothes in the 70’s & 80’s. I was saved by a wonderful woman who responded to my plea for help on the Upcycle Sewing FB page and shared a link to this page. I’d been searching but hadn’t found you. Now I have – thank you for sharing this pattern. I’ve book marked your site and subscribed. Have a great day!!

    • Keira Wood says:

      That’s such great news Danielle! So happy you discovered our little corner of the internet! You’ll be happy to find out that our Laundry Day Tee pattern was updated since this post. It now includes the cowl as an option in the pattern. The best part? You can grab the pattern for free when you join our Facebook group. The code is in the announcements section on that page. Here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/lovenotionspatternsupport

      🙂 ~K

  • pbug224 says:

    Hi,
    Will this cowl work on the rockford raglan as-is?

    Thank you,
    Paulette

    • Keira Wood says:

      Hi Paulette. This post is pretty dated and the Laundry Day Tee pattern actually has a cowl neck option included now. In order to use that cowl pattern piece on another pattern, all you need to do is double check that the neckline measurement is similar and if it isn’t, you can absolutely just trace over the LDT neckline on to whichever pattern you are using. ~k

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