Pattern hack alert! Meet Clem from Clemsoubi and her #Martha.

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Creating unique pieces to share on your blog or Instagram account to inspire others – the sew & social media combo is all the rage. And since the number of sewist-bloggers around the world is on the rise, Fibre Mood regularly presents a Sewista who has taken a Fibre Mood pattern and come up with a unique pattern hack. We present Clem from @clemsoubi and her #Martha pattern hack. Find out more about her beautiful creation here!

Clemsoubi

Hi! My name is Clem, I'm 33 years old and I live in the South-West of France.

I learned to sew with my mum and grandmother when I was quite young, but it has really been since I turned 20, when my friends gave me a sewing machine for my birthday (best gift ever!), that I have been sewing regularly.

I joined social media quite late, first as a spectator and then more actively since March 2019 with my own instagram account, @clemsoubi.

The discovery of sewing patterns was a big revelation but it's only recently that I dared to try hacking them. Since then, I have increasingly been adapting patterns to suit my tastes, body shape and desires!

I immediately fell in love with the Martha. I've always loved this shape for a trench coat with the added yokes on the upper part, however I wanted something that was even easier to wear than a trench coat, which I was finding a little tricky to figure out. I decided to make it into a sort of shirt, keeping the collar, which I love, the iconic yokes and the pretty raglan sleeves.

A guide for my Martha pattern hack

I left out a lot of the details that I think would have loaded the shirt a little too much, such as the pockets, the shoulders tabs, the cuffs and the belt. I only traced and cut the pieces that corresponded to the top of the coat (for the front, back and facings, only using one out of the two panels needed to make the trench coat). Once I had assembled everything, I cut the bottom of the garment 15 cm from the bottom of the front and back yokes. Please note, this makes it into a fairly short top, which suits me perfectly since I only wear high waists!

To finish, I created sleeve cuffs closed by wrist ties (3 cm x 20 cm once sewn) and I finished up by making a strip folded back on itself which sandwiches the bottom of the shirt, gathered to match the length of the strip (5 cm wide and, for the length, my waistline + 30 cm). Two press studs were added to this strip to close the shirt and voilà!

I wanted to make an even simpler version, without the bottom strip and without the sleeve cuffs, by making a simple hem, so as to wear it lined (or not) with high-waisted bottoms and rolled-up sleeves! Next up, a Rya overshirt in a pretty grey woollen fabric that I have had in my stock for a long time and which will be perfect for this project... but probably with some added contrasting details (I can't help myself!).

Clem

Would you like to make your own Martha? Buy the pattern here!

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