Me Made May was a brilliant idea for about 4 days while it was warm and sunny out...but then Seattle got all rainy. It does that sometimes. So in order to stave off the cold I was inspecting my me-made wardrobe for gaps. That's what me-made-May is for, right? Makes one reflect a bit on what things we ought to be making, instead of, say, dresses....
As I noted in my plans for the year, I need to make more cardigans. I also have a weird jacket fetish, and probably I should make some jackets too, not because I need them per se but because it will distract me from buying them. But anyway right this minute, the solution was a warm, fuzzy Undercover Hood by Papercut. I've done it so many times that I couldn't go wrong, and now I know to use a heavier weight knit. So I went off to Nancy's Sewing Basket, in the rain, to see what they had. Naturally, what they had was exquisitely expensive double faced Italian wool, and after sucking in a breath and going for it, I rushed home to roll myself up in it for a day or so. The outside is grey/heathered navy with a normal knit face, and the inside face is fleecy/almost felted soft navy. I stuck a tiny square in the wash but I didn't like how it took away some of the fleeciness, so I washed this in the machine on 'ultra-delicate' and that seemed to do ok. I air-dried it.
I made my usual alterations to the Undercover hood. I cut an XS, 2" removed from the sleeve length, 1" from the middle front, and shortened the front pocket about 1" accordingly. I cut two pockets, so that I could sew them together for a clean edge, but I kept the fleecy side facing in on the inside layer. Same thing on the hood- I sewed them together so that I would have the woven outside and fleecy inside even though it's two layers.
I was terrified to iron this, although ironing made it just shiny enough that I got worried, it flattened it out quite a bit and that might have made it easier to sew at times. Overall the fabric was very well behaved. It cut easily, shed only some bits of fluff everywhere, and it flattened as I sewed so even though I was sewing 4 layers, it didn't mess up the Necchi. (We're on better terms now, since I stole him from my parent's house and took him home.)
What I didn't anticipate is how the thick wool makes this sweatshirt a lot smaller than in the stretchy past versions. It fits me perfectly but if I start to warm up at all it gets really hot. In this fabric I could have left it a bit larger just so it would air more. I am already starting to dream of a version with a zip up the front...
As I noted in my plans for the year, I need to make more cardigans. I also have a weird jacket fetish, and probably I should make some jackets too, not because I need them per se but because it will distract me from buying them. But anyway right this minute, the solution was a warm, fuzzy Undercover Hood by Papercut. I've done it so many times that I couldn't go wrong, and now I know to use a heavier weight knit. So I went off to Nancy's Sewing Basket, in the rain, to see what they had. Naturally, what they had was exquisitely expensive double faced Italian wool, and after sucking in a breath and going for it, I rushed home to roll myself up in it for a day or so. The outside is grey/heathered navy with a normal knit face, and the inside face is fleecy/almost felted soft navy. I stuck a tiny square in the wash but I didn't like how it took away some of the fleeciness, so I washed this in the machine on 'ultra-delicate' and that seemed to do ok. I air-dried it.
I made my usual alterations to the Undercover hood. I cut an XS, 2" removed from the sleeve length, 1" from the middle front, and shortened the front pocket about 1" accordingly. I cut two pockets, so that I could sew them together for a clean edge, but I kept the fleecy side facing in on the inside layer. Same thing on the hood- I sewed them together so that I would have the woven outside and fleecy inside even though it's two layers.
I was terrified to iron this, although ironing made it just shiny enough that I got worried, it flattened it out quite a bit and that might have made it easier to sew at times. Overall the fabric was very well behaved. It cut easily, shed only some bits of fluff everywhere, and it flattened as I sewed so even though I was sewing 4 layers, it didn't mess up the Necchi. (We're on better terms now, since I stole him from my parent's house and took him home.)
What I didn't anticipate is how the thick wool makes this sweatshirt a lot smaller than in the stretchy past versions. It fits me perfectly but if I start to warm up at all it gets really hot. In this fabric I could have left it a bit larger just so it would air more. I am already starting to dream of a version with a zip up the front...
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