Saturday 10 January 2015

My Grainline Studio Linden Sweatshirt...


A hectic pre-Christmas schedule meant that I did not get chance to blog about all my makes during the month of December. You may remember the difficult decision I had to make about the sweatshirt fabric I wanted (see here). As you can see, one of my chosen ones is the ever so on trend Burgundy, plait patterned, quilted, sweatshirt jersey! (Please note that Pantone's colour of the year for 2015 is Marsala, or to you and me; Burgundy!)I also went for a soft cotton ribbing in the same colour. 


I chose to make the traditional sweatshirt version and I decided to cut all the pieces flat, without a fold in the fabric to ensure that the plaited pattern stayed straight throughout. Although this was time consuming, it was certainly worth it. My advice to others is, don't try to wash and dry 5 yards of quilted sweatshirt material in one go, it takes over your whole flat! 


So, onto the making part. Grainline patterns have brilliantly clear instructions, so I found the putting together and sewing very simple. It was a very quick make. The ribbing had just the right amount of stretch to make the cuffs and neck/waist bands fit perfectly. The only issue was the thickness of the seams when joining the ribbing, but with a little bit of pulling through my overlocker, it did work. I would say the sewing was quicker than the cutting process!


As for the finished garment, the fit is on the larger size, despite following the finished garment measurements. However for the type of sweatshirt I was looking for, it does the job. I wore it over the festive period in the UK and Austria layered over a checked shirt and it looked great! I'm pleased with the fabric, it is very warm and soft. However, I have noticed some pilling already on the under sleeves. For the price, I can't complain!  At $60HKD a yard, I think it was good value for money. 


I now need to wait until it's a little colder in Hong Kong to wear this sweatshirt. I will certainly be pulling it out when I go skiing in Japan. I recommend the Grainline Linden without question for a quick and easy sweatshirt pattern that guarantees a nice shape. I think i'm going to make the short sleeved version soon as this will probably be worn more in Hong Kong. 


4 comments:

  1. *Sweet* sweatshirt there Sophie!
    Who knew when we were selecting our latest fabrics we would be so on-trend with the colour of our purchases!?
    You have convinced me to crack on with a Lindon too - although it will be at the end of an ever-growing list of other things to make. So many thing to sew. So little time.
    If only I could give up the day job...... cue dreamy music and soft focus.... yeah, right. That's never going to happen.
    * Sweet - one of the many new slang words used by teenage kids in London to mean cool. You prob knew that already?!

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  2. Check out your bad-self on Tilly's latest blogpost!
    http://www.tillyandthebuttons.com/2015/01/your-makes.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tillyandthebuttons+%28Tilly+and+the+Buttons%29

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