Sew Dainty

Posted on 14/05/202014/05/2020 by sewdainty — 4 Comments

The Grace Skirt from Simple Sew

I have a few Simple Sew Patterns in my stash, but have never got around to making any of them up until now. I love a pleated skirt or dress, and have finally got around to making the skirt version of this pattern.

The Grace Dress and Skirts pattern is a combination of dress tops and skirts that can be mixed together or simply made as a gathered or pleated skirt.

Although I love a dress, I really wanted to make the pleated skirt as I have seen several versions online- especially on the lovely Becky @notes_from_the_sewing_room. Becky has made several stunning Grace Skirts and each time I see them it reminds me that I want one too!

I used a fantasic striped medium weight cotton, it almost has a kind of brushed texture – a bit like pyjamas brushed cotton – but not as soft. It has the perfect structure to hold the pleats and was an absolute bargain from Milton Keynes market last year some time. I still have some left and am hoping I have enough for a dress!

I noticed that the back of the pattern envelope doesn’t give you the fabric requirements for the skirts only. Just the dresses. This didn’t matter to me, as I was using fabric from my stash that I had lots of, but might be disappointing if you were purchasing specifically for this pattern. I’m annoyed that I didn’t measure how much I used, but if you are unsure just lay the pattern pieces out on the floor and measure the length that you would need.

I also see that in the notions, the length of the skirt zip isn’t specified either, just the zip length needed for the dress. I have a bag of old recycled (ripped out of old clothes)! zips and just grabbed an 8 or 9″ that was the best match. It isn’t an invisible zipper, but that doesn’t matter to me.

My teething problems with this pattern continued as I followed their method of inserting the in-seam pockets. I have never come across this method and didn’t get on with it. I unpicked and started again using the standard method that I always use. I decided to cut the stripes of the pocket in a vertical direction to save me from having to pattern match those stripes!

Unfortunately the pocket placement is far too low for me, but to be fair this is a usual adjustment that I have to make – I don’t know why I didn’t check this before stitching. Tut tut.

On the plus side, the design of the skirt is lovely. The pleats are really great and the fit on the waist is spot on. I wonder if the amount of ‘ poufiness’ that the pleats add to my hip width is a little unflattering on my pear shape, the jury is still out on that one. Anyhow, it is a skirt that I will wear in warm weather and cold.

Is it even a new make if you haven’t had a swish in it?

So, all in all, a few teething problems with this one, but nothing that couldn’t be sorted, and there’s no denying that there are some lovely versions of the skirts and dresses online.

Oh by the way, the red acrylic heart button necklace is available in my shop (also available in blue)! x

Take care, and I’ll be back soon,

Kathy x

Posted on 04/05/2020 by sewdainty — Leave a comment

A classic Linden Sweatshirt

I’m quite enjoying sewing through my stash at the moment, are you doing the same? If I’m honest, I just can’t afford new fabric at the moment, luckily I have a quite a few fabrics that will keep me going for a while.

One fabric that has been knocking around in my cupboard for a year or two is this wonderful lilac and brown wide striped knit. As with quite a few things that I have been sewing lately, this too was a great find from a fabric swap. I *think* I might have picked it up at the Sewing Weekender. Thank you to whoever donated it! The moment I saw it I always intended it to be a Linden.

The Linden Sweatshirt from Grainline Studio is a classic pattern that most of us will be familiar with. I have made a couple of versions in the past which I wear a great deal around the house, and as they are on their last legs I thought it was about time that I made another. Also I don’t think I have ever written a blog post on this great pattern, so it’s about time.

11005_Linden07_d8b3e7fd-6307-4107-91bf-ef74017579de_1296x — This image is from http://www.grainlinestudio.com

For those unfamiliar the pattern gives you the choice of two versions. View A is a classic sweatshirt with long sleeves and ribbing at the neckline, cuffs and hem. View B is slightly shorter in the body, it has short sleeves too and only requires ribbing at the neckband.

