La Bella Donna Colorblock Hack

If you’re fan of Joanna Gaines, like I am, you might have noticed she likes her comfortable dolman shirts so it was only natural that as soon as Kelly showed me a picture of a colorblocked dolman tee that she was wearing I had to replicate it and make myself one too. So today on the blog, I wanted to show you how to achieve the look using the La Bella Donna pattern.

Start by printing your pattern in your desired size.

To achieve this color blocked look you will be using either the long sleeve or the 3/4 sleeve option. You will now be cutting the short sleeve cut line AND the long / 3/4 sleeve cut line. Yes you read that correctly! For this hack we will be creating an additional piece that will look like the one below.

You will now be cutting the front and back pieces (short sleeve option), 4 middle colorblock accent piece (2 pairs mirrored) and the cuffs (long or 3/4).

NOTE: It is very important to remember to add seam allowance to the short sleeve cut lines to both the main shirt (front and back) and the middle part on the sleeve.

Set the cut fabric aside. We will now be cutting and preparing the shoulder strip piece. Start by measuring your pattern piece shoulder seam. In my case the length was approximately 10 inches long.

Cut two strips of fabric that are 6″ wide by whatever shoulder length you measured plus 2 inches. In my case, the two strips were 6×12″.

Press 1/2″ wrong sides together on both length edges. Repeat with the other strip.

Sew the shirt at the shoulder seam following the pattern seam allowance. Match the center of the strip to the shoulder seam and pin the strip’s wrong side to the right side of the shirt.

 

Sew the strips to the shoulder seams. You can use a straight stitch for this step.

Using your rotary cutter or sharp scissors, remove the excess fabric from around the neckline and sleeves.

Next, take the middle color sleeves block pieces and sew them at the top right sides together.

Now, pin and sew the middle part of the sleeve to the sleeve opening, right sides together.

Continue sewing the shirt as per the pattern tutorial. For mine I used the 3/4 sleeve cuffs but you can certainly use the long cuffs.

Tadah! You just made yourself a trendy new shirt with a shoulder detail and colorblock sleeves!

Love the shoulder strip but prefer a short sleeve look?

No problem! Simply skip the color block sleeve. Attach the shoulder strip like I did for the shirt above and add the short sleeve cuff. Easy peasy!

Note: the pattern does not include a dress length. To achieve this look I simply widened the waist cuffs.

Alex

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I love seeing pattern hacks! Have you done one you’re proud of? Share it in the group in the Friday Pattern Hack album now through Sunday, midnight CST. Two winners will be chosen on Monday. Your pattern hack does not have to be done with Love Notions patterns. Just show us your creativity!