In Issue 40 of Simply Sewing Magazine there was a fantastic freebie pattern by Tilly and The Buttons – The Stella Hoodie!! It’s also available from her new Book – Stretch! Make yourself Comfortable Sewing with Knit Fabrics.

Truth be told, I’ve not had much look with Tilly’s patterns in the past but on a whim i decided to give them another go and I’m glad i did!!

GirlCharlee has kindly provided me with the softest French Terry in Teal that i have ever come across! It’s a bargain at £10.96 per metre! It even behaved really well on my Singer Quantum Stylist 9960 and Singer Overlocker so a def winner in my eyes!

I had a rummage through my stash too as i wanted to add a bit of pop to my hoodie and thankfully i had some left over Grey Floral Cotton Jersey from January’s Sew My Style of the Sunny Top.

According to my measurements I need a size 4 and i risked it by not making a toile but as the saying goes “risk it for a biscuit” and I’m glad I did as it saved myself time and the fit is great! but I wouldn’t recommend it if you do have to grade between sizes as making a toile would make sure you had the perfect fit.

I used my Overlocker for the majority of the construction of this Hoodie as i am sucker for nice neat lines inside and out. Doesn’t hurt have a glass of wine as a companion either, especially when the football is on! Hahaha!

I love my Automatic Buttonhole feature on my machine as it makes buttonholes a breeze and remember if you are using jersey to interface the back of your fabric to stabilise it and to achieve a great buttonhole.

The only thing I did change was that rather have a normal cuff, I wanted thumbholes! Since the weather is still naff and i wanted to try something new!

I’ll show you how to do this! It’s rather simple but uber effective!

I had to shorten the sleeve itself by 2 inches but that’s me with short arms so best check where the cuff would be by pinning the folded cuff piece to the sleeve using 1.5cm seam allowance for guidance.

First of all I pinned the cuff piece in place and added an extra 3″ to the height of the piece.

Take one cuff and pin so that the raw edges meet, right sides together. Now mark 1″ away from the edges at the top and bottom of the cuff and then measure 1.5″ (that will be your thumbhole) so once folded they will line up when you fold the cuffs.

Sew the seam using 1.5cm seam allowance, stopping and backtacking on either side of the holes to leave them open. Start at one end to the 1st pin, remembering to backsticth and then continue on from the 2nd pin as you will need this gap for your thumbhole and repeat to the end of the seam.

I graded my seam allowance down by half and pressed the seam open.

Fold the cuffs with wrong sides together, lining up the thumbholes. Pin together along either side of the holes and along the seam. Yeah… I go overboard with Pins!

This next step is a little awkward on your machine. I flipped my cuff so that the pins were in the inside and gently eased the rest o the cuff away whilst sewing. Sew 1/4″ from the seam from end to end, closing up the sides of the thumbholes. Repeat on other cuff.

Add a bartack at either end of the thumbholes to secure this stress point.

Ta-dah! You now have a thumbhole cuffs! Yay! Can you believe that’s all there is to it!

Just remeber when attaching the cuffs that the thumbhole and seam match to the sleeve seam or you will end up with the thumbholes wrong way round.

Tilly’s instructions are great for making this hoodie and i’m thinking I need a copy of her book as the patterns look fantastix and that this one has fitted really well it’s given me the confidence to try the patterns again! So win win!

I finished the hoodie by using aqua 1.5cm wide cotton tape that I bought from eBay for 99p, gotta love a bargain!

I hope you like this little tutorial on making your own thumbhole cuffs, I have a feeling I’ll be making all long sleeve tops like this now ?

Now here is the finished result hung up.

Of course moi wearing my new secret pj top, it’s soo comfy yet pretty with the floral accents!

Happy Sewing!

Sal xx

The post Tilly and The Buttons Stella Hoody and a Thumbhole Hack appeared first on The Yorkshire Sewist.

When Jennifer put the call out for Testers for her new Cardi pattern, who wouldn’t say no?!

