Coco Liberty Sweatshirt

As lovely as Liberty Tana Lawn is, to sew and wear, it is not that practical in our cold, wet climate.  Liberty print, in a sweatshirt fabric? Now that has potential! Until I move to the Far East, fleecy fabric is most welcome.  Inspired by Charlie's lovely Liberty print sweatshirt, I combed the internets to find some Liberty sweatshirt fabric of my own. 

The fabric is lovely and snuggly, the outside has stood up well to washing, no pilling at all, and it is a dream to sew. I have no trouble with skipped stitches, which I usually struggle with in knits. It is kind of strange in the stretch: there is almost no stretch side to side, but it does stretch a little along the warp. It is almost a woven in terms of low stretch, and I have had a bit of strain on the seams when I take it off.

Pink brights secured, I had to decide on the pattern, it was between Tilly's Coco and the Grainline Linden. I chose the Coco for 3 reasons: 1. the set in sleeve is less casual than a raglan, which is more "me", 2. the dress and top are both part of the pattern so I wouldn't have to guess when switching between the two, and 3. Tilly is a UK-based designer and buying local makes me feel good.

The pattern was very simple, I only used 4 pattern pieces, including the roll neck. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough fabric for the dress version. (I should have, but my 1.5m piece was cut very crooked and came out at a true 1.1m). The top is probably more versatile, and I did (sort of) want a sweatshirt.

The fitting is absolutely fine, I made my two usual pattern adjustments: 1 inch off the waist and 1/2 inch sway back.  I didn't have quite enough fabric so I took about 1/2 inch off each sleeve and this length is more than long enough for me. I kept the side splits, which I need with such a low stretch fabric, but I took about 1 inch off the hem length.

I didn't need to sew with a zig zag stitch, I used an ordinary stitch on the sleeve hems.  I was finally going to use my twin needle for the hem, it worked beautifully on the scrap fabric, but I broke it on the final run. No more twin needle. I just used two rows of straight stitch. 

I increased my stitch length to 2.75, but I didn't use a walking foot because the bulky fabric didn't fit into the lower clearance.

I am very happy with my finished sweatshirt. I have worn it a lot, it does everything I want it to: keeps me warm and looks interesting and not sloppy.

I still have some substantial scraps left over. I'm thinking I can pair one of them with navy for a raglan sweatshirt, and another can probably fit a child as a cosy skirt.

Costs:
Fabric: £40
Pattern: £9.50
Thread: stash
Notions: none
Total: £49.50