I Love the Winter Weather!
What can I say, I love the type of weather where I can wear multiple layers of clothing. Whether it is jeans, a top, and sweater or a skirt with tights and boots the more layers the better. Growing up in the Chicago area our winters could last from October to May. It was common to dress in multiple layers, sometimes including long underwear. Despite being layered up you would top it off with a nice warm coat before going outside. There were so many possibilities.
I now live in North Carolina, and I am lucky if we have enough days that equal a month of cold weather. This doesn’t stop me from layering it on when I can, not to mention my house is poorly insulated so even on 50-degree days I freeze. For this month’s collection, I have decided to make sweaters to keep me warm until temperatures start to rise.
The big idea for this is to start dwindling my old stash of fabric. That does pose a challenge since I am still buying new fabrics. There are many things that I have planned to make from years past but like so many of you, I have been busy with work and taking care of the kids. I have always tried to plan a few things at a time so I could have things cut and ready to go. It is not always time effective since I do take time to fit, alter or change a style line completely before proceeding to cut.
For this month’s pattern picks I seemed to have completely gone BurdaStyle magazine. To give some ideas to those who are just starting to sew, or have not sewn in a long time, my picks are quick and easy styles. If you like any of the styles you can sometimes find old issues used on eBay or Etsy, for more current issues Burda sells PDFs of the styles in their magazines dating back to 2017. Maybe that will change over time, and it will go back farther, I am not sure.
- BurdaStyle November 2012 style #128
- BurdaStyle December 2016 style #120 with many style modifications
- BurdaStyle December 2021 style #115 a/b
- BurdaStyle October 2020 Style #104
- BurdaStyle October 2018 Style #119
I have plenty of fabric choices, my only limit being is if I have enough yardage for the style I want.
For this small grouping, I have chosen a teal bouclé knit with a fleeced back. This fabric will give great warmth and also give the garment some textured appeal. I also have chosen a blue-green-cream sweater knit that I have had forever in my fabric stash. Not even sure what fibers it is made from but I do know it is not wool because too much wool and I will itch like crazy.
I also picked this great pink bouclé knit. It is a loose weave which has me choosing a pattern that will make it a good 2nd layer to wear. I also have a black and white eyelash knit sweater that I bought at Joann’s. Lastly, a black and white textured knit that I bought back on a trip to Mood fabrics in New York.
Black cable knit with matching bamboo ribbing. Both from Emma One Sock. I didn’t use it in this round, but I do believe you can still get something like this on the website.