Construction Details:
Once again, another design caught my eye in BurdaStyle. I thought I had the perfect fabric that would look great. But there it was, right in front of me as I laid out the fabric to place my pattern piece down. Darn! Not enough fabric again.
When I buy fabric I usually have an idea of what I want to make or could make by the qualities the fabric displays. My current fabric of choice was no different, but I wasn’t thinking of a hooded pullover. I liked the pattern I saw and was determined to make it.
Gazing at my fabric collection for what seemed like hours, I finally chose a knit fabric I bought from Mood Fabrics 7 years ago. Why in 7 years had I not used it? I am going to admit I was not very crazy with the print. The question then is why did I buy it? Not sure.
Anyhow, I thought the fabric would work. It did appear to me that after I cut it out the design was a little overwhelming. So I decided to change it up by placing strips of stretch faux leather in selected areas to give it visual appeal. The fabric was so thin I just laid it over the knit fabric and did rows of stitching to give it some visual texture. I did finish the raw edges that would be visible, the other edge would be stitched into a seam.
To achieve a finished edge on the faux leather, I used a 1/4” wash away wonder tape on the edges, then folded it over to create my finished seam. I did not want to stitch it beforehand as I was going to be stitching it to the fabric and only wanted one row of stitching. So I used the tape to hold it in place to the knit material. Rows of stitching were then made 3/8″ then 1/4″ apart respectively alternating.
Now the faux leather has a four-way stretch and I used a stretch stitch to sew it together. Once the wonder tape dissolves it leaves me with fabric that still stretches.
I decided to add the contrasting bands to the front and back pieces where they meet the sleeve, on the ends of the sleeve, and around the outside of the hood.
It would seem the belt left me thinking for a few days about how I wanted to approach it. An all-black belt seemed out of place and an all-fabric belt was eh. Finally, I decided to place strips of the faux leather in certain places along the belt that when tied looked like belt loops. I liked it so that was the route I went.
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Conclusion:
It is a great style that I like even if I was not crazy about the fabric. Regardless, I bet I will be wearing it often. Even things I am hesitant about I end up loving it after a while.