CAbi Knock - Off Ballet Arm Warmers

So you guys know I always go to my friend's CAbi parties and I never buy anything. CAbi clothes are nice and seem to be well made. Many of their tops are cute and they usually have several cute knit tops but they are expensive. I will spring for expensive items here and there (Hello silk fabric!) but overall, I’m pretty frugal. I’d rather make a knit top than spend $50 on one. My second complaint is the fit. Almost nothing fits me. Granted, I’m on the smaller end of things but I’m certainly no size 0. CAbi’s smallest size is 0 and it’s usually too big for me. Can you say vanity sizing? I used to feel bad about going and never buying but the consultant knows my game now and runs over to show me all the new CAbi details each time she sees me at a party now. It’s like our little joke. She appreciates my talents and I appreciate her fashion sense because I have none. None.

Anyway, where was I going with all this? Oh yea. The one item that I knew I needed from their fall collection was the Ballet Arm Warmers. They are for your arms, what Dickeys were for your neck. Remember Dickeys?? They come complete with thumbholes, my favorite part of any jacket and shirt. Remember, I live in Alaska. It’s cold here!

Here’s the CAbi photo from their website. The idea is you can wear them under your dresses, sleeveless blouses, and short-sleeved tops. They also showed them over some of their tanks like this.

 

Here they have a vest paired with the arm warmers and it makes it look like a jacket.

 

 

I made two versions for myself this weekend. One version was from a one-yard sample from the San Diego Swap Meet and the black one is the Nike Dri-Fit fabric. I still have it in my Etsy shop). I can’t get away from that fabric. It calls to me for every pattern. This version is a heather brown.

 

Thumbholes!!!

 

Here are the “tops” under a random t-shirt. You could also wear it like a shrug.

 

Here’s the black version. This one was the first version and the sleeves are a bit long. I fixed that on the brown version.

 

In a day or two, I’ll show you what I did to make this. It was pretty easy but I did end up scratching my head over a couple thing because the pattern piece looks so weird.