Blank Slate Patterns Prepster Pullover

Cold weather is finally upon us, so I put my latest Blank Slate Pattern to good use and sewed Ella a lovely Prepster Pullover (affiliate links). With the sleeve versatility of this pattern, she'll be able to wear it pretty much year round!

This post contains affiliate links. Although I was provided the pattern at no cost in exchange for my review, all opinions given are my own.

It's rare these days that my pretty little girl can wear a piece of clothing that isn't standard school attire. While the Prepster Pullover can easily be made to fit the bill for school in a solid fabric, I chose to make this particular blouse using beautiful London Calling lawn from Robert Kaufman. The blue floral print and drape of this fabric are both ideal for this design and a pleasure to sew.

The Prepster Pullover is full of details! While it may take more time to sew a blouse with a back yoke, button placket, mandarin collar, sleeve cuffs, and a curved hem, it is oh so worth it in the end! I love the pleat on the back of the shirt even though I accidentally made it an inverted pleat instead of a box pleat!

Mandarin-style collars and button plackets are my favorite lately as evidenced by several different blouses with similar collars and plackets that I've made Ella and myself over the past year. All the practice and the well-written pattern instructions from the Prepster Pullover definitely made sewing this collar and placket on quite easy.

I did add one little step to my collar construction that I thought made it even simpler to attach to the shirt. Before sewing the two collar pieces together, I pressed under the seam allowance on the bottom of one collar piece. Not only was it easier to press the collar before being sewn to the shirt, but it also provided a guide for sewing the other collar piece to the shirt. Also, I used Wonder Tape (1/4" double sided tape) to hold the folded under seam in place so that I could machine stitch rather than hand stitch.

I used the same method for attaching the sleeve cuffs as I did for attaching the collar. I took a few pictures of this step, so hopefully it makes a little more sense.

The image on the left shows where I pressed under one piece of the cuff (before I sewed it to the other cuff piece) and then used that as a guide to sew the raw edge of the cuff to the end of the sleeve.

The image on the right shows the cuff folded out and the raw edge of the seam tucked under the folded edge of the cuff. I then machine stitched the open cuff seam in place.

The Prepster Pullover offers two sleeve lengths, short or long. The long sleeve version is more versatile since you can use the button tabs to hold rolled up sleeves in place. This is the perfect blouse for Fall through Spring!

The last design element of the Prepster Pullover that I want to highlight is the curved shirt hem. While curved hems can be a little tricky to turn under, they add another element of professionalism to the look of this blouse.

Ella is growing so fast, and based on her measurements, I sewed a size 8 (the largest size currently available in this pattern). No adjustments were made, and the overall fit is spot on. She loves wearing this shirt on the weekends to play in because it is so comfy. I want one!

In fact, it was nearly impossible to get her to slow down long enough to take these photos!

Be sure to grab your copy of the Prepster Pullover from Blank Slate Patterns (affiliate links) and sew this amazing shirt for your own little girl or boy!

Until next time--have FUN sewing!