Guest blogger – Ruth

Hi everyone. I’m Ruth from @ruthiesews and I was honoured to be chosen to be a guest blogger for Felicity Fabrics. When I was given October I decided on an Autumnal make, a long cardigan to keep me warm, as I’m permanently cold.

I chose this lovely snuggly sweatshirt fabric in deep burgundy. This is one of my 100% colours from the days of having my colours matched to my individual colouring, plus it’s a colour I love, which will go well with my wardrobe.

I received my beautifully packaged box and it was washed and line dried that same day. I always pre-wash my fabric and this was washed on a delicates cold cycle, which is how I will wash the cardigan in future.

I decided to make a pattern I’ve made before, but a different view. I thought I’d make the long version view D to keep my legs warm. The pattern is Butterick 6251 and is available on Etsy. I didn’t realise it was out of print but I’ve had it a few years now.

I also decided to make a size medium because the fabric is quite thick, whereas I’ve made small before. It was a good decision as I want to be able to wear a jumper underneath and it fits just as I wanted it to.

I chose to bias bind the facing, just for a pop of colour so bought 4 metres of bias from my local haberdashers ‘ Fashion n Fabrics’. I like to do this on facings, just to pretty it up! TIP: This would be my top tip for a really lovely finish.

I made the slightly longer sleeves which have a turned back cuff. The fabric was lovely to sew and very stable. I used a size 9 ballpoint needle and mainly a straight stitch, except on the armsyce where it might need to give a bit so I did a small zigzag.

There were some challenges in this project. I had made my other versions in jersey type fabric and found that the front didn’t hang very well in the more structured sweatshirting and the facings kept turning out. I also couldn’t slip stitch the facing down as it was noticeable from the right side. 

I decided to try ‘ Wonder Web’ which I’ve occasionally used for hems before where hand stitching wouldn’t work well. I tried it on a scrap piece of fabric and it worked well, so went on to apply it to the two front openings, carefully pressing it with a damp cloth as per instructions. 

TIP : This is another top tip of mine but always test your fabric first as it can be quite stiff on lighter fabrics.

This has sorted out the problem and now feels more secure and hangs properly.

The other extra care I took was by hand tacking the collar area and pressing in place carefully. I didn’t want to topstitch the neck area seam as it was quite thick. I tacked and then topstitched the fronts of the cardigan using a large stitch 3.5 x 3.5. Lots of steam pressing is very important I find.

I often tack by hand part of a project especially collars and facings as I find it sets them better as the underedge is rolled inwards then pressed in place.

This cardigan is going to be extremely useful I know. Lastly I sewed a special label in the back that I bought at the Knitting and Stitching Show from the specky seamstress.

My cardigan has turned out to look more like a coat I know!

Thank you to Fliss and Caroline for the lovely fabric and the chance to review it here.

Happy sewing…..Ruth xxxx