Poncho + FREE Sewing Pattern

It’s winter at the bottom of the world. And Cape Town is known as the Cape of Storms for a very good reason. The weather gets hectic – howling gales and driving rain. It’s a wet cold. Yet few homes have central heating or double glazing. We live in Africa, duh. So when a person is already wearing a vest, one or more long sleeve tees, a sweater, plus maybe even a hoodie it starts to get difficult to still squeeze into a jacket. Enter the poncho. Good thing ponchos are this season’s must have item.

Sneaky me, I try them on and look to see how they’re made. How long and how wide. And go home and make my own version. A green ribbed velvet poncho? Yes please.

You need: –

• fabric
• matching colour thread
• sewing machine
• sewing scissors
• pins

You do: –

Cut your poncho as per the FREE sewing pattern.

Hem around the edge of your poncho. If your fabric looks like it will fray the zig-zag or over-lock around the edge first.

Now measure and mark the opening for your head as per the pattern. I used tape measure and a small piece of dried soap. White chalk will also do as it washes out.

Cut neck opening. Again zig-zag or over-lock any raw edges and sew neck area flat.

Also sew up the side areas leaving space for your arms to fit through.

I stupidly went and cut my neck a bit longer and wider thinking my poncho would never fit over my head. Mistake. But I added two pieces on each side to rectify it as per the photos.

It looks fine with the “repair” job as you can see. Actually it re-enforces that area as my fabric is really heavy.

Don’t forget to have a look at the Galleries at the top of the page. I have 100’s of DIYs and more FREE sewing patterns.

Have a great green week.

Greenie.