Wednesday, December 31, 2014

The Finlayson Sweater

Now that I've conquered my fear of knits, I decided to try Thread Theory's Finlayson Sweater. They have an entire sew-along tutorial on their website, so I won't bore you with a lot of construction details.

I like that this pattern can be made up two ways, with either a shawl collar or a hood. Personally, I'm not the hoodie and kangaroo pocket type, so I went with the shawl collar. LL Bean used to sell a rag wool sweater with a shawl collar. I think I wore it till it fell apart, so it's nice to have a replacement.

 

This is a lightweight acrylic knit that I picked up at Metro Textiles in NYC. Metro is one of those fabric haunts that's very "hit or miss", but can be worth the elevator ride up to the 9th floor (I think). The owner, Mr. Kashi, is very helpful and low pressure. While I was visiting he pointed me towards some gorgeous Japanese mens shirting, unfortunately not in colors that I would normally wear. One actually had a contrasting border running down the selvedge that could be used for inside the cuffs or neck band. Pretty cool, and silly cheap at something like $6/ Yd.

I went for this teal blue sweater knit, also $6.

 

 

I purchased the PDF version of the pattern. I work entirely off an ipad these days, and I struggled to find an app that would open the zip files. There are some seriously useless apps out there! I could get the directions, but not the actual pattern. Arrrgh!!! Matt and Morgan were SO supportive of my dilemma and pointed me in the right direction. (The solution was iZip BTW) Once that obstacle was surmounted it was clear sailing.

 

The pattern calls for an optional contrasting back neck facing. It's a good opportunity to use up some of those scraps that I just can't seem to throw away! It's also just a nice touch.

As you can see here my collar / placket isn't perfect. The pattern has separate upper and lower collar pieces, the upper collar being just slightly larger to allow for the turn of the cloth. I decided to understitch my collar to keep the seam out of sight. In retrospect I should have stopped the understitching about 4" from each end. That way it wouldn't show where the collar twists. Speaking of the collar, I'm not entirely convinced that the directions are right. Then again, I may be misinterpreting the diagrams. If you make this sweater, I'd spend some time playing with it so that your upper collar really ends up on the outside.



I "Snug Hugged" the raw edges inside. They could be zig zagged or serged, which would probably be a lot easier. I'm just sort of addicted to Snug Hug.

 

The neck seam can be covered with bias tape, twill tape or even shoelacing!

 

What else did I do? I shortened the arms by 2" and the body by 1". It went together easily and I will definitely be making it again, next time in significantly more luxurious materials. Stay tuned.

In the meantime I have a shirt I want to make.

As always, I wish you happy sewing!

 

 

 

8 comments:

  1. This looks great and it really suits you! I wish it wasn't so hard to find good (any) sweater knits here---I have the Thread Theory cardigan pattern and have been wanting to make a couple for my dad and his partner since it came out, but I haven't found a good fabric yet. Obviously there's the internet, but I like to feel fabric before I buy. ;) Good job---and I love the bound seams, too! :D

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  2. The sweater came out really great. I do like that color on you. Like Tanit-Isis I have been trying to find some nice sweater knit fabric and it hasn't been easy so the hunt is still on. I can't wait to see the other one.

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  3. I love this look! Simple and sophisticated!

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  4. You look amazing in this sweater!

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  5. That is a beautiful jumper and so stylish! I love the contrast facing. You could make it up any different weight fabrics for wear all year round!

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  6. I have had mixed feeling about the finlayson but yours is helping me out. I agree about shawl collars, I prefer them (and other high-collar variations) to hoods everytime. I'll have to add this to the growing to-do list!

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  7. It's really lovely :) The shawl collar is very elegant.

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