I made view A and didn’t use ribbing as I didn’t have any in my stash that was the right colour, so just went right ahead and used the main fabric as it had a nice amount of stretch in it. Due to the width of the stripes I was able to ‘fussy cut’ these pieces to make sure they were all solid brown.

Talking about stripes, although the long side/arm seams are easy to stripe match, the curved shape of the sleeve head means that stripes along the armhole seam won’t often match. On this seam I always try to match at least one of the most prominent stripes and let the rest do what they want! In the case of my sweatshirt, I chose to match up one of the brown stripes. As it has turned out, that brown stripe is matched up perfectly along the bottom edge of the stripe, leaving a ‘step’ in the matching along the top edge. On reflection I perhaps should have matched up the top edge of the stripe for it to look a little better, but not to worry, I’m not going to lose sleep over it! What is your opinion on pattern matching guys? ‘Team perfection’ or ‘Team whatever’?

On a plus note, the back arm seams match wonderfully!! Ha! Maybe I should wear it backwards!

The neckline is a soft scoop, and is a little wider than a lot of my rtw sweatshirts. I like the fit, but I have heard others mention that the neck opening is too wide for their liking.

I left the length of the sleeves as they were – which is something that I rarely do, as my arms aren’t very long. I like this length of sleeve on a cosy sweatshirt, and I also like the sleeve width – not too tight, not too loose.

Lilac is still such a hot colour, and whilst it isn’t a shade that everybody can wear, I feel that the brown stripes are so complimentary. How could I not accessorize this top with my original lilac scissors necklace, available in my shop.

So whilst it’s great to talk about all the new and exciting patterns out there, it’s also good to re-visit the oldies but goldies like this. Classic wardrobe staples that you can go back to time and time again are great aren’t they?

Take care, I’ll be back soon,

Kathy x

Posted on 24/04/202024/04/2020 by sewdainty — 2 Comments

My super comfy Safiya Trousers

My second make from the latest Tilly Walnes book Make it Simple are the most lovely pair of wide legged cropped trousers, and I think if I had to choose a favourite pattern from the book right now it would be these.

The trousers are made just using two pattern pieces and don’t need any fastenings such as zips or buttons because the waistband is elasticated ..Oh joy .. and it’s cleverly designed to have a flat fronted waistband (aint nobody need any bulk in that area)! with the gathers at the sides and back. They are super easy to make and a fairly quick sew too – you could have these whipped up in a morning or an afternoon.

The book also includes the extra pattern pieces and instructions on how to make them into a jumpsuit or a wrap top playsuit too!

At the moment I am sewing just using fabric from my stash, and I think if I remember right that this was a purchase from Barry’s in Birmingham. I would describe it a a navy blue linen look polyester – so not the nicest composition I suppose – but the drape and texture is lovely and as long as it isn’t a boiling hot day, where this fabric wouldn’t be the most comfortable to wear, I feel for the most part it’s a lovely pairing with this pattern.

I really enjoyed making this last week as part of a sew-along with Tilly over on her Instagram. Whilst we are all staying safe at home it’s a lovely thing to join in with a sew-along, and this pattern was broken down into 5 easy parts for you to sew along with each day all week. She used a beautiful soft lilac linen for her version.

The only change that I made to the pattern before cutting out was to shorten the length of the leg by 4cm. I knew I would need them to be shorter and this was a starting guess. At 5’2″ I always have to shorten the leg on trousers and even with this alteration I still needed to shorten the length of the finished trousers by a further 7cm to give me the cropped length that I was after, whilst still retaining the 2.5cm allowance for turning up.

Lets talk pockets. The optional pockets on these trousers are massive and brilliant. They are in-seam pockets which are sewn in the normal way and then the top edge of the pocket is caught in when you turn and sew the top of the trousers down to form the waistband. Very clever. I chose to use a leftover piece of bottle green floral viscose to use for the pocket pieces as this always gives a nice pop of colour.

Look how deep they are!

