Sew Along for McCall’s M8240

Click on the image above for a step by step sew along for M8240.

M8240 is a knit top with three different views, the views include a collar, placket, sleeve cuffs and a lower band. I made mine using a double brushed knit from Joann’s called Coconut Milk.

It is a fairly straight forward pattern to make just make sure to use a knit with a medium weight for this such as a double knit, sweater knit or even velour. Although I would suggest if you are a beginner stay away from the velour until you feel a lot more confident dealing with knits.

There are some errors on the instructions and a few notches didn’t quite match but nothing major, it is mostly on the collar but if you have sewn a collar before you should be able to tackle it. In addition, don’t forget to add elastic at the shoulders for reinforcement, that should have been mentioned on the pattern, but it is not.

I cut an XLarge size but I could have actually gone one size down! I realize the pattern is meant to have some ease but it still feels somewhat large for me.

Here are some of the adjustments I made:

• I raised the placket around 4 inches. I wanted to avoid adding buttons to this and I managed to get away from adding any buttons or snaps!

• I took in the sides around 1.5 inches on both sides. Back to that… I could have gone for a smaller size altogether.

• I reduced the width of my cuffs by half. The sleeves on this are long so if I went with the cuffs on the usual width I would have reduced the length of the sleeves by an inch.

• Next time I’m thinking of shortening the length on the top by around 2 inches.

Would I make it again? Absolutely. It’s a great pattern and it’s ripe for some good ol’ fashioned hacking!