Earlier this fall I stormed the fabric store and purchased a bunch of cozy wintery fabrics for the season.
I'm not a fan of cut and sew sweaters, but this fabric begged me to take it home. What makes a knit a sweater anyway? It's the stitches per inch. And there are diverging theories on what number that is but in general it's about anything less than 9 per inch makes it a sweater. I might be blasted for that? Anybody have the true answer?
This fabric is 100% wool and it was purchased at The Mill End Store in Milwaukee, Or for 15.99 per yard. Yikes! I splurged on this one and it was worth it.
I wanted to make a cowl neck so I bought patter 8597 from Vogue. I read the pattern reviews that it wasn't as deep as the drawing on the envelope and by the way I always worry when there isn't a photo too. I altered the neck so it would be a little deeper by slashing and spreading the front as below
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| Used this technique from Pattern Making for Fashion Design by Helen Joseph Armstrong |
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| Then I squared off the center front. |
I realized with the finished product that I should have slashed again further down so that cowl would sag deeper into the front but anyway lesson learned for next time.
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The sweater is super long but I also have not hemmed it yet- lazy
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This fabric is a little shear so the pretty seam allowances show as a detail
I used a tiny zigzag stitch for the seams and did a double row. Then I was able to trim very close to the outside row in order to create a finished seam look with out a serger. When do I splurge for one of those folks? Before or after the new computer and Vita Mix blender? |
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| This is the back neck, it wraps around from the front which is an interesting detail |
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| This is a better view of the front neck |
I also hand stitched the sleeve hems. This garment is pretty delicate and will certainly need to be dry cleaned. I wore it tucked into dress pants at work and it was too long. I just purchased a cute pair of slim pants from J Crew that I probably could make myself but, anyway, I didn't. This would look better over those. I guess I should hem the thing.
Ok kids, off to Christmas shop. The mall opens in one hour. Next I'll show you to cool sewing history book I got for my birthday!
I love this sweater! To me it doesn't look like the cowl isn't deep enough, but I do know what you mean.
ReplyDeleteI love your dress form, do you remember where you got it? I need to order one.
Hello Heather: the thing about the cowl is it droops low, but the "drape" part is really high. I don't know if I'm saying that right. I got the dress form at the Alameda Antique Fair a few years ago. It's vintage- and by vintage I mean it says 10 but it's really like a 6. I love it though- I think I paid 100$ bucks for it.
ReplyDeleteI love how your top turned out! Thank you so much for sharing your technique!!
ReplyDeleteGreat sweater! I think I have this same fabric from Mill End in Milwaukee (my favorite!). Is it sort of on the bias? I have had this fabric in my stash for over a year and have yet to make it into something. This tunic is really nice! I think I may even have this pattern as well (I'm kind of a pattern hoarder). We should chat sometime as I believe we are co-workers! -Stephanie
ReplyDeleteGreat sweater......
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