Don’t you just hate wasting fabric or having so many scraps that eventually you just throw away to make space for new ones? Fear not, Mood has a solution to your problem with the new Cadia Shirt. It’s a zero-waste or minimal-waste style that can be jazzed up in multiple ways by using fun prints and accessories! The only ‘waste’ comes in the form of a small oval that gets cut out for the neck hole, which can easily be turned into seam binding, a decorative applique, or saved for eco-friendly pillow stuffing!
Purchase Materials Used Below:
- 1.5-2 yards New Tobbaco Crinkled Cotton Voile, Black Watch Cotton Gauze, or Oscar De La Renta Ivory/Thyme/Black Linen-Silk Woven
- MDF270 – The Cadia Shirt Sewing Pattern (free download below!)
Alternative Recommended Fabrics:
A few notes before you get cutting and sewing:
- Depending on the size you’re making, you may be able to cut your garment along the weft or warp to get slightly different looks. For example, the pattern is drafted for a 44″ fabric, but we cut our brown sample from a 47″ option. Rather than cut it down to 60″ and lose all that waste, we simply made our tunic slightly longer. When you lengthen the tunic, it also lengthens your sleeve. This means more sleeve is gathered into the ‘armhole’ to create more volume!
- You can also add a belt or darts to create a more flattering shape.
- Take the fabric that was left from the neck hole and create a flower or some type of applique to avoid all waste!
- If you want to bind the neck hole, you can cut some fabric off the bottom of the tunic to create bias tape.
Step 1
Print out or draw the diagram directly onto your fabric with a washable marking tool.
Step 2
Mark your neck hole, armhole, and the slit on both sides.
Step 3
Fold neckline using a rolled hem. As an alternative method, you can serge or bias bind using scraps of fabric.
Step 4
Fold sleeves in half along the length and pin in place so it doesn’t move. Sew a double gathering stitch along the long, raw edge.
Step 5
Gather sleeves to fit between the ‘armhole’ notches in the side seams, pin, and sew face to face. Finish the edge using a serger, zig-zag stitch, or scrap binding.
Note: Make sure the gathers are evenly distributed and use many pins to keep them in place.
Step 7
Fold your shirt in half at the ‘shoulder seams’ face to face, and stitch from the sleeve to the top of the slit. Finish the edge using a serger, zig-zag stitch, or scrap binding.
Step 8
Roll hem the edges of the slit, pin, and stitch.
Step 9
Finish off the bottom with a rolled hem to the length of your choice!
Gorgeous top! Thank you
Can this be lengthened into a dress?
Hi Donna, we’re sorry for the delay in responding to your question! We get dozens of comments and questions each day, and so many questions get buried and, unfortunately, unanswered. We are now focusing user support on patterns 2 years and newer. We hope this will prevent questions on our more current patterns from going unanswered. Although this is late, we wanted to respond in case anyone else has the same question: yes this can be lengthened into a dress! We recommend just determining where the waist would be and adding elastic to the waist.
I think it’s really cool that you guys are dabbling into zero waste patterns, I think this is a revolutionizing new way to look at our fabric and our clothing. Thank you for this design, I think it’s a great way for beginner sewers to dip their toes in the zero waste fashion movement. For anyone interested, I would suggest you guys check out the finish project zww.fi their designs are no way near as size inclusive as they are here which is the greatest thing about mood patterns but they have very innovative ways of patterning the pieces for clothing.
I’ve made two of these so far out of different types of gauze and they’re stunning. It’s a very simple pattern to cut and follow, and the result is dramatic, but very wearable. It definitely looks better with a belt, but the ruffles offset the boxy shape of the tunic enough that it doesn’t look boring without cinching the waist. Next I’m going to try making one in a jersey knit, as well as a longer gauze version as a dress.
This is stunning
Love your patterns! I have no pretty waisting! Lol!
Good
Wonderful garment, thank you for the pattern. I made it with the Anna Sui lace from my mystery box and let the scallops be the sleeves and hemline…stunning AND no hemming!
A really nice patter, thanks for sharing it for free!!
Also, I wanted to ask – do you think it’ll be possible to combine this patter with a skirt, to make it a dress? Because I think it would look really pretty with a midi or maxi skirt, but I’m not sure if it’s a good idea :’D
Hi Mati, we’re sorry for the delay in responding to your question! We get dozens of comments and questions each day, and so many questions get buried and, unfortunately, unanswered. We are now focusing user support on patterns 2 years and newer. We hope this will prevent questions on our more current patterns from going unanswered. Although this is late, we wanted to respond in case anyone else has the same question: While we don’t recommend combining this pattern with a skirt pattern, this can be lengthened into a dress! We recommend just determining where the waist would be and adding elastic to the waist.
I am in love with this!!! I am attempting to make it without printing the pattern, by following the drafting suggestion on the pattern itself. It says to fold the fabric “double fold” and I would love clarity on what that means. Is it the same as “cut on fold” or is it folding fabric in half lengthwise then in half width wise to have 4 layer?
Thank you!
Hello there!
Thanks for visiting the Mood Sewciety Blog! We’re proud to have released over 350 free sewing patterns, and we hope you’re enjoying them.
Behind the scenes we’re a dedicated team of three, and we want to be able to offer top notch support. We have exciting plans for our patterns on the horizon, and as we continue to grow, we’ve decided to focus our sewist support on patterns from the last 2 years. If this pattern hasn’t been recently reduxed or updated, we won’t be able to respond to technical questions on these older posts.
If you come across any pattern errors, rest assured our team is on it – just let us know!
Don’t miss out on our Mood Sewciety Facebook Group – a fantastic space for fellow sewists to connect, share wins, and tackle challenges together.
Thank you for your understanding and happy sewing!
I made two of these. One in white cotton voile and another in viscoe (rayon). Both are my favorite spring and summer blouses! Make it cropped to the upper hip bone and wow! I found some great graffiti art fabric and every time I wear it people want to know where I purchased it!
Sounds great! I was just thinking this would be great in a shorter length, not quite a crop. I think a bold fabric is the way to go. You did not use the slits then or did you just shorten the slits?
This shirt style has very beautiful sleeves