The fabric came to me via an Instagram friend who I recently met in real life - and who then went on to cross to the other side of the world and party with my brother - small world!
Back at book week costume making time, Erin had sent me a message asking if I might have one of those fancy closures that would look good on her son's hooded cloak costume. I didn't, but it so happened I was at a fabric shop at that very moment (yeah, what are the chances, right?!) and I spotted some gold braid and figured I could try making one.
It was fun to do and when I handed it over, Erin gifted me this loop back terry sweater knit Poison fabric remnant. It's actually a really nice quality sweater knit and I'm pretty sure came from ClearIt. She figured there might be enough left for a hoodie.
I used the Rowan Tee by Titchy Threads with the only changes being to the pockets. I knew it would have to have pockets but wasn't keen on a kangaroo pocket as I didn't want to obscure the print. So I drafted some in seam pockets and then topstitched them in pace. I never would have thought I could do that but for the Building Block Dress Book which gives instructions for changes just like this one.
The ribbing is the excellent 2x2 Ottobre ribbing which is perfect for jumper/jacket weight garments. The hood I lined in a simple black cotton lycra from the stash and then I finished the front hood edge with a red/black cotton tape.
It's a straight size 10, and I suspect I cut the sleeve length at full length and then added cuffs as well, but that's just my concession to this boy's arm length. The only complaint would be that for a jumper or hoodie the sleeves run a bit narrow. Perfect for along sleeve tee, but a bit skimpy for a jumper.
I was careful in my cutting and as I looked at my remnants of the original remnant I just knew there was another garment in there....
...and I managed to eke out a pair of Parachute Track Pants in size 7 for A.
I thought it would be a terribly clever idea to do some faux flat lock stitching by overlocking the seams wrong side together and then stitching the seam allowances down. It turned out to be a nightmare as the printed parts of the fabric are quite plasticky and the overlocker could not move the fabric along at all. By covering the bottom of the overlocker's presser foot with washi tape, and lots of pushing I managed to get the fabric to feed along bearably.
The pattern doesn't have pockets but I had already made that adjustment when I first traced them off in size 7 for P's school pants. There's a blog post on the Oliver + S blog that talks though adding pockets to this pattern.
In all it was a fun diversion in sewing up some wacky fabric with some lovely patterns and making everyday staples I know the kids will wear a lot.
Two great garments and how likely are they to wear them at the same time?
ReplyDeleteha ha I did think of that, and I admit I was secretly quite grateful that there was no way he could get a pair of trackpants out of the leftovers. I've had both kids in matching fabrics a few times already, but the idea of a whole Poison fabric lounge suit was too much to bear!
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