A colour block White Russian

Today I made a sweatshirt. Not the most exciting garment to talk about I'll admit, but this one turned out way better than I was expecting, so it gets its own blog post!

My plans for sewing a sweatshirt were hatched after I was sent some rather lovely Andover Jersey samples by the Village Haberdashery. I wanted to see what two different colours would look like used together and the idea for a colour block sweatshirt was born. The pattern I used was the White Russian from Capital Chic, which I've sewn up once before here. I made a few adjustments last time for a closer fit and made some further tweaks for this version: 

- Increased the sleeve length by 5cms. 

- Lengthened the front and back pieces by 6cms.

- Added 1.5cms to the side seams.

Looking at these photos there's one other adjustment I'll made next time round - reduce the size of the neck band. At the moment, there's a slight hint of Vicar's Dog Collar going on! Apart from that I'm pleased with the final fit - the additional bit of room means I can wear an extra layer underneath without everything becoming too tight for comfort.  

The pattern specifics sweatshirt fabric, but the 100% cotton Andover Jersey knit I used was a perfectly good substitute. It's a medium weight knit fabric with a decent amount of stretch and good recovery. There was a bit of curling up after I'd cut the pieces, but nothing a good press couldn't sort out and overall it was a lovely quality fabric to work with. It's obviously not as cosy as a sweatshirt knit, but it still has a good weight to it and feels pretty warm and toasty too! It's worth noting that the fabric is wider than average (178cms), so I only needed 75cms of each colour and still had plenty left.

The Andover collection includes some gorgeous bright colours, but me being me, I was drawn to two of the more subdued ones for my sweatshirt: Cypress for the body (it appears to be out of stock at the moment) and Celadon for the arms and neckband. Both colours are a bit greener in real life than they appear in these photos and I really like the two together, they're very serene!

I think for my next version I'll be brave and mix up prints and solids together. Here are a few gorgeous versions that have inspired me:

Rachel's super classy Geneva sweatshirt 

Winnie's cool floral Linden sweatshirt

Josie's amazing faux leather Linden sweatshirt

They make me want to sew another one immediately!

This is the last thing on my cold weather sewing list to be completed and I'm amazed I've actually made everything on it. I suppose the threat of not being warm enough is a pretty good incentive to get sewing. Now that all my practical, cold weather basics are out of the way, I might just have to start thinking about summer dresses…! x

Fabric was given to me free of charge for review. All views my own.

A cable knit Mabel

Plans for jumper making had to be swiftly re-jigged this week on discovering that I only had a metre of Aran-style sweater knit to play with. What possessed me to only buy one measly metre?! It's nigh on impossible to cut out a jumper from one metre - those pesky long sleeved pattern pieces take up a lot of space. The thick, cabled fabric would have looked daft made into a short sleeved version, so there was only one thing for it….make a skirt instead. 

I used the Mabel pattern from Colette which I've used twice before (here and here), both times using a double knit. Although my fabric is chunky and cable-y, it's not actually as stable as a double knit, so the finished skirt is a bit roomier than my other versions. This is no bad thing though, given my current post-Christmas shape! I used scraps left over from my gingham Agnes dress for the waistband lining and they blended in perfectly. 

I sewed the whole skirt on my overlocker and it was on track to become the fastest item of clothing I'd ever sewn - until I got to the hem. I'm not sure if it was the cabling that my machine didn't like, but try as I might, I just couldn't get it to sew straight stitches on this fabric without looping. I tried every type of needle (stretch, jersey, ballpoint and double) and every combination of tension and stitch type but it wasn't having any of it. In the end I had to hand sew the hem. No great tragedy, but a bit tiresome given that it could have been hemmed in about 20 seconds with a double needle.

All's well that ends well though - my finished Mabel is all set to be a skirt version of a pair of PJ bottoms. It's so cosy and comfortable and perfect for days like yesterday when it was miserable outside and all I wanted to do was lounge on the sofa and watch TV. Happily, it's also presentable enough to wear outside the house and is a bit more interesting to look at than my previous Mabel skirts. It's not exactly what I had in mind for this fabric but it'll do fine. 

In other cold weather sewing news, my Karen dress is almost finished (now that really is a super fast sew!) and the fabrics for my White Russian sweatshirt are currently waiting to be cut out. I'll keep you updated! x

Cold weather sewing

The word on the street (as Huggy Bear would say) is that the UK weather is due to turn distinctly inclement. Phrases such as 'Arctic blast' are being bandied about by BBC weather people, which has forced me to bring a couple of knit garments straight to the top of my sewing queue. 

