Nancy Raglan

This weekend I had time to try the Nancy Raglan from 5 out of 4 Patterns for the first time!

I love this pattern!

You can probably see that I was inspired by the pattern’s own cover photo.

Everyone loves raglans because they’re so easy and this one is no different.

This pattern comes with the cowl neck option I used (as opposed to other designers sell it as an add on).  It also comes with a nursing option built in, not as a blog-hack, another nice feature.

I used a really thick french terry from Knitpop to copycat the cover photo.

The assembly is pretty standard (sleeves to the back, sleeves to the front, side seams).  One thing to point out is that the pattern pieces don’t have notches for the front and back, so if those are something you like, might want to add them.

This french terry was thick, but actually really fun to work with because it doesn’t slide around on my cutting mat like thinner fabric. It was a satisfying sound as my rotary cutter went through it too.  Make sure you’re replacing your blades often so you get a clean edge!  Really important on this fabric for sure.

I struggle with neckbands.  For me, I have to clip at 1/8ths or 16ths to get the stretch even. Luckily I have tons of clips.  This cowl was so much easier than doing a neckband with this thick fabric would have been.  Same rule applies for me though, lots of clips!

Raglan Roundup

For comparison, here’s two other raglans I’ve posted about – I put the Nancy Raglan in the middle because I feel like it’s the middle road in terms of flowy.  Just enough to hide imperfections, but not enough to feel unflattering.  It’s not fitted like the slim fit, but I think it looks better on me without a belt than the Mama Nina (a swing dress) does.