How to Make a Cuddle® Wear Ever Wrap - Free Project Tutorial

Misty: Amy, thank you so much for being here with me again today! You are such a great friend of us here at Missouri Star. I appreciate you coming.

Amy: Well I'm right down the road, so I thought I'd bring you some some new ideas for Cuddle.

Misty: I love it! This is a great idea for you know, it's the gifting season. Christmas is right around the corner, so if you need something for those holiday parties or you know for you know just a quick gift to give to your friends then this is a great way to do that!

And so Amy and I are wearing some of her patterns that she has made up using Cuddle.

Amy: Yes, originally we didn't think about Cuddle for these patterns. But well the Anytime Topper which I'm wearing, we made in a lot of you know more summer fabrics or like yarn dyed wovens and things like that. But then my mom made this up in the Cuddle and we were like... so cozy for
winter time right?

Misty: It's perfect. It's so cozy for winter time.

Amy: And then you're wearing the Wear Ever Wrap which is...

Misty: I think it's just so great to you know put over a dress or just to elevate an outfit and just add a little warmth as well, so great options for both of these. So we we actually did a tutorial with Amy on the Anytime Topper, so you can go back and check that out. And then we're going to dive into all these different types of cuddle and texture you can get.
So tell us some of the things you've learned, and we'll go from there.

Amy: Yes, we're going to talk about some tools and techniques and but first of all just the the variety that is offered, whether it be color, whether it be pattern. So I was just going to walk you through some of these texture. So first of all we have Pony over here, so if you want to go for a little Western theme. In fact the Wear Ever Wrap comes in a mother/daughter or adult and child sizing and we made a pair of the Pony which I thought was kind of fun.

Then this is Paloma. It has a lot more texture and this one we actually photographed with my neighbor's daughter wearing the Paloma and then along with the mink and so think of this fabric for weddings! You know if you have a strapless dress...

Misty: Just to add some sleeves.

Amy: This fabric is beautiful.

Misty: Yes, it really is.

Amy: And then thinking of holiday parties, this emerald in the Oxford.

Misty: I was going to say, that is stunning.

Amy: Well and this you know just with a little black dress and you know some fun jewelry.

Misty: A great pair of earrings and you're ready to go.

Amy: You know, when we're talking about the the Lux Cuddle what you want to think about is a little bit about the weight of it. The Lux Cuddles are great for like the Wear Ever Wrap, but there are a few like Arctic is one that just gets too dense and too heavy. So when you are shopping, Hide is this pink, this blush I believe, and it's perfect for the Wear Ever Wrap.

Misty: It's more of a midweight it seems like.

Amy: Yes. It's lovely to sew. I mean use lots of pins - that's our rule of
thumb. This is Mountain Fox.

Misty: It's pretty too.

Amy: And it's the pewter/beige colorway I believe. But I love that for
just, even this kind of looks great with denim and jeans for a totally
casual, fun fashion.

Misty: Well and it's a great way to add the texture of fur that's obviously you know a little bit more sustainable and friendly to our animal friends which we love,

Amy: Yes we do! We'll stick to Luxe Cuddle for our animal. Then this is mink. This pattern again, this one we've done in that was the matching combination I mentioned.

Misty: Yeah I love this one. It's really beautiful. I don't know without seeing it in person if I would have picked it online but seeing this this beautiful
dusty pink is so pretty.

Amy: Yes I think that's the Rose Water colorway - it's gorgeous. Just a little different than the blush over here. And then you know if you want to a solid this is a nice rich you know kind of a deep chocolatey brown and that's the marble. I think all the varieties of texture add so much fun to
this.

Misty: Absolutely, and it just goes to show that you can find something for everyone. Like one of these is going to appeal to everyone, and if you have not felt these they are just like heaven. Like we could just all lay on here and take a nap for a minute because they're just so snugly and warm.

Amy: Yeah I read... I saw insanely soft and that is exactly these are.

Misty: They're the best.

Amy: Yes. This one, I love wearing it and it's beautiful. The last one there is what you have on which is the Seal. And again that's a little denser and a little heavier, so you just have to be aware.

Misty: It feels like a warm hug like you're just, it's just so cozy and wonderful and I love it. Again, I like that I could just put this on over a little
black dress and be headed out to a party and be ready to go.

Amy: Well and one thing I want to mention too is you're wearing the Wear Ever Wrap with an open sleeve, not gathered. And then we also have
behind you is a version again in that Mountain Fox texture but that has the elastic sleeve and we actually have a photograph of my neighbors who help model for me. She's sitting on her couch in her beautiful family room. But again these are great to put on if you're just reading a book, watching
TV, just wherever you are.