As easy as they are to sew, I do find sewing with knits a bit boring, which is why I've decided to liven things up a bit by trying out a new pattern. It's the Maria Denmark Karen drape dress - as chic and classy as my sewing pal of the same name.

I like the fact that the dress can perform equally well as a casual dress (with boots and a cardi) or tarted up a bit with heels for the evening. The detail that reeled me in was the draped section that artfully skims over the stomach - yes! The fabric recommendation is for a knit with 5 -10% spandex so I've chosen this lovely tropical French Terry knit from Girl Charlee UK - it's soft and drapey so should work well. 

Second on my cold weather sewing list isn't quite so exciting - it's a sweatshirt. Come back, come back, it's not that boring I swear! I was originally going to use this lovely Aran sweater knit fabric from Miss Matatabi  (the fabric has since sold out unfortunately).

My plan was to make this into a fab snuggly jumper for the cold weather. But then Annie from the Village Haberdashery sent me samples of the Alison Glass Andover Jersey knits and I was torn - so many lovely colours to tempt me! The pattern I'm thinking of is the Capital Chic White Russian sweatshirt which I've made once before here. I fiddled about with that version and amended the pattern so it should be a quick, easy sew. I do think that two different colours (one for the body, one for the sleeves) works really well on this pattern, so that could be the way to go instead of the cable knit. What do you think? Cable knit effect or baseball style? Or one of each?!

I already have a wardrobe full of handmade knits, so this little batch should be enough to see me through the forthcoming Arctic blast!  Have a good week. x

White Russian Sweatshirt - Jane style

It's been COLD in London recently. So cold in fact that three layers often aren't enough to stop me whingeing.  So when I saw that Emmie was selling off some sweater knit from her stash, I snapped it up. The intention was to make another Bonnie sweater, but lengthen the body a little to keep out the chill. I obviously wasn't paying attention to the description (fleecy insides, tubular knit) because when it arrived I realised it was actually a sweatshirt knit - which as we all know is a very different beast.

Sweater knits for the Bonnie pattern need to have 40-50% stretch which, even yanking it as far as I could, I was never going to achieve with a sweatshirt knit. Sweatshirt knits are far more stable and bulky, with surprisingly little stretch. All was not lost however, I liked the colour - a deep, forest green - and the fleecy, warm insides of the fabric were very tantalising. I would make a sweatshirt instead. I've never made a sweatshirt before and don't own any patterns, so after perusing what was on offer I settled on the White Russian sweatshirt by Capital Chic Patterns. The pattern is designed specifically for sweatshirt fabric which was exactly what I wanted - no faffing around trying to guesstimate stretch percentages. The pattern also comes with suggestions to use pre-quilted jersey fabric or customise with an appliquéd initial (very, very unlikely) or one of the animal head templates included (never in a million years!).

I chose my size(s) according to the finished measurements, cutting a 12 at the top and a 10 for the bottom half and the sleeves. From cutting out, the top took me just 1.5 hours to sew together. Half of that time was spent sewing up the basic raglan-sleeved sweatshirt, the rest was spent sewing the neckline, cuffs and hem bands which were a bit more fiddly. Capital Chic patterns are written with intermediate sewers in mind and this is reflected in the instructions. They're clear and to the point, bang, bang, bang, with no unnecessary flannel, which I quite liked. There's no mention of pressing anything in the version I made, the assumption being that you should already know to press seams and pieces for a professional finish. Unless you're me that is….it was only after trying to attach a cuff that curled in all directions that I realised a bit of pressing wouldn't go amiss!

First version - not really me

Showing boxiness whilst doing a monkey impression 

The finished waist measurement is the same as the finished hip measurement, which results in quite a boxy fit. This relaxed fit might work for some people - just not me and my obsession with a nipped in waist. I could have worn it as it was, but knew I'd feel frumpy in it, so I made a few changes:

Shortened sleeves (what's new?)

Shortened body 

Sorted out boxy fit

Removed cuffs and waistband (I just didn't like them)

I  fiddled with the first version and ended up totally ruining it in the process (I chopped the cuffs and waistband off which resulted in the sleeves and body being way too short, whoops!) I had plenty of fabric though, so cut a second version. This time I omitted the cuffs and waistband, just adding half an inch to the original body to allow for a hem. I also tapered in the side seams quite significantly to create a definite waist.  

The sleeves are the correct length when they're not twisted! 

The result may not be to everybody's taste and it certainly moves away from the original sweatshirt look of the pattern. It works much better for me though, and the changes I made will ensure I actually wear it. More importantly, it's soooo cosy and warm! Next up, shirt making. Woo hoo! x