Liberty Linden

At last! Another make! For the first time ever I actually have a completed make that is ready to be blogged about! I finished this before I went to Amsterdam in January and wore it a few times during my trip but the weather was too bad to get any nice photos while there, and then it’s just been rubbish home in the UK ever since!

This is my first Linden sweatshirt from Grainline Studio as well as my first proper project on my overlocker. I bought some heather purple French terry from Goldhawk Road on a blogger meetup to make a muslin, which (despite checking my measurements as I do before tracing every pattern because I’m the size of a small bungalow at the moment) surprisingly came up about 2 sizes too big! It’s just massive but I love the colour and it’s good for slobbing around the house in. Linden is a super quick pattern to assemble on an overlocker, but I found the neckband really hard to stretch to fit properly – you can see my sewing fil on instagram (in the side bar). I chose to self-rib instead of spending ages to finding a matching ribbing for a muslin – I have read a few other blogs where the neck has been cut on the bias to give some extra stretch but I chose to stick to the instructions for my first one. I don’t know if it was just my shoddy cutting/sewing or if it was the fabric, but the neckband is a complete state – wonky and lots of little tucks all round. I used the reverse of the French Terry on
the neckband, hip band and cuffs and it looks quite effective as it’s slightly darker, but because of the mess I made I can never leave the house in it… (edit: I have left the house in it several times but I can never take my coat off)

I retraced the pattern 2 sizes smaller without remeasuring – I just laid the pieces together to see which looked the best fit. Because this isn’t meant to be close fitting I knew it wouldn’t matter if it still ended up a bit roomy.

I have never sewn with Liberty fabrics before although I know of their reputation and their price, so I was thrilled to find this Liberty French Terry in a curtain fabric outlet in North Finchley. They had several rolls labelled as Liberty which I took with a pinch of salt, but I bought 2 metres for £6 p/m (and got almost 1.5m thrown in for free WOOOO!) anyway and took it home to see if I could prove it really was Liberty  – took a looooong time but it is Liberty, in the print Manuela, a 1970’s print based on a 1930’s design. For some reason I can’t find out what the real name of the fabric is – I’ve seen it called Linford fleece or just terry or Liberty fleece in several different websites and the Liberty website shows they call it loopback fleece. At the usual price of £49.95 a metre (WTF?!) I will probably never sew with the stuff again but it did sew up so nicely – good recovery and no shrinkage when prewashing either.

 

It’s quite a simple make and once I’d cracked the sizing only took about 2 hours to assemble. I think with a bit more practice with my overlocker and with sewing stretch fabrics,  this could be knocked out in even less time Definitely want to make more!

The only issue I have found is that there are some little holes all along the sleeve seams. They note from the French terry rolling before being sewn (although this was an issue – will be trying spray starch next time to see if that helps) but the holes look like little moth holes. None of my other clothes have moth holes so I wonder if this is just my sewing. If anyone has any useful tips, please let me know!

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