Finally I quickly made up a fabric belt and belt loops for a bit of extra pazazz! This is not in the pattern, and you could easily draw this rectangular shape out yourself, but I just used the template for the belt from another pattern ( my Stylearc Clare Pant pattern).

There are so many fantastic versions to gain inspiration from online, check out the hashtag #sewingsafiya to have a drool.

What more can I say about these lovely trousers that hasn’t already been said? Ten out of ten.

Take care, and I’ll be back soon,

Kathy x

Red mirror acrylic scissors necklace with Swarovski crystal available from my shop. x

Posted on 17/04/2020 by sewdainty — 4 Comments

The Indigo Add-On Pattern

It’s no secret that I love the Indigo smock dress and top pattern from Tilly and the Buttons. So last week when they released this add-on pack I was all over it!

Tilly and the Buttons Indigo smock top and dress add-on 24

Tilly and the Buttons Indigo smock top and dress add-on 9

It is designed to be used with the original Indigo pattern, and enables you to add short sleeves (with or without a ruffle), a gathered tier at the bottom of the dress making it into a swishy midi dress, and, my personal favourite, the option to give it a button back – how dreamy! The above two pictures are from the Tilly and the Buttons website.

Sew up your dream combination using a mixture of the old pattern and the new to create your perfect dress/top. All in all, using both patterns, you have a total of 48 versions that you can create!

I knew in a heartbeat that I wanted to make the button back version. I also wanted to try those pretty ruffled short sleeves. I kept the skirt length as the regular original length, and also gathered the skirt in the standard way rather than using the exposed ruffle as I thought this might be too fussy with the ruffled sleeves.

My fabric choice is this pretty ‘Beautiful Botanicals’ viscose from Material Girl Laura. It is a stunning print featuring green, cream and lilac leaves and flowers on a dark navy (almost black) background, and at a very reasonable £3.99 per half metre. I particularly loved how the lilac flowers perfectly matched my acrylic scissors necklace. I know it’s difficult to see here and due to the bright sunshine those tiny flowers look a little grey but they are a soft lilac irl.

Lilac acrylic necklace is available in my shop here.

I enjoyed sewing the pattern up immensely. As always with Tilly patterns, it was simple to sew, and the written instructions and pictures were spot on!

I couldn’t wait to make the button back bodice. Although it is an ‘over the head’ dress, I still decided to stitch and sew proper button holes – you could easily just sew on the buttons creating a fake button placket if you liked. They don’t need to be functional. I must admit I think I may have sewn my buttonholes a smidge too far in from the edge, and to make sure it lay nice and neat I actually ran a line of top stitching along that edge to hold it down, which actually makes the whole time spent sewing the button holes a bit of a waste but hey ho! it’s all good fun!

Check out the new sleeve design too – short sleeves with a gentle (optional) ruffle. They’re so cute!

Of course there are pockets, nice deep ones too! My standard pocket adjustment on this dress is to raise the height of the pocket by 2″.

There’s very little more to say about this beautiful pattern that hasn’t already been said! I wrote a blog post about my original version here if you want to take a peek, and have made 3 or 4 versions of it since then.

This pattern was very kindly gifted to me, with no obligations to share in any way, but I wanted to show you how lovely it is and of course all opinions on the pattern are very much my own.

Look after yourselves, stay safe, and I’ll be back soon,

Kathy x

Posted on 08/04/2020 by sewdainty — Leave a comment

Floral Coconut Pyjamas

Did you notice that Cocowawa Crafts launched a new pyjama pattern last week?

The Coconut Pjs are a sweet pyjama set, and I am loving them!

I will say from the start that I had the thrill of pattern testing this sewing pattern, but all thoughts on this blog post are my own and I am under no obligation to share anything, but I really wanted to!

The feminine design gives you lots of variations. There are neckline options, as well as sleeve and leg choices. Decisions decisions ..

