Hello Internet friends!
Today I wanted to share my flecked(?), cropped geodesic sweater! (I don't know if flecked is the right word but to me it's flecked) This is my second geodesic, the first I made up last spring in a lovely rayon ponte in an eggplant purple. I've gotten so many complements on it, and it's so comfy to wear, that I knew I needed to make up a second. I made this version in an all cotton sweater knit that I picked up at the spool of thread sale last spring.
This project has been a while in the making, I cut the fabric out wayyyy back in September durring one of my 'weekends are for cutting fabric' mass project cutting frenzies! I didn't get around to sewing it though until early Feb of this year. I don't know why this took me so long to sew considering I wear the other one to death....but once I got started I got well suck in and it came together over two sewing sessions. It would have been one if not for some of the issues I had with serging the tiny 1/4" seam allowance.
The fluffy blonde monster had fun with creating lens flairs during this photo taking session haha!
With the first geodesic I sewed completely on my regular sewing machine using the 'lightning' stitch that came per-programed. With my 1/4" sewing foot this made for quick work, but I wasn't super satisfied with the interior as there are many unfinished edges, which is fine since it's made of ponte and so doesn't unravel but I just didn't like the way it looked. For this version I tried to sew everything on my serger in an effort to help clean up the edges (this particular sweater knit does unravel somewhat), and because I was out of ball point needles for my regular machine when I was finally in the mood to sew it :S
I do like how the instructions specifically tell you to put the line on the neck binding on the back of the sweater....one of the things with sewing your own clothes is that you don't have a label to rely on to put your clothes on the right way when you are groggily getting ready in the morning, having this visual indication really helps!
Unfortunately I wasn't super successful on my first pass through the serger, for me it's really hard to sew that tiny 1/4" seam allowance on my machine because a) I'm still a serging newbie and b) where I have my serger in our 'creative room' (as the fluffy blonde monster puts it, it's really my sewing room.....) isn't conducive to sewing really finicky seams. I ended up having to repair portions where fabric had shifted or where the stitching didn't quite catch both seam allowances with my regular machine when I finally picked up some new ball point needles. Due to the 'flecked' nature of the fabric it's really hard to see any of these errors so I'm going to live with the small imperfections that only I can really see :D
again....being creative with lens flares......hahah!
I really like the way this sweater is constructed, you take all of these matching triangles and piece them together, kind of like a quilt construction, to make you front and back pieces. This creates lots of visual interest in such a simple silhouette and also lends itself easily to colour blocking if one should choose. I got really lucky with this pattern as the cropped version fits me perfectly without any 'short person' modifications, which was great as it meant I didn't have to do any math to figure out how to shorten the triangles without losing the cleanly matched lines! I probably could have shortened the sleeves a tad but I really like the slightly oversized feeling as it makes the sweater feel that much more comfy :)
In terms of styling I prefer to pair both of my geodesic tops with a slim fitting RTW tank top and my mid rise ginger jeans. I have worn them with my low rise ginger jeans however I find that tank tops have a tendency to roll up when i'm walking about sometimes, so the mid rise versions do give that extra bit of coverage which is appreciated. These two sweaters really fill a hole in my wardrobe in that I didn't really realize was there until I started wearing them....they are stylish enough to wear to work on more casual days keeping me comfy without looking frumpy, and on weekends it's an easy outfit to pull together for a brunch for example.
cheesy smile for the last pic!
I seam to have caught a sweater sewing bug as I currently have a Sunday Everyday sweater in my sewing queue! It may be the sudden burst of colder weather here in Vancouver but all I want to make these days seems to be comfy sweaters and comfy pants.....its like some late season, late onset hibernating urge! Check back soon for more comfy sewing (also knitting!! I have some WIPs that are just about done that I can't wait to share!)