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2.02.2016

A Knit Jumper

When you hear about women who make their own clothes, I think the jumper is the quintessential garment that comes to mind, especially amongst the general population.  Incidentally, it was the first garment I ever made for myself, in a pink floral quilting cotton, back in 7th grade when I bartered with my aunt: babysitting services for sewing lessons.


When I started to get really into sewing as an adult and young mother, one of my friends said that she appreciated my newfound interest, but that if I started sewing jumpers for myself she was cutting me off.  That was just in too deep


Who then would expect it would be so hard to find a jumper pattern?  I looked through every single one of my Ottobre magazines, my Japanese sewing books, my pattern stash and finally Etsy, with very little success.  The fact that 'jumper' means 'sweater' in British English did not help matters when searching online.  Dan then suggested Pinterest (Of course! Major loss of sewing street cred for me there!) and I finally did find this pattern, which I altered pretty significantly to look like this.


I had envisioned pairing it with leggings and a fitted tshirt underneath, but it was over 80F (27C) yesterday so Tia wanted to wear it alone.  


This fabric was given to me by Elvelyckan Designs and man, is it good stuff.  While I cannot attest to how it will wash and wear long-term yet, it is the best jersey I have ever worked with.  It's so soft and stretchy with great recovery, but it doesn't curl.   I actually stopped sewing mid-project to look up the details of this fabric, because I was so impressed with it.  It's 95% organic cotton and 5% spandex.  It's priced similarly to Lillestoff so it is not inexpensive, but the quality is top notch.  I couldn't have been happier with it.  This isn't paid or sponsored or anything like that - just my own opinion.  


Tia has been practicing making shadow puppets with her fingers, which is just so adorable to me.  


And speaking of adorable, I kind of can't handle Hazel's turkey tail.  It's the mother of all turkey tails.



Yesterday Hazel was wearing this little lamb hat and Indigo said, in all seriousness, "Mom, when you look at her, she just looks so cute.  You would never guess she can be such a stinker."  


And I just had to laugh!  Toddlers sure are cute, but yes, also a handful!  She's equal parts darling and mischievous and we all love her so!

11 comments:

  1. LOL Indigo! Spoken like a true older sister. I am the oldest of five and I am sure I said many things like that to my mom in a conspiratorial tone).

    But about the sewing. The jumper is so cute! It's a great idea to sew it in knit, too. It looks great on Tia.

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  2. Lucky us, your pictures only show the beautiful sides of this cute little toddler!

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  3. Hi Rachel, The jumper is super adorable. Did you line it with another knit?

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    1. Yes! I lined it with a white knit. But I cut the lining 1.5 inches shorter and then left it free. The pattern has you attach the two together with bias tape to make it reversible, but I don't think that would work well with knits and also, I didn't want to make it reversible anyway. I added quite a lot of swing to the skirt and squared off the rounded straps.

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  4. I love a 'pinny' or 'pinafore', yes a 'jumper' is what you pop on when you get chilly, here.
    The fabric is gorgeous and it must feel so soft to wear. Stunning photos, as usual.
    Little Hazel is just so cute and 'stinker' is a pretty good description. My Trixie is so feisty, she scratches and bites, we do a lot of singing and distracting because if you growl at her she dissolves into tears.

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  5. That jersey knit looks lovely especially the crosses I'm quite partial to crosses at the moment. I was expecting a photo of a jumper (jersey yep in New Zealand too) as I read through, I didn't realize till about half way through that you were talking about what Tia is wearing! No matter what it is called it looks lovely ♥

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  6. I found a great magazine this week that has some good tween patterns, as well as great reviews/pics of materials to go with. I thought of you when I opened my email this morning! Thanks for sharing your great sewing inspiration! Best wishes! http://www.nooteboomtextiles.com/news/stitched-by-you-spring-summer-edition/#.VrMF9mQrIZw

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  7. If I looked as adorable as her in a jumper, I'd live in it! Nice work mommy ; )

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  8. Haha love it - jumpers get such a bad rap! This one is more of a sun dress though...and it looks so cute on Tia. Well everything looks cute on Tia, right?

    Oh and Hazel's hair. Hehe. So adorable.

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