BUILDING YOUR WINTER WARDROBE WITH SG SEWS
Hello, it's @SG_Sews here. Following my first blog post in which I talk about autumn/winter sewing plans, The Rag Shop kindly sent me some fabric to get started on my ‘To Sew’ list in exchange for this post.
I asked for the dark green and white stripe alpine fleece sweatshirting and matching green ribbing. As soon as I saw the fabric on their website, I knew I wanted to make some sort of jumper although I hadn’t sewn or even seen an alpine fleece before so wasn’t 100% sure on what to expect.
When the fabric arrived in the post, I was so surprised at how fleecy it actually was. The fabric has a typically jersey / sweatshirting look and feel on the right side and then on the reverse you have the fleece. It felt so soft to the touch however I knew it probably wouldn’t work being made into a fitted jumper as I would get too hot. This is when I decide to make a Nora.
Nora is an oversized top or jumper pattern from Tilly and The Buttons that you can make in many different ways, depending on the fabric choice. I chose to make the long sleeve, cropped jumper version however I amended the pattern slightly to get my dream, cosy jumper.
Typically, with Tilly and The Buttons patterns, I make a size 3 however because this pattern is designed to be oversized, I sized down to a 0. Looking at this finished garment measurement, this still gave me lots of room and wouldn’t be too fitted.
I had originally planned to use the ribbing for the neckband as well as adding cuffs and a hem band however the fabric is quite thick due to the fleece therefore I only used it for the neckband in the end.
I liked the idea of showing off the fleece part of the fabric so instead of hemming the cuffs, wrong sides together, I rolled the fabric up right sides together allowing the fleece to show on the outside and then did a few hidden stitches to keep it rolled up.
I made the jumper with the cropped hem at the front and back (the pattern gives you an option to have a stepped, split hem) however again, because of the thickness of the fabric, I decided not to hem it which also made the jumper slightly longer than it would usually be if you followed the pattern instructions.
I did pin a hem band to the jumper however it didn’t look right as the fabric didn’t drape over, it just sort of stuck out instead. I really like the finished look of the raw hem and where the garment sits on me, especially when I’m wearing high waisted jeans.
For anyone thinking of sewing their first jumper, I would totally recommend the Nora pattern as the instructions are so easy to follow and The Rag Shop currently have a great range of stretch fabrics that would work perfectly.
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