For my version I chose to use this beautiful floral rayon challis in the navy blue colourway. It really is stunning, but did shrink a little as this fabric type usually does. The colours are super vibrant and you know that I absolutely love florals!

As always with Cocowawa the pattern was easy to follow and fun to make. For this version I made the gathered/ruffled neckline. This is achieved by simply sewing in a casing to the inside of the neckline and running some elastic through it to create your desired amount of gather. I used a slim satin ribbon for my casing and clear elastic to give it a nice soft gather, but whatever elastic you have is absolutely fine and if you don’t have ribbon you can use bias binding. How lovely would it be to make your own bias binding from any leftover matching fabric?

The sleeves (short or long) are also elasticated in the same way.

For the matching trousers I chose to make the longer length version. I needed to shorten them a little ( which I always have to do with trousers as I am only 5’2″), but the good news is they have pockets! Hooray!

If you don’t have enough fabric in your stash to make a matching set, then you could also just whip up just the trousers and wear them to bed with a t-shirt. I did this with a small length of viscose that I have had for ages, and I love having an extra spare pair of pyjama trousers for when this set is in the wash. Imagine making these as summer ‘daywear’ trousers too in a cool natural fabric worn with flip flops when the weather gets hotter…

There’s nothing to stop you from wearing the top as a blouse too of course. Again using a leftover from my stash I have made the long sleeved version which I will wear as a blouse – I must get some photos of this and will share over on my Instagram when I do.

I’m so pleased to have had the opportunity to make these pyjamas as they feel so special to wear. I have discovered that nice pj’s are something that make me feel happy and so I expect to be making many more of these (whether for pj’s or day wear).

Thank you to Ana from Cocowawa for another super cute design, and you might be interested to know that at the time of writing this she is having a big sale over on her website (linked earlier).

Take care sewing friends, and I’ll be back soon,

Kathy x

Posted on 27/03/2020 by sewdainty — 4 Comments

A Tabitha T-shirt Dress

I know I’m not the only one who has been really excited to start making things from Tilly’s new book, so today I’m super pleased to share my first make from it. This is the third book that Tilly Walnes ( the founder of Tilly and the Buttons ) has released and as I have the other two and have used them SO much, I knew that this one would be right up my street too.

Make It Simple is a collection of six basic sewing patterns which can be sewn as they are, or adjusted to make them slightly different. I chose to make the Tabitha t-shirt first. This is a classic t-shirt with round neck and your choice of short, 3/4 or long sleeves. The book helps you if you want to make this pattern into a dress like I did. You are also shown how to make it into a ringer tee with cuffs using this pattern, and there are also instructions on how to decorate it using heat transfer vinyl if you want to add a cute design too.

My fabric choice was this beautiful striped knit that I was lucky enough to choose from the fabric swap table at last years #SewBrum meet-up. Thank you very much to whoever donated this generous amount of fabric! The stripe matching at the seams was a bit of a faff I must admit, as you can see the stripes are quite narrow, and those side seams on this fairly long skirt took quite a while to pin. Although I used my walking foot to avoid any shifting of the fabric, one side was better matched than the other side, and so reluctantly I did decide to unpick that side ( not fun) and re-sew it.

I used some black ribbing for the neckband from my stash.

Red mirror acrylic scissors necklace from my shop x

The t-shirt is turned into a dress by drafting a simple skirt pattern to your measurements. The book takes you through this process step by step so that you can create your perfect skirt pattern piece. Just something to note – there is a small error on the diagram of the skirt pattern on page 88 where the ‘place on fold’ marking is shown on the wrong edge of the pattern piece, just make sure the ‘place on fold’ marking is running along the long straight edge of your pattern piece.

The drawstring cord is threaded through a waistband channel to give the waist a nice gather. The drawstring holes can be made using eyelets (as I did), or simple small buttonholes. I chose to use some striped cord from my stash for the drawstring, but the book also shows you how to use a strip of your dress fabric, curling it into a tube by running it through your fingers.

