I finally got back to making things for myself! This is my first post-Christmas sewing project, and I think I really needed a good palette cleanser. When I got back from visiting Toronto, I looked at my sewing area and all the projects I’d had lined up to sew next and was not interested in any of them. In the past, I might have tried to persevere and get myself to sew one of them anyway, but not now! I’m determined to remind myself that even though I blog about the things I make and want to be productive in terms of sewing, it’s ultimately for FUN. So if I don’t want to sew something at the moment, I’m not gonna do it. Whatever I feel like sewing is what I’ll sew, and this past weekend what I felt like sewing was something quick and easy. Enter: the Sloane sweatshirt from Named.
This is the first time I’ve made this pattern, although not the first time I’ve made a sweatshirt. In the past, I’ve used the Grainline Linden pattern, but I find that my t-shirts are often visible at the neckline because I wear a lot of crewnecks, which I would prefer they weren’t. I saw Jen’s version of the Sloane sweatshirt recently (which is gorgeous!), and she talked about how this pattern solved the t-shirt peeking problem so I wanted to try it out. I also really liked the darts on it and was intrigued by the idea of having darts in a knit garment like a sweatshirt.
I bought the pattern on Saturday morning, printed the PDF, assembled it and cut it, cut my fabric and sewed it, and the whole thing only took an afternoon start to finish. I had two bolt ends/remnants of cotton sweatshirt fleece that I got from Patch at their post-Christmas sale, which added up to around 1.2m of fabric total. The pattern says you should have 1.25m-1.95m of fabric to make this, so it was a real squeeze to make all the pieces fit. The front and back body pieces had to go on the green fabric because there was no way for them to fit on the blue piece I had without piecing the pattern pieces, so that made my colour-blocking decisions for me. I actually had to cut the sleeves on the crossgrain because there was no other way for me to fit them anywhere. I pieced the neckband together, which I think it ended up slightly longer than the actual neckband was supposed to be, and also couldn’t cut it in the direction of most stretch due to space constraints, both of which are factors that I think likely contributed to the fact that it’s not really laying flat. I also had to cut the waistband in two pieces instead of one, and also not in the direction of maximum stretch, but that didn’t have a big impact aside from making it harder to stretch while sewing to avoid puckers in the seam.
I used my twin needle to stitch down the seam allowance around the neckline. I didn’t top-stitch any of the seams, but I can’t even remember if the instructions told me to because I honestly didn’t read the instructions at all beyond noting that it wanted me to insert clear elastic in the shoulder seam. Which I obediently did. By the way, I often find that patterns call for 1/4″ clear elastic, which is impossible (at least around here) to find in stores – they usually only carry 3/8″. I get mine from Bra-Makers Supply, which is in Ontario and very convenient for us Canadians in order to avoid paying big bucks in shipping. I always order 10m at a time which lasts me for a loooong time. (This isn’t sponsored, just wanted to share a good resource!)
As discussed in a recent post, my measurements have changed due to all the bouldering I’ve been doing lately. I finally took my new measurements the other day, and I went up an inch on the bust, an inch at the waist, and half an inch on my hips. My new measurements are 37.5″/30.5″/39″, and I’m finding I have a strange resistance to making a different size than usual. It’s not even really related to the fact that it’s a bigger size, more that logically I know I’m not the same size as before, but when I look at the sizing charts I keep thinking to myself, “Surely that will not be the right size?” Even though obviously it will. In the past, I probably would’ve made a size 40 with Named, but I trusted in the measurements that I’d taken and cut out a 42 even though when reading the finished measurements I still felt dubious. But as you can see, it fits perfectly! Especially in the shoulders, which has been my biggest problem lately (and my back). So basically I should trust the measurements and the sizing chart and not try to choose sizes based on an arbitrary gut feeling.
I really like this pattern and have already pre-washed the fabric for my next version, which will be the same fleece but in a lovely purple (also a bolt end I got from Patch). I’m not sure who the manufacturer of this fabric is, but I’m a big fan of it. It’s suuuper stretchy along the grain, really cozy, and has really nice colours. Tonight I have my second class learning how to draft a pattern from an existing piece of clothing without taking it apart. I did my homework last night and have all my pattern pieces cleaned up with seam allowances added, so I’m hoping I’ll get to sew my muslin up tonight and see if I need to make any changes!
