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Linden Sweatshirt

February 3, 2017

So…this sweatshirt was a bit of a disaster to make. But, even with the long list of things that went wrong, it’s still wearable and looks great. This was my first knit project.

I cut a size 8, with no modifications. Even the bust fits well. If I went by the body measurement chart, I’d have made a 12 but I wanted it to be more slim fitting. There is SO MUCH ease in this pattern.

I worked at Stitch with Tusarebecca for this one. We decided to tackle our first knit garment together. This was good, because if I made all these mistakes at home I’d have been so annoyed, but I just rolled with it. Of course, if I was working at home with no distractions, would have these mistakes even been made?

Here are a list of mistakes and headaches in making this top:

  • Chose black fabric. This was really stupid with the two white cats. It’s also hard to see the herringbone pattern of the knit, which is a shame. I didn’t love the light gray, and wish there was a medium gray with this fabric
  • Chose really expensive fabric. This is probably a $60-$70 sweatshirt. For my next, I’m going to go to Fabric Place Basement or Joann and get something much cheaper. I’ll also use my own serger to try that out.
  • Cut things out a little funny, maybe because the fabric was so thick, but the pieces were all slightly different sizes. This wasn’t that big of an issue.
  • Cut out two right sleeves. We decided to cut out all the pieces flat, and both of us managed to forget to flip the sleeve for the second.
    • To fix this, instead of buying more expensive fabric, we just sewed a wedge onto the part that needed some extra, and recut it out. It looks like a weird little design feature.
  • Somehow managed to make a big hole in one armpit because I didn’t match up all the seams. Later when I tried to fix it with the serger, it somehow hiccuped and made a bigger hole. I will be fixing that by hand.
  • When I sewed on the hem band, I didn’t do a good job of getting all 3 layers in the seams at the side seams, and when I went back over it with the serger I caught some body fabric in it making a weird gather.
  • The neckband came out a little narrow.

This was all very annoying. I still need to weave in the serger ends, and am debating doing a line of stitching around the neckline to finish (per the instrucitons).

Anyway, kind of frustrating but it looks pretty good.

Filed Under: 2017 makes, knit, shirts

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I'm a graphic designer, small business owner, occasional knitter, and reluctant sewist. This is my sewing notebook. Read more

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