Linden Sweatshirt #1

I realized a couple of nights ago that I hadn't yet blogged about a couple of Jess's latest fabrics! I had done a post about this one at the end of April, but then I was procrastinating waiting for Cloud9 to release her collection for sale, which got delayed, as everything did about that time, and then they just kind of slipped my mind. I couldn't even remember whether I'd posted about them here or not, because I did post them on Instagram, so I knew they were somewhere. Anyway, let there be no more delay in posting, because the fabrics are now available in stores (very recently, so I'm not too far behind). You can see the entire collection here. The french terrys and a couple of the knits are Jess's designs, the rest are not. Her name is under the pics of her designs.

This is the package I received in the mail at the end of March. It contained two of the french terrys and a package of Hamburger Liebe ribbing that Jess bought from an Etsy shop.

Jess chose the Linden Sweatshirt pattern by Grainline Studio for these fabrics. I don't like printing PDF garment patterns and having to tape the many pieces together, but fortunately this also comes as a paper pattern, and Jess bought that one. Modern patterns are not like they used to be when I used to sew a lot of clothes, where you bought just the size you wanted. Now they come in many sizes, and for a printed pattern, you either cut out the size you want and toss the rest, or you trace the size you want so you still have the other sizes. So I traced Jess's size, in case I wanted to use the pattern for myself sometime. I'd bought a roll of Swedish tracing paper (from Amazon) awhile back for just such projects. It seems expensive, but it's so nice and it really makes the tracing process (which I dislike also) less of a pain. For this raglan sleeve sweatshirt, there were only three pattern pieces, anyway. Yay! That made it quick and easy to trace, lay out and cut.

It was also very quick to sew, since I used my serger, finishing the seams at the same time.

I didn't try to match any print when I cut it out, because I thought any matching was impossible, but the side seams accidentally came out pretty nicely, anyway.

The ribbing, as you can see in that package above, was quite wide, too much so for the neck. So I had to get it sewn in just right along a stripe. It had to be straight, as we wouldn't want a wavy stripe along the bottom. I very wisely decided to baste it first. Here's the basted version.

I figured a serger's seam width would just cover that bit of red showing, and it worked out very well. See?

The excess was cut off by the serger. The sleeves and bottom cuff were the whole width of the ribbing.

I was very pleased with how it went together. When my kids were little, I took a class on T-shirt making, so I'd learned how to put ribbing on them, and I sewed quite a few T-shirts. It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it.

I just had to try the sweatshirt on myself. Although I'd make a bigger size for myself, it still fit pretty well... other than the sleeves being way too long to accomodate Jess's long arms.

But somehow it sure looks better on her. :)

That was a successful project. The french terry is very nice to sew with, and also super comfy to wear. I did finish it in time for Jess to get a little wear out of it before the weather got too hot. I hope she'll get a lot more come next fall.

Yep, there was another fabric in that package. That project is also done, but it'll get its own blog post. Soon, even.