These brass coloured plastic ‘cord ends’ were the perfect finishing touch for the drawstring. Beads are an alternative or just leave them plain!

The end result is a super comfortable dress (secret pyjamas – sshhhh), and one that I will certainly make again. I think a short sleeved version with a knee length skirt would be perfect in the warmer months.

The book is really beautiful. Each sewing step is broken down into chunks with an estimated completion time for each step, especially useful if you only have a few minutes spare to sew at any given time. There’s also something for everyone in this book – trousers, dresses, t-shirts, pyjamas and a cardigan. Do search the #makeitsimplebook hashtag for some inspiration!

I do hope that you and your loved ones are all keeping well wherever you are and that sewing is offering you some comfort and distraction through these worrying times.

Take care, look after yourselves and I’ll be back soon,

Kathy x

Posted on 20/03/2020 by sewdainty — 2 Comments

A classic brown knee length Jenny Skirt

Today’s blog post is special, because I am trying my first pattern from the lovely Nicola and Susan at Homer and Howells.

Homer and Howells are an exciting new pattern company based in Scotland and as I write this post, there are two sewing patterns in their shop – the Jenny , and the Cissy. I know they have a few more patterns up their sleeves, so I can’t wait to see what comes next…

The Jenny is a classic skirt. Choose either midi length (with a front split), or keep it short like I did (I cut my length at where the top of the split is marked). Patch pockets on the front of the skirt are optional, and the centre front zip fly was really good fun to sew.

I have chosen to make my version in a dark brown cotton drill. I can’t quite remember where I bought this fabric from – it might even have been something that I picked up in a fabric swap – but I had just enough to make the knee length version. Turns out that dark brown is REALLY hard to photograph, and despite two photo ‘sessions’ (one indoors and one outdoors), I don’t think we were able to really pick out the details of the skirt very well after all. Let’s hope you can get some sort of idea with the shots that we did get.

Oh by the way, my top is the original Tessuti Fabrics Mandy Boat Tee (free pattern) using the ‘one size’ pattern before they introduced different sizes on this pattern, and the lilac acrylic scissors necklace is from my shop! x

I have kept the front of the skirt nice and simple by leaving off the patch pockets. I did however add some pockets to the back of the skirt (not part of this pattern), but more about that later!

I wanted the skirt to feel really casual, a bit like a denim skirt, so I went for the topstitching big time! I used a matching dark brown topstitching thread and used it on the waistband, the centre front and back seams, the curve of the fly zip, and the back pockets that I added.

It’s important to try and make that curved line of stitching on the outside of the fly zip as neat as possible as it is so visible, so to help me I used a tracing wheel and some dressmaking carbon paper to trace the stitching line onto my fabric. It takes all the guess work out of where to stitch, and you end up with it exactly where you want it.

I have only put in a fly zip once before and that was a long time ago, so I did wonder how tricky it would be, but the instructions were really great – I followed them to the letter and everything just fell into place perfectly!

The curved waistband has a snug comfortable fit with no gaping at the back of course, and fastens above the zip with a hook and bar. I made a size 12 at the waist and graded out to a 14 at the hips by the way.

So finally, I wanted to add ‘jeans’ pockets at the back seeing as how I wanted it to have a casual feel. I simply cut out two jeans pocket pieces and traced out the stitching design that I wanted using the tracing wheel and carbon paper again, stitched out that design onto the pocket with the topstitching thread again and placed it on the back of the skirt where I wanted them, again attaching with topstitching. Can you tell that I love topstitching things! Take a shot each time I say topstitching! Ha ha!

I must say that positioning the pockets was a lengthy process! Pinning and adjusting pockets on the back of a skirt by yourself is tricky, and having not made jeans before I’m not quite sure what the tricks are for the perfect pocket placements, but I don’t think they’ve ended up too bad.

I’ve ended up with a really lovely skirt, and one that I know I will wear lots and lots. It fits well, I love the length and the neutral colour means that I can have fun wearing it with all my favourite coloured tights.

