Vintage style Bonnie Sweater

Sometimes a pattern comes along that just seems to click. It looks exactly as you imagined, the fit is good and it blends in seamlessly with the rest of your wardrobe. That's just happened to me with my first make of the Bluegingerdoll Bonnie Sweater!! It's a vintage-inspired sweater for knit fabrics and comes in three variations with lots of mix and match options. 

I bought it mid-way through reading Handmade by Heather B's review as I was so impressed with how it looked on her. At that point, it was a new release and only available as a PDF, which just goes to show how keen I was to make it! (I loathe PDFs). For those of you with similar anti-PDF tendencies, you'll be pleased to hear it's now available as a paper pattern (available here in the UK). To be fair, it didn't take that long to tile it together and I only made minimal fitting changes, so I barely felt any pain.

Anyway, back to Bonnie. I made View A (the cropped version with the crew neck) with long sleeves and following Heather's example, I lowered the neckline by an inch (adding half an inch to each end of the neckband to make it fit). I also shortened the arms by an inch as I am in fact descended from a T-Rex. Based on the finished measurements, I cut a size 12 at the bust, grading to a 10 at the waist and hips and this was almost a perfect fit. The shoulders seem a tiny bit wide, so I may narrow them to a 10 on my next version, but other than that I didn't make any other fitting adjustments. The cropped bodice section did look pretty short when I was making it, especially before the waistband was added, but I'm glad I didn't make any panic stricken changes as the finished length is really flattering. The side seams narrow at exactly the right place and by some kind of sewing sorcery, make your waist appear tiny.

The design has slightly gathered sleeves which was the only thing about the pattern I was sceptical about, but now I've made it, I think they're lovely.

You can see the gathered sleeves more in this picture

They're very subtle and pretty and hardly even look gathered most of the time, just when I'm striking poses or putting my hands in my pockets.

For fabric I used a grey poly/wool jersey blend, with cream polka dots, which I picked up from Katie in a sewing swap. It only just had enough stretch to be suitable for this pattern, but I'm so pleased it worked because it's very cosy to wear. Once the pattern pieces are cut out, it doesn't take much more than an hour to put together, it's definitely a quick, easy make. I made it during a sewing afternoon with a few pals and even with constant chat and distractions I still whipped it up in no time. The overlocker was already threaded up with red thread, so I did my usual lazy party trick of just changing the left needle thread. Magic! The seams are grey, but the insides are all red and pretty!

I'm currently on the hunt for some good quality wool jerseys or sweater knits to make a few more. I'll probably try the Goldhawk Road first, but if anybody has any online recommendations, please let me know.  

There are several great knit top patterns out in the wild, but the reason I like this one is because all the details work for me and my own personal style. I love the vintage look, the neat fit and the fact that I'm now the owner of a polka dot sweater! It adds a bit of pizzazz to a pair of jeans and works perfectly with skirts and high waisted 1940's strides, I couldn't be happier! x