Misty: Absolutely! So do you want to talk about some tips about and the tools you use working with these?

Amy: So when we're working with the Cuddle you definitely want to use the flat headed pins so you can see what you're doing. The other thing I like is either a seam gauge or I even use this hot ruler for measuring and I can show you. So when you make the Wear Ever Wrap, this is this is the pattern and you're going to be adding a hem around the arm opening
and then you're going to be adding a casing for elastic, if you choose to have the gathered sleeve. When you're pinning for either the hem or the casing, what I like to do is use this ruler and then measure. Whatever measurement I have, I can use the ruler either an inch you know inch and a half we do an inch casing... But what you can do is then you can use the ruler to mark because sometimes it's hard to see.

Misty: Do you need a hand with those?

Amy: You know what, sure Misty! So you snugly put your ruler against
your fold and then mark it on each side. So then I usually end up marking it on each side and then going ahead and marking it in in the middle as well.

Misty: And you can see how those pins, even with the large flat head, they just kind of disappear and so you definitely want these types of pins when you're working with these denser Cuddles.

Amy: So I just move along and pin and then eventually come back and add more. Because that's the other thing with this working with this fabric. You really want to pin well because it does have...

Misty: It has a little bit of shifting because of the softness of the the fabric and you know it's not cotton on the back. And so it's just going to have a little bit of give, but it's worth it to take the time and make it easy for you to sew because it really is beautiful to sew once you have it pinned in place.

Amy: And you're so happy with the finished product.

Misty: Absolutely.

Amy: Well and you know the other... once you have your casing made for
your sleeve then you would want to, if you're going to go ahead and add
elastic you know. Of course there's always a giant safety pin, but the tool that I love I'm going to show you is this Clover Loop Turner and the two of them come in the package. But the way that you use this and this is great if like your kids have a drawstring hood as they do when you wash
them right this tool will come in handy. So a lot of times I'll leave my opening for my elastic someplace else other than right at the seam, but on this particular sample I have it right at the seam so then what you're going to do is you insert your elastic in this little clip and then you also draw it through this hole just to really lock it in place. Then you won't lose it when you're halfway through drawing it through. This has a nice long handle. So you then will just slide your elastic all the way through and I don't know that I have a long enough piece at the moment to take it all the way through, but you get the idea.

Misty: Yeah absolutely that's a great tool.

Amy: So yes this is another great Clover product. The other thing that I do
with the the pattern is you actually get videos in these new patterns I've done and even a lookbook. So I thought maybe we I could show you some
pages from the lookbook.

Misty: Absolutely let's do it.

Amy: And again the nice thing I that also is we have lots of really nice
pictures in the pattern and then there'll be a QR code that'll take you
to the lookbook and the videos. But these I wanted to show you their specific instructions for the Luxe Cuddle and working with the fabric.

Misty: Oh that's great!

Amy: And there's that cute little dress.

Misty: So cute, that's awesome.

Amy: And really two yards will make any size. And we're going to talk a little bit about the options, but here you can see just what the the lookbook goes through and shows you different styles gives you even ideas of you know combinations of fashion using different fabrics.

Misty: Because it doesn't have to be Cuddle. This could be a great you know any time of the year option. But you know for the holidays coming up, this is perfect.

Amy: Yes so there's my neighbor Tori that I was telling you about. She's wearing the red one with the black dress. And there's the Mountain Fox, so you get the idea of the fun.

Misty: And I think you mentioned, you can get Cuddle in two yard cuts. We often have those and so you have this figured out so that we get what with a two yard cut.

Amy: Yes with a two yard cut , you can get two adult or one adult and two child.

Misty: That's awesome. So again perfect if you want to make one for yourself and one to give away. It's a great way to really utilize that fabric and make the most of it.

Amy: I love the snowy owl.

Misty: It's so beautiful.

Amy: Wouldn't this be fun for a wedding? I just think a bride with a

Misty: Oh a wintertime bride, absolutely. I thought I was getting married in spring. I got married at the end of March, and then it snowed on my wedding day so that would have been perfect for me.

Amy: And look at this. I love this color. There's just so...

Misty: You can have so much fun with these beautiful textures.

Amy: Yeah textures and colors. I think of all sorts of even for like if
you're getting dressed up for Halloween and you want you know you want something just to cover and keep you warm.

