Giants

I'm back! 

No more exam marking, I've finished work for the summer, no obligations on my time except what I choose to do - lovely, just lovely. We've had three days of dry weather in Northern Ireland and so DH and I headed to the North Coast for a change of scene to stay with my parents for a few days in their holiday home. Teenage son was already there staying with his own friends. The Giant's Causeway has  cliff walk above it - right at the top, along the edge and I've never walked it, so this was a priority activity over the weekend. 

Giant's Causeway from the cliff edge

 Look at all the little people climbing and crawling over the rocks of the causeway far below us. The cliff walk takes you to the organ pipes - rocks that formed liked columns when the volcano erupted and hold the cliff edge up! This was my first time to see these up close and my dad tried to do some trick photography.

That's me supposed to be standing on his shoulders - Standing on the shoulders of giants - didn't quite work so let me tell you about my cross-over jumper instead. Easy-peasy cutting and sewing, made in about 2 hours max.

Another pattern from the German stable and is slightly avant garde - if you can have 'slightly'? A giant jumper with a twist.

 No fitting issues here as the jumper is very, very loose and baggy. It is simply two giant rectangles for back and front - the front one being twisted before sewing bottom to shoulder. Two small rectangles folded to form the sleeves and all edges finished in whatever method you can. My sleeves are only half the length they should be due to translation problems but they look fine.

The fabric is a fine, bright pink knitted rib - not sure of the fibre content - but you need need something that has drape and no 'wrong' side as the twist at the front turns the fabric inside out.

The front pulls the side seams forwards, hence the shape below.

Plenty of room to grow

 What else can I say, easy to cut out, easy to sew and very easy to wear! A casual wear winner. A giant jumper for a giant day out at the Giant's Causeway.

 Look, we do have blue skies in Northern Ireland.
If you want to know more about the Giant's Causeway click here. If you want to browse the German Pattern Company click here.

Thanks for reading. Ruth

Green Sweater - Finished

Centre back

 I took a day off to think about the neck line for the lime green sweater, but I'm afraid I took the conservative way out - nothing avante garde - and opted for a simple polo (turtle) neck. As the pattern I was working from was for a shirt with a collar I had to draft my own design. I measured my head circumference (22", is that big?) and widened the neck edge to match. I made a tube (22" long) from the remaining rib fabric, added a centre back seam, folded the fabric over to hide the raw seam edges and attached to the neck edge. I top-stitched the seam allowance to give extra stability and reduce fraying.

 The polo neck can be styled in a relaxed fashioned by just letting it fold as it wants and I still have enough ribbed fabric left to make a matching scarf. Now all I'm waiting on is my Clover Pants pattern from America and I can get to work on the trousers (pants) that will match the grey marl in this green. I made the sweater large and baggy like this because the Clover pants are skinny and tight - I need to hide the hips!

The sweater is plenty big too for when it gets really cold I can wear another sweater underneath for extra warmth and this one will act as a poncho or cape.

Thanks for reading. Ruth

Saturday Sewing

I sometimes knit, but I'm very slow and knit only the most basic of patterns, purl 1 knit 1 sort of thing. So to speed up the process I've been thinking about sewing jumpers rather than knitting them, but cannot find reasonably priced sweater knits. Oh there are some out there, but at £30 a metre, just a bit pricey. Especially when I want to make an oversized sweater based on this Vogue pattern V8748. You need 2.2m.

Suzy has been doing some research on sweater knits and you should all take a look at what she has uncovered.

As you can see, this pattern is not for a sweater, but a shirt. I've come to realise that I rarely make up a pattern as seen on the envelope but alter it in some way or other. This time I cut the front against the fold in the fabric eliminating the folds and facings for buttons and button holes.

The fabric is a fine sweater knit from My Fabrics. I'm not sure of the composition but definitely man-made, which means I can machine wash the sweater. I choose a lime green and bought both the fine knit and 1 metre of matching rib.

Cutting out was easy: the front and back cut from the plain knit and the sleeves, lower front and lower back cut from the rib. I haven't decided on a neck line yet but this will be made from the rib too - just like a real sweater.

I don't own a serger (overlocker) and so I'm always on the look out for innovative ways to finish seams. On this sweater I reckoned there'd be a lot of strain on the shoulder seams, especially pulling the sweater off and on, so I reinforced these with cotton tape. First sewn with the seam, then the seam allowanced was trimmed close to the sewing and the cotton tape folded over and zig-zagged in place. The shoulder seams are totally encased - providing strength and reducing fraying.

The sweater was sewn up in no time. After shoulder seams, I added the lower front & back and this time I top stitched the seam allowance, again for added strength and to reduce fraying.

The sleeves were inserted as in traditional shirt making - with the side seams open and the garment flat. This is so easy as there is no easing to be done at the sleeve cap and really speeds up the construction process.

And there you have it!
A sweater sewn in a day, not knit in a fortnight.

I still have to hem and put a collar or some sort of finish at the neck, but I'm taking time out to consider what style I should do.

One possible variation is the traditional turtle neck (see below), but I'd like something a little different.

All suggestions gratefully received. And if any of you have a source for sweater knits that I can afford please let me know. Many thanks, Ruth.