Pattern hack alert: meet Rina from Fragmentid and her #Norma top

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Making unique pieces, sharing them on your blog or Instagram and inspiring others: the combination of sewing and social media is extremely popular. And because the number of sewing blogsters in the fashion world keeps rising, Fibre Mood puts every month a Sewista in the spotlight who made an original pattern hack out of a Fibre Mood pattern. Meet Rina from Fragmentid and her #Norma pattern hack this month. Find out more about her beautiful creation here!

Hi! My Instagram is @fragmentid and I have been sewing since I was a kid, my mum was a seamstress and I sat by her machine from a young age.

I chose the Norma pattern because I really loved the sleeves of the Norma blouse and the way it sat at the shoulder and around the arm hole, but I wanted to create a round high neck blouse with buttons at the back.

Fragmentid Norma banner

A guide to my Norma pattern hack

My hack was quite simple, I put the front pattern piece on the fold at the centre line and took the neckline up to form a high round neck. I added 4 cm to the back centre line (for button overlap). I also used a sleeve about 2 sizes up – as I wanted extra fullness, and I lengthened it by about 8 cm.

I came up to the idea because I had seen similar styles in high end fashion, and loved the drama of the high neck and big sleeve. I had seen some patterns I could have used, but many had off the shoulder sleeves, and being narrow shouldered I liked where the sleeves sat on the Norma blouse.

I am also a total pattern hacker, even if I buy a pattern I really like I always end up hacking it, to make it fit better, or for a visual effect. I feel if you get the basis of the design in a well drafted pattern, through the hacks you can definitely make it fit your body better. Also you can get individuality, so through one pattern you can get many variations, which makes it less run of the mill, and is much more economical than always buying new patterns.

These are the things that are on my to-do sewing list: very high on the list is a Norma blouse dress hack – I have made a few Wildergown dresses, but don’t love the neck and sleeves, so am going to replace the bodice with the Norma blouse, in linen I want to make one with the V neck as per the standard Norma, and in a floral green georgette I want to make one with the high round neck (buttons at back).

Interested in making your own Norma top? Buy the pattern here!

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