Misty: Absolutely they're so fun! Well I think this is such a wonderful project, Amy. And I really appreciate you bringing it and again let's show both of those patterns one more time cuz I am wearing the Wear Ever Wrap and you have this one. I have this one here and it is like a warm hug. And Amy has on the Anytime Topper. And both of these have amazing extras with them. Right you've included extra videos, lookbooks, all kinds of tips to make sewing them even easier and so they're just wonderful patterns for you to pick up and enjoy. So I hope you guys enjoyed this deep dive to learn a little bit about all these Cuddle textures. Amy - anything else you want to share?

Amy: Do you want to see some other fabrics that we made the Wear Ever wrap out of?

Misty: I would love to.

Amy: We've done a lot with the Anytime Topper with the video that we filmed. So people have seen you know yarn dyes and flannels in this pattern. But I'd love to show you a few of the other options for the Wear Ever Wrap.

Misty: Let's do that! Let's clear some of this Cuddle out of the way
and we'll come back and show you that.

Misty: All right. So like Amy mentioned this is not a project only for Cuddle. So she has brought a bunch of other samples to talk about, so let's go
through these.

Amy: Yes, well the pattern lends itself to cotton knits. I mean really we'll even get into an upcycled option you'll never guess. So here we have a
rayon batik and you can just see how gorgeous. And because it's dyed if you do happen to see the the wrong side of the fabric either through the armhole or through the sleeve. I love the gauze, this might be...

Misty: Double gauze is so beautiful.

Amy: Yes and you know the fun thing with the gauze is you could actually um make a little bag and roll this wrap up and keep it in your

Misty: Perfect for travel right?

Amy: Right. If you're at a restaurant with a little air conditioning that's a little. And then another one of my favorite fabrics is the shot cotton, Kaffe Fassett's shot cotton. And this particular color you can see sometimes those shot cottons have two different color yarns, so you get almost like an iridescence.

Misty: Kind of glow to it.

Amy: Yeah and the fun thing too that lends itself to the cotton or that
type of fabric is the sleeve lengths. So this pattern not only has three
different sizes, but it has three different sleeve lengths. So you have a wrist, you have a 3/4, and then above the elbow. So this particular is the above the elbow style and I have a fun picture of my daughter wearing it. But the other thing to think about too when you're thinking about different fabrics, you might use different widths of elastic sure so you
can see here we went with a smaller width because of the fabric where we
wouldn't go this small if we were making it out of the Cuddle.

Misty: Absolutely. Well and you know if you're doing it out of cotton, it can change the style that you get and so you might have a preference even like maybe you still want the wider elastic but it will definitely look different.

Amy: Yes. In fact with the knit that we did we did a really wide elastic and it just it it does give it a little different styling. Now for... well I'm wearing
one. So this was actually a quilt top that really didn't lend itself to be
quilted into a quilt. It was a little wonky and and so we put it the piece and it wasn't big enough it was a you know somebody's orphan yeah um out
there so we did go ahead and add a really lightweight lining to it.

Misty: Sure so so you didn't have the raw seams, but it's so fun.

Amy: And then the vintage version inspired us to try doing a pieced version. I love that with combining. Again this is Kaffe, some of his prints, his stripes and the shot cotton and really what I love about this is it shows how even if you're thinking of quilting and combining the different substrates they do work well together. These fabrics just have beautiful
drape. So again we did add a bigger cuff on the sleeve, and you could of course gather. And another thinking of a little bit of upcycling or recycling, this was actually a vintage tablecloth .

Misty: Oh I love that!

Amy: So you can imagine how gorgeous this is with just wearing it as sleeves. Could be elegant again for you know a cocktail party, but at the same time really fun casual wear. And then of course there's Christmas morning right yes and everybody has their matching PJs - I've seen your family picture.

Misty: Oh we do. We go all out!

Amy: Well this year Misty you need to make everybody polar fleece matching Wear Ever Wraps for Christmas morning. Either the candy cane or I do love this just traditional. You can wear this one all winter long, but it does. You know polar fleece is easy to work with. So again you know with this with any thicker fabric you do want a wider casing in that thicker elastic.

Misty: I love that!

Amy: Yup there it is. The Wear Ever Wrap yes and we're always
thinking up new ideas for it.

Misty: We always love your patterns Amy, because they're just so versatile and there's so many options. So thank you for coming and being willing to share more of your expertise and be sure to check out all of her patterns. And you have a newsletter, so where can people find you?

Amy: amybarickman.com and yes be sure to sign up for my newsletter. I send it out regularly with you know my best ideas new patterns. When I get to come visit Misty, I might share my travel story. And you know of course finding vintage treasures like these is another one of my favorite things to share.

Misty: Absolutely. Well hopefully we'll see you again real soon!

Amy: Thanks Misty it was fun being here.

Misty: Absolutely! We'll see you all later!