Pattern Review's 2015 Sweater Knits Contest

I'm pleased to announce that O! Jolly! is the sponsor of this month's Pattern Review contest. It's the 2015 Sweater Knits Contest, and I'm very happy to be a part of an event that gets more home sewers excited about sewing sweater knit fabric!

The contest officially begins tomorrow, October 1st. Links to the contest discussion, rules, gallery, contest badge are on this page. 

I got to meet Deepika, PatternReview's owner and founder, when she visited New York City recently. We had brunch in SoHo and chatted about sewing and fabrics, including sweater knits, of course. How interesting to learn how Deepika started PatternReview fifteen years ago and how the site has evolved. Deepika said that people were once wary of posting photos of themselves online. Imagine that! ;-) After brunch we went shopping at Purl SoHo and later ogled the all the luxurious fabrics in the clothing at the Chanel store. What a delightful afternoon!

Here's an Instgram pic of Deepika at Purl SoHo in front of the Liberty of London display, wearing a pretty True Bias Southport Dress that she made.

At @purlsoho with @ojolly

A photo posted by Deepika Prakash (@deepika_patternreview) on Sep 29, 2015 at 1:03pm PDT

Pictures of the Pattern Review Sweater Knits Contest entries will begin to be posted on PatternReview over the next couple of weeks. To help get the things started, I've contributed a few suggestions and tips on working with my favorite type of fabric. Please check them out on the Pattern Review Blog. In case you'd like to join the fun, all the official rules and prizes are here.

I can't wait to see what the participants create!

O!

Sweater Fabric, Cut and Sewn

Annie's light green jersey tunic

What a wonderful surprise I had recently when I received pictures from a happy customer!  Annie had been interested in my color grown cotton fabrics and purchased the jersey in both tan and light green, as well as matching ribbing. Pictured above is one of Annie's finished garments, a light green tunic. I just love the graceful drape of Annie's creation. Thank you, Annie, for sharing these pictures with me and thanks for allowing me to share them with others. I know that many of my customers don't blog and don't post their makes on social media, so it's such a treat when I see what they've made. Below is Annie's tan tunic, a slightly different style, and just as lovely.

Annie's tan jersey tunic

Perhaps you've already seen the wonderful natural white jersey Shrug from Leila of Three Dresses Project?

Leila's natural white jersey shrug

Quite some time ago Leila tweeted to the world how she was unable to find sweater knit fabric. It was spring and there simply weren't any sweater knits available where she shopped. "Ah, someone who wants to sew sweater knits!" I said to myself. "I'll send you some, Leila," I emailed her. 

Over a year later, I finally sent her some fabric! But I had an excuse for the long delay. It was around that time that I started seriously exploring the possibility of having my fabric designs knit in a mill. And it only(!) took me more than a year to source the materials, find a mill that would work with me, and get the fabric knitted! True that I was involved in many other projects as I worked on this new venture. True that I was also packing up my workspace, moving it, unpacking it, and packing it up again, as needed, as the building where I live and work received a big upgrade. (Renovations are still not complete in what what must be the slowest condo conversion in history, but they're in the home stretch now. :-/ )

Returning to our topic... the yardage finally arrived at Leila's door, and she made the beautiful shrug cardigan. You can see in the pictures that although it's a jersey, it's heavier than standard jersey. It really is a true sweater knit. You can see more pics and read all about Leila's pretty wrap dress on her blog.

Last I leave you with Grainline Studio's Linden by Sonya of GingerMakes. Sonja completed it way back at the beginning of summer, but I realized that though newsletter subscribers have certainly seen it and readers of GingerMakes have seen it, I don't think I ever posted a picture on Crafting Fashion! More about the sewing and the fabric are on the GingerMakes blog, in case you haven't read it already. 

Sonja's Linden sweater in New Hudson

I must admit that I love everything about this sweater. I think it's great that Sonya chose what's technically a sweatshirt pattern for the New Hudson fabric. It was a very good combo!

I'm so excited about the 100% wool knits that will be arriving at the shop throughout October. There's a scrumptious wool, as soft and fine as Australian merino but from a wonderful sheep breed developed in the the US over a hundred years ago, the Columbia sheep. And there's a bulky textured fabric, knit with a medium grade American wool. This fabric will be perfect for wraps and ponchos and cardigans. Can hardly wait. They're coming soon!

O!

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