I’ve recently made the Bronte Top and it fit was really good and her instructions are pretty easy to follow so i thought i’d take myself out of my comfort zone and make my 1st ever Cardigan!

Thankfully i had won a £20 voucher from @cottonreelstudio, perfect timing! So i decided to go for the Navy and Black Ponte Roma for a bit of colour blocking and i wanted the cardi to have a bit of structure to it

There is 2 versions to this cardigan, if you wanted a vintage vibe there is a cropped version or longline length that i opted for.

The fab thing about Jennifer’s patterns is that she has set the pattern pieces really well to print so instead of wasting paper you only need to print the pages you need for whichever version you are sewing! Nothing worse than printing out a 50 odd page pattern and to only use 40 of them…. must be the ‘Yorkshire’ in me!

Oh look my Fondant fancies are making an appearance again! Hahahaha!

 Here’s a pic of the Neckband going in, it’s a lot easier than you think!

Now i won’t lie…. this pattern is for the absolute beginner! You will need to have some experience working with knits as it can be a tricky when you are inserting the saddle sleeves but it is a very interesting design feature!

Here’s my tester version all sewn up!

There is an option for buttons also but for my version i quite like my cardi’s open and tend not to fasten them so didn’t want to fath around for no reason!

So with skipping that step i managed to get this sewn up in a day from sticking the pages to sewing up the cardi so not bad going to say it’s my 1st cardi! Yay!

For my next version, I’m thinking for going for a bit lighter jersey as the Ponte is quite thick and doesn’t drape much because of it plus it’s coming to Spring/Summer which would be a fab cover up! Just need decide if i want to colour block or not….hmmmmm!

The Pattern is now officially realised over at Jennifer’s Shop so grab your copy now and get sewing up some yummy cardis’!

Sal

xx

The post Jennifer Lauren Handmade Juniper Cardigan appeared first on The Yorkshire Sewist.

Hope your ready for a nice quick easy sew for this drab weather we are having in the UK! It’s windy, rainy and dark and its depressing!

So to cheer myself up I made myself a new Jersey Infinity Scarf with added Pom Poms to make it Cheery!

Its great stash buster as it only requires just 20″ of 60″ wide Fabric! Win Win in my eyes!

Here is what needed:

20″ of 60″ Wide Jersey or Cotton Fabric

1.5m of Pom Pom Trim

Thread & Bobbin

Zipper Foot – This is needed instead of Normal Foot as this allow to sew the Trim in

Plenty of Pins!

Take your piece of Fabric and fold it in Half Length ways with Right Sides Together.

Insert the Pom Pom Trim in between the folds with the Straight edge of the Trim matching the raw edge of the Fabric, so that the Actual Pom Pom’s are on the inside.

Pin all the way along the Long edge leaving the Short Sides open.

Now remember to use your Zipper foot as this will get as close as you can to stitch in the trim as if you try to sew with the normal foot it wouldn’t get anywhere near to secure the pom poms. I also set my Machine to a small Zig Zag Stitch.

I used the otherside of the Foot as my guide to keep it nice and straight whilst sewing.

Now to turn the scarf to the right side by sliding your arm into the ‘tube’ and pull the end through so that it turns itself to the Right Side out.

Take both of the open ends of the Fabric and start pinning where the Seams meet and try and pin about 3 quarters of the way round. Sew in place using 1cm Seam Allowance.

Now to sew the Gap! Lightly press the remaining Seam Allowance and then hand stitch the closing using a Slip stitch.

And Voila! One quick and easy Infinity Scarf with a Twist! See it’s that Easy!!

You can easily swap the Jersey for Cotton if you wanted a ‘Summer’ version

As you can see it’s a fab selfish sew or if you are feeling generous why don’t you knock some these for Family or Friends?

Have a fab weekend!

Sal xx

The post Infinity Scarf with a Pom Pom Twist Tutorial appeared first on The Yorkshire Sewist.