Megan Nielsen – Sew Dainty

Posted on 22/01/202125/01/2021 by sewdainty — Leave a comment

A Cosy Sweatshirt Mashup.

Today’s blog is not a moment too soon. It’s Baltic outside at the moment and I need all the layers I can get – especially if they are soft and warm like this!

Let’s talk about the fabric first, as this was partially gifted to me by byGraziela. I fell in love with the Leaf sweatshirt fabric in the Berry colour way, so bold and pretty, and was very kindly sent this to use to make a garment of my choice. To contrast with this I purchased plain jersey for the hood lining and cuff fabric in smoky blue. I love how these colours work so nicely together. The main fabric has a large retro soft dusky pink leaf design on a stunning berry/raspberry coloured background. A random heart can be spotted on some of the leaves which is a really sweet touch. Also, the sweatshirt fabric is brushed on the reverse so is super soft and cosy.

Keep reading to find out about how you can enter a giveaway to win some fabric from byGraziela and a necklace from my shop which I’ll give you details about at the end of this post…

The pattern that I chose to make is a mash-up of two sweatshirt patterns. The Stella Hoodie from the Stretch! book by Tilly Walnes (from Tilly and the Buttons), and the Jarrah sweatshirt pattern (view A) from Megan Nielsen.

I basically used the Stella hoodie pattern from the top down to the underarm seam, and from that point down I used the Jarrah pattern. The reason for this was because the Stella has a long, feminine, more fitted shape to it’s body, and I was after a loose boxy shorter version. I used the Stella in a size 4, and the Jarrah in a size 8. For reference my measurements are 35-29-38 and I am 5’2″.

I have made the Stella Hoodie before, and as I have found with all of Tilly’s patterns, an absolute pleasure to sew. I have also sewn the Jarrah Sweatshirt, but not this version, so was looking forward to seeing them hacked together.

The quality of the fabric is superb, without doubt one of the best quality sweatshirt fabrics that I have ever used. As always when working with knit fabric, I used my walking foot to make sure that both layers of fabric were being fed through the machine without any stretching. I love how colourful the finished sweatshirt is. It’s a happy hoodie for sure!

The final touch is the flat cotton tape which is threaded through the buttonholes at either side of the neck. Don’t be like me and try to feed them through the machine after turning them under( I should know better), they are just too thick. Hand stitch or use another method of finishing.

Today I decided to accessorise with my silver acrylic button necklace. Cute.

It’s been lovely to collaborate with byGraziela on this post, and to celebrate byGraziela and myself are offering some goodies as part of a giveaway over on my Instagram account. You have the opportunity to win 1.5 metres of fabric from ByGraziela and an item of jewellery from my shop! The giveaway will run for three days from the date of this post, so don’t hang around and head on over to my Instagram to find out all the details of how you can enter! Good luck!

*EDIT* – This giveaway has now closed.

Take care, and I’ll be back soon,

Kathy x

Although this post is in collaboration with byGraziela, please know that as always, all opinions and thoughts are my own.

Posted on 14/02/2020 by sewdainty — 5 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

Posted on 05/11/2018 by sewdainty — 2 Comments

An Autumn inspired Brumby Skirt

I have a bit of a thing for knee length skirts at the moment. Whilst I love them in warmer temperatures with bare legs, I also adore styling them with thick coloured tights when there’s a nip in the air.

My latest make for the Minerva Crafts Blogger Network is The Brumby Skirt from Megan Nielsen. It’s the prettiest gathered skirt, which you can make in different lengths and has wonderful deep pockets and the cutest exposed zip feature at the back.

I won’t say too much on my blog here, as you can read the full review over at Minerva Crafts, but I enjoyed making this skirt, and I especially love this vibrant floral needlecord. Unfortunately, I understand that this fabric is now sold out, but I know that they have a great range of alternatives.

So for me today, it has been paired with some aubergine tights and I’m Autumn ready.

Take care, and I’ll be back soon,

Kathy x