In the year I’m supposed to be sewing as many items as possible to create a solid wardrobe for myself, my first finish is a sweater for my boyfriend.
The inspiration for this sweater was one of his favourite sweaters that I wish he would discard because it has holes in both armpits that I have decided are beyond fixing. To (sort of) copy this sweater I thread traced the seams, pinned Swedish tracing paper to the sweater and used a marker to trace the seams onto the paper. Then I turned these slightly wonky traced pieces into pattern pieces that looked normal and made sure that every seam would match perfectly. I also lenghtened the sleeves because I thought the sleeves on the original sweater were too short and added some extra room in the armpit area to ensure that this sweater wouldn’t tear as well. I wasn’t entirely sure I would get the fit right in one go so I first cut the pattern pieces from fabric with extra-large seam allowances, did some fitting, adjusted the pattern, recut the pieces with normal sized seam allowances and sewed it up. All in all it didn’t take very long to make.
The front, back and sleeves are made from a viscose & acryl blend that I think is very suitable for a men’s sweater. The wrong side of the fabric is black and the front blue. The neckband, hem band and cuffs are made from a viscose & lycra blend jersey that I had left over from another project.
He requested that the neckline would be high so that any t-shirt worn underneath doesn’t show. No problem, I can do that. The fabric, however, doesn’t have a lot of stretch and it is a bit of a struggle to put it on and take it off. Had I noticed this during the fitting I would have made it a bit wider, but for now I just hope it won’t tear.
Overall I’m very pleased with the result. If he enjoys wearing it I’ll probably make more with a wider neckline.
Hi, it looks great, and he looks a willing model which is an added bonus! 😃
Oh yes, as long as I don’t ask him for a photoshoot every week and keep it limited to 5 minutes at most I think he’ll remain willing.
Love it! 🙂
Thank you!
Impressive – well done!
Thank you!
Very nice sweater. Must not let my husband know that some people make clothes for their partners. Did you use your new overlocker/serger for this?
Haha, I rarely make anything for my boyfriend. This is only the second item of clothing in almost 5 years of sewing. I did not use my overlocker. I’m still getting acquainted to it and am not yet confident enough to get consistent straight seams and I also started this sweater before I got it. If I make another I definitely will use it though. It should make it an even faster make.
Wow, that looks very nice!!!
Thank you! I’m very happy with how it turned out.
It turned out great! The sweater fits you friend wonderful. I’m thinking about making a hoodie for myself, probably from the jogging fabric. I wonder if I can find this sort ribbed knitted fabric for cuffs . As see now It’s not strictly necessary to use it, some other types will do….
I love the color of the sweater you made b.t.w.!
Thank you! A ribbed knit is indeed very often used for cuffs. I’m not sure whether the fabric store in Leiden or one of the market stalls sells it. I often substitute it for a jersey fabric that contains some lycra (so that it has good stretch) and I find that works fine as well. Just make sure to cut the cuff smaller than the sleeve so that it is stretched out when you attach it to the sleeve. To decide the cuff width for my boyfriend’s sweater I folded a strip of the jersey around his wrist to determine how tight he wanted it to be.
Wow! This is really impressive. It looks like a perfect fit.
Thank you! My boyfriend has already worn it a couple of times so he seems to like wearing it as well.
Fitting men is so much easier than fitting women since they don’t have so many weird curves and bumps and stuff…