Sweater Blank

What  Chesty is wearing today.

Again today I am working on an UFO from last year - well if the truth be told, it is a really really old UFO as far as the fabric goes.

Many years ago, my local chapter of the American Sewing Guild took a trip to Philadelphia to shop.  We tried to buy out JoMar, all the shops on 4th street, and a unique place that sold something called a sweater blank.  I can't remember the name just now, but it may come to me.  I am fairly sure that they are no longer in business. 

What is a sweater blank you ask?  Well, it is four pieces of a large sweater knit  that has the ribbing incorporated in the fabric (just like a purchased sweater) and a piece of ribbing for the neck.  They are really fast to construct, so the gal at the store told us,  so I purchased MANY.  Again, what was I thinking? 

Over time I have given most of them away, with the exception of this one.

The 'blank' is the beige / white stripe fabric.  I made the trim out of my two of my faves -beige and medium brown petersham.  I stitched them together then added the animal print trim in the middle of the two.

Close up of the trim

I added a plain Target Tank under it with the same animal print trim on the neck.  The neck grew a little after I added the trim, so I just made a small pleat in the middle and really like how it changed the look of the T.

I plan to close the sweater with this large brass snap that I purchased on a NYC trip!

Let me know what you think - please leave a comment or click a button to let me know you were here.  Thank you for visiting.

Happy Sewing,

Michele P

What I am working on Today

I am vigilantly working on my UFO list.  Today's post is just that, two tops that have been in the closet for quite a while.

This is a twin set that I started last year at a retreat and this is one of the MANY projects I started there.  I really want to get this done to wear Saturday.  Dr. P and I will be celebrating our 28th wedding anniversary and I want to wear it to dinner.  I can't believe that it has been 28 years - I only feel like I am 28 years old so how can I be married that long?  Where does the time go?

Anyway - The fabric of this twin set came from Emma One Sock.  Her fabrics are so great.  The fiber content is a blend of wool and cashmere.  Again, like butter!

These pictures do not do the colour justice! It is such a stunning shade of brown and orange.

Close up of the tank.  I cut out motifs from left over fabric and hand applied them to the neckline using four strands of top stitch thread .  As the fabric is a knit it will not ravel so it was perfect for this type of treatment.

Again, this pic does not show it too well, but the thin trim around the jacket is a leather cord that I zig zaged on with jeans thread.  I am considering taking the beads off the jacket and applying appliques then beading them.  Now you know why it takes me so long to finish anything!  I remake it at least two times before I can finish it!

Happy Sewing,
Michele P

Fabric From A Friend

Now that I have successfully passed my mandatory lesson on camera photo upload to the computer imposed by Dr. P (aka my husband) I am now free to post at will.  Therefore, I hope to post several times a week.  Now with that said here is today's post.

 

When my dear friend, Jane (of Lucky sew and sew ) and her husband Mr. Lucky decided to become snow birds she divested herself of her wool fabric.  I was one of the very luck recipients of some of her divine pieces.  This Sweater jacket is fashioned out of one of them.

The fabric is a lightweight wool sweater, very rare these days.  I have embraced the raw edge craze and all the edges of this sweater jacket are raw.  I added a bias cut strip for the fronts and sleeve hem.  The collar is double, with wrong sides together.  I had some vintage mink trim and added it to the tie and it turned out to be the fabulous finishing touch.



Close up of front trim



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 Happy Sewing

Michele P