Thank you so much to the girls at Homer and Howells, who very kindly gifted me this pattern with no obligations. I am happy to share with you though because I really like it and hope you do too!

What’s your ‘go-to’ simple skirt pattern? I’d love to know.

Take care, and I’ll be back soon,

Kathy x

Posted on 13/03/2020 by sewdainty — Leave a comment

Crochet Basket Kit from Stitching Me Softly.

I don’t know about you, but during the colder months I become a lot more interested in crochet and knitting.

Today’s blog post is a little different from the usual sewing related posts, as I am talking about this lovely crochet basket kit from Stitching Me Softly.

I was lucky enough to grab this kit a few weeks ago at an introductory price before it launched, and could not wait to get started on it when it arrived.

The kit contains everything that you need to crochet two baskets…

2 x colour choices of yarn
1 x bamboo crochet hook
1 x stitch marker
Instructions and information leaflets

There are currently six yarn colour choices available in this kit – almost impossible to choose two because they are all stunning, but I went for mustard and teracotta.

They really are very simple to make. A basic knowledge of crochet might help, but the instructions are thorough and the stitch guide gives some ‘how to crochet’ advice along with nice clear photographs.

I have never crocheted with such chunky yarn before (its 100% recycled cotton btw), and it takes a little getting used to, but once you get through the first round or two I became used to how if felt.

The finished result are super cute I think. I love the chunky texture, and am totally in love with the colours. The double crochet stitch is so pretty, and how nice does the row of slip stitches around the top look? It finishes off the baskets perfectly.

You have enough yarn to make the small basket with either a straight edge or a hanging loop, and the large basket with a straight edge. If you want to make the large basket with the hanging loop (like I did), you just need to omit one of the height rows to enable you to have enough yarn.

I am thrilled now to have the pattern so that I can make up lots more. The Stitching Me Softly website does sell replacement cord in a multitude of colours, so it’s easy to create lots more of these pretty baskets. You might be interested in the other craft kits that Emma sells there too.

To finish off my baskets I added my new faux leather tags from Etsy. I’m thrilled to bits with them, and I can’t wait to add them to all my knitting and crochet projects from now on. They were very reasonably priced I think, and I love that my logo have been added to them too.

I hope that you have enjoyed something a little different from me today. I really enjoy such a large range of crafts that every now and again something other than sewing might pop up on here.

Take care, and I’ll be back soon,

Kathy x

Posted on 03/03/2020 by sewdainty — 2 Comments

A Spring inspired Selkie Patterns London Skirt

I love this skirt.

This is the first Selkie patterns garment that I have made and it’s a good one. Selkie Patterns are an exciting independent pattern and fabric design company which was founded a couple of years ago by two wonderful empowering women – Alexandra Bruce and Caroline Akselson. Their passion is sewing and design, with a strong belief in sustainability.

The London is a 3 in 1 pattern, and features a blouse, skirt or dress.

Although I’m very much in love with the dress version, I’m going to wait until warmer weather arrives for that, so in the meantime, I got stuck into the skirt.

So the skirt in a nutshell is knee length and features stunning box pleats front and back, the most adorable shaped waistband feature and a centre back zip fastening. Box pleats are my absolute fave and this is what drew me to this pattern in the first place.

It is super easy to make. Just two pattern pieces are used, how great is that? I did have to shorten the length (as always)! and I think I took out about 10cm at the shorten/lengthen marking on the pattern before cutting out. I’m 5’2″ , so this is quite a normal adjustment for me.

I also decided to omit the sweet little gathers that should sit at the top of each side seam where it meets the waistband. I felt I wanted to keep this simple so simply pinched the excess (what would have been gathered) and graded out the side seam accordingly

I realise that this fabric is very fussy, so a little difficult to show you all the details. The fabric by the way is something that I picked up at a fabric swap a long time ago. I think it’s a quilting weight cotton, which I think is not normally the best choice for dressmaking, but for a skirt with box pleats I thought the extra structure that this type of fabric has would be fab. I also love the busy floral print which is bright and happy.

