sweatshirt Archives

Lucinda January 5, 2015

Living in Lindens

Pattern: Linden from Grainline Studios
Fabric: floral scuba knit from Metro Textiles, black fleece from Fabric Place Basement
Size: 4

Jeans: Paige Denim
Sneakers: Reebok

Happy New Year! It’s the first Monday after the holidays and the winter “blahs” are setting in for me…temps are dipping waaaay low this week (12 degrees tonight, brrr), the snow we’ve avoided in New England so far this winter arrived last weekend (with more to come this week), and spring feels very far away. So what’s a gal to do but hunker down with some tea and whip up some cute sweatshirts!

As the title of this post suggests, I’ve been living in a couple of new Linden sweatshirts I recently made over the past few weeks. At first I wasn’t sure about the pattern – the fit is much boxier than garments I usually wear and felt like I was wearing a big, shapeless sack for a top. But since I kept reaching for my first version over and over again, made out of a navy striped double-knit, I knew that the style grew on me and I really liked how easy it is to wear!

Like a lot of Jen’s patterns, the Linden is versatile and can change in look and feel depending on what kind of fabric you use – heck, I wore my gray version for New Year’s Eve with some sparkly necklaces and skinny black pants. For my third version, my favorite, I paired a floral print scuba knit (aka neoprene) for the front with a super soft black sweatshirt fleece for the rest of the sweatshirt. I like that the floral makes it a little dressier and special than a regular sweatshirt, sort of unexpected. When I was sewing this, I kept getting flash-backs from the 90’s of a floral shirt and leggings set I wore in elementary school!

I made all of my Lindens on my serger, which made them a fast sew. Like, criminally fast, even for someone as slow as I am. The only change I made was to lengthen the neckband pattern piece by about 5/8″ since it was too difficult to stretch correctly on my first version. The longer length fit better around the neckline, and I didn’t get any puckering as a result.

I never miss an opportunity to take a cheesy photo.

In all honesty, the Lindens I’ve been making are just “sewcrastination” – I keep putting off prepping for my Great Coat Project of 2015. I have one more project that I’m just about finished with (which will be my first finished garment of the year!) and then I’ll start. Pinky swear!

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Lucinda July 15, 2014

Pattern Review – Lane Raglan [Hey June]

Pattern: Lane Raglan by Hey June, from Indiesew.com
Fabric: Cotton sweatshirt knit from Mood Fabrics
Size: Small

It may seem odd to sew a sweatshirt in the summertime, but when the nice folks at Indiesew asked me to try out some patterns from their site, I couldn’t pass up trying out the Lane Raglan sweatshirt. Summertime in New England is fickle, and a short sleeve sweatshirt like this is something I can picture layering on in the evenings this summer on vacation in Maine – I’m actually wearing it over a tank top in these photos.

This is such a great pattern, and is really the raglan sleeved top I’ve been searching for! I’ve seen many versions of this shirt all over sewing blogs (my favorites are the ones Cut Cut Sew makes) since it’s such a good base for different design elements and changes. Make it out of a drapy knit with contrasting sleeves for a flowy baseball-style shirt, or a beefy fleece for a cool weather sweater. I like how there’s a good amount of ease in the size small, but I could go down a size to make more of a fitted top.

I know this is going to be a TNT pattern, and it’s great for an instant-gratification project – I think I made this in an hour, including the time it took to cut out the fabric. To “summer-ize” the sweatshirt, I cropped the sleeves and rolled up the bottom twice to create a 2 1/2″ cuff above the elbow. Then, I stitched the cuff in the ditch along the sleeve seam line so it stays put when wearing. I like the contrast of the wrong side of the knit showing outside, the texture is cool looking.

The sweatshirt knit is from the third floor at Mood Fabrics in NYC – Oona is right, the third floor of Mood is a truly magical place. This fleece is really different from fabrics I gravitate towards (I never sew with cream), and has a cool marled texture throughout. It’s so comfy to wear, and I can’t wait to wear it more often once fall weather arrives.

Disclaimer – this pattern was provided to me for free from Indiesew.com

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Lucinda May 20, 2014

Finished Project – Papercut Patterns Sweatshirt

Pattern: Papercut Patterns Undercover Hoodie
Fabric: cotton sweatshirt fleece from Paron Fabrics
Size: XS

Shorts: J. Crew
Watch: Michael Kors
Sunnies: Tommy Hilfiger

No, it doesn’t feel like summer here yet, but it was a beautiful weekend last weekend, and Chris and I headed to the beach for our annual springtime beach walk. This is the fourth springtime where we’ve spent a day at Hampton Beach in Hampton, NH, walking up and down the shore and feasting on fried clams (mmmm). The weather was beautiful when we went – not a cloud in the sky and the temps were in the low 70’s, my fave. Makes me wish it was a little warmer to go swimming., though…and it’s hard to believe that Memorial Day is coming up this weekend.

Anyway, the beach seemed like a perfect setting to debut one of my new, favorite me-mades: a Papercut Patterns Undercover Hood, sans hood. This is actually my second version of this sweatshirt without the hood, my first is made out of a coral Thakoon cotton fleece fabric from Mood. I started making these around the time I became severely discouraged with my Anise jacket, and needed an instant gratification type project. When I came to the step of adding the hood, I decided I liked the way the garment looked better without it.

The neck edge, sleeve hems, and bottom of this version were turned under 5/8″ and stitched with a twin needle 1/2″ away from the edge. On my coral version I sewed a hem band on the bottom of the sweatshirt, for this one I didn’t have enough fabric so I just lengthened it a bit. This fabric was originally destined to be a Lola dress, but it turned out horribly – so not a good silhouette for my shape. I’m glad I had enough of this yummy soft fabric for another garment.

I’m practically living in this sweatshirt, I wore it all weekend long. With the way temps have been this month, pieces like this have been my go-to items in my closet. Hopefully summer weather will be here soon, but in the meantime, I’m glad I have a basic piece like this in my handmade closet now.