aztec | Hs Handcrafts

For Me-Made-May I have been wearing something I have made every day. I quickly identified that this was going to be a struggle on days where I couldn’t really wear skirts, dresses or nice blouses given the nature of my work. As an agricultural researcher it is no surprise that I often do work outside that involves getting quite muddy. I decided to get on this straight away and so in the first week of May I decided to make myself a sweater!

It was perfect for the days when I needed somehting comfy for work and could easily move around lifting heavy things. The only problem was the days when I needed this tye of clothes but it was too hot to wear a sweater! Maybe I will have to bear this in mind for future projects!

Double Skill Up: Knit fabric and a vintage pattern

I already had the perfect fabric to make a sweater from. When I visited Goldhawk road ages ago I picked up this jersey fabric in a cream and dark grey aztec print. I new it would be perfect for a sweater. I just needed to choose a pattern. As I have never sewn with knits before I wanted something straightforward. Then I remembered the vintage patterns I had picked up a while ago on ebay when thinking about my Vintage pledge. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to kill 2 birds with one stone and conquer both knits and vintage patterns in one fell swoop!

I measured a size 14 on the bust and waist and between a 14 and 16 on the hips. I knew I wanted the sweater to be oversized and comfy so I just went ahead and cut out a size 16.

In terms of the sewing I was really pleased at how easy I found sewing with knits. I looked up a few things in my Colette sewing with knits book and the whole thing came together really quickly as there is very little to do in terms of finishing seams or pressing.

All the instructions were actually pretty straightforward which surprised me a little as I was expecting to need some Googling to get through a vintage patterns as from what I have heard they are notorious for assuming a reasonable level of skill. Although, actually there was very little that was new to me in this pattern.

I really liked the back of the neckline. I have not made something with this type of neck before but I quite like how it adds some style to what is otherwise a simple pattern.My button loop is quite messy but for a first try I am quite pleased with it.

The only instruction I skipped on this garment was the part where I was supposed to insert shoulder pads.I think that would have been a bit much and you still get the late 80s vibe without the shoulder pads though so all is good!

The details:

Pattern: Butterick 3670

Fabric: Aztec print jersey from Goldhawk road

Notions:Gutermann thread, old button found in my stash

Alterations: no shoulder pads

I would love to make something similar again so I have more choice of me-mades when it comes to days when I need comfy easy to wear clothes. I am not sure exactly what the fabric type is if I were to buy it again. It is kind of like jersey but with 2 colours of thread knit together. It also only has a small amount of stretch. If anyone has any ideas I’d love to find out so I can buy some more! Here is what the reverse side looks like

If you liked this overview of my project why not keep up to date with my current makes over on twitter

A couple of weeks ago I took my first trip to Goldhawk road.

A quick trip around bloglamd and the sewing community will have you realise that this is THE place to go for fabric shopping in London.

I wasn’t dissapointed we walked from Kensington gardens through Shephards Bush and arrived at Goldhawk Road. At first it just looked like any other street and I began to wonder what all the fuss was about. Once we started to walk down the street though I realised what an amazing place it really was. Pretty much every other shop was a fabric store and not only that some of them were like Aladdin’s caves which got bigger and bigger the more tiny archways or crooked stairwells you ventured down.

Unfortunately I don’t remember the names of the shops from which I made my purchases but the first purchase of the day was this aztec print jersey at just £6 a metre.

I bought 2 metres and hope to use it to make a slouchy cardigan with all the new skills I hope to learn in the new year as I work my way through the Colette book I won a few weeks ago.

My other purchases were all from the same shop, again I dont remember the name but they had all sorts of fun cotton prints. I checked and these 2 are 100% cotton, another bargain at £6 a metre. Again I got 2 metres of each.