Sizing, by the way, was spot on. Using the size chart and the finished garment measurements I worked out what size I wanted and it fits like a dream.

The instructions are really good. Beautiful hand drawn illustrations (in the style of the pattern cover), accompany thorough written descriptions and there is a helpful zip guide at the back to walk you through the steps needed to insert a regular zip.

The waistband has a flap which fastens with a hook and eye.

Let’s just have a minute to talk about the dipped waistband. It’s lovely isn’t it? Sadly covered up by a big old jumper when we took our outside shots for this skirt, it is worth taking your time to get that shape just right. I actually drew my stitching line on the fabric before sewing so that the finished curve would be accurate.

I really enjoyed making this skirt and have loved wearing it too. I already have the fabric and zip for my next version, so expect to see lots more London’s to come!

Take care, I’ll be back soon,

Kathy x

Posted on 14/02/2020 by sewdainty — 4 Comments

The Jarrah Sweater from Megan Nielsen Patterns.

The Jarrah is a great basic sweatshirt pattern with a little bit extra. It is a loose fitting, drop shoulder sweater featuring a crew or funnel neck, two sleeve options and four different hemlines.

As soon as this pattern was released last year, I was desperate to make view C, which has the tie feature at the waist.

The supplies for this sweater were bought a few months ago during a visit to The Sewing Cafe. I spotted the pattern on the shelf and grabbed it straight away, along with this gorgeous mustard modal jersey and cute blue striped ribbing. I absolutely love this jersey, the quality is exceptional and it was a dream to sew with.

thumbnail_0267CCDC-9E04-4D11-85D5-1B7F5BE87CA5 — Dark grey acrylic scissors necklace available from my shop x

Although this is an intentionally loose fitting sweater, I noticed that the sizing chart on the back of the pattern showed a large amount of ease (approx 8″ size difference on the actual bust measurement to that of the finished garment), although this felt like quite a lot, I made the size according to my bust measurement (size 10), and although roomy, it’s still fine I think.

I did make some adjustments, as I could see that I needed to make some changes to the pattern pieces before cutting out. I almost always need to shorten sleeves, and found that I wanted to with this pattern too. I shortened the sleeve length by 2″. There were no ‘lengthen/shorten’ markings on the sleeve pattern piece that I was using (for view A and C), so I just drew my own!

I knew that the cuffs weren’t going to be tight enough for me either ( I have small wrists), so I also adjusted them by 1″ and tapered the sleeve pattern piece accordingly.

I’m so glad that I used this blue striped ribbing for the neck band and cuffs. I love how this colour works with the mustard and also with my jeans, which if I’m honest is probably what I will always wear this top with!

The ties were a little fiddly to sew, I must admit, and I really took my time on this part to make sure I made it as neatly as I could. The fabric pressed really nicely and this helped a lot – as did the use of lots of pins!

There’s a really handy blog post on the Megan Nielsen site which give you lots of tips when sewing the tie hem on view C. There are a couple of different ways of sewing the tie ends, and I opted to follow their instructions to make the tie with the mitered/mitred (how do you spell that)?! corners.

I should say that these pictures show the sweater a little creased. We took these (outside) photos after a 1 hour car ride, and I think that sitting with the seatbelt over me for that amount of time and then wearing a cross body bag have meant that it’s not quite as smooth as it looked when I finished sewing it and was admiring it on my dressform. Hope you can see past the creases!

thumbnail_500548BA-D16E-404A-979B-8447725A8E6B — Love the dropped shoulders

So all in all a great top. I have seen lots of lovely versions over on Instagram. Search #MNjarrah for inspiration. I’m planning to make the regular simple sweatshirt (view A) next as I have heard that this turns out really well.

Do you have a favourite ‘go-to’ sweatshirt pattern?

Take care, I’ll be back soon,

Kathy x