This sweater has been a long time coming, and here is the story:



Way back in September, I bought the Jessi pattern by Coemi, which is a German pattern, from Makerist.de. I'd seen lots of people raving about it, and the hoodie sweatshirt looked good. It was on offer, and I thought I'd take a chance.

After buying it, and doing a bit more asking around, it seemed that the Jessi was more suited to jersey, rather than sweatshirt knit or french terry. To me, this would be pointless. I'm the coldest person in the world, and need the extra warmth of sweatshirt fabric!

So I got a bit put off... not to mention that it comes up small, and extremely fitted, and basically I'd need the largest size, which made me feel quite sad.



I shelved the idea, and basically felt sorry for myself, until Splashings advertised some stock of Hamburger Liebe brushed back french terry, and basically, the sweater idea came back again! I knew I couldn't get away with the Jessi pattern, so went back to a company I had been admiring from afar for a few years, Paprika Patterns. I bought the Jasper Sweater and Dress pattern. From what I could tell, the pattern was comprehensive, and there were links to relevant fabrics to buy, and adjustments to make, which frankly, took a load off my frazzled mind!



But again, I printed the pattern in the three sizes my measurements covered, and it sat there waiting, and waiting, and waiting. Until a couple of weeks ago, I thought enough was enough, and I should man up and just get on with it. I read the blog about a full bust adjustment, and how to apply this, and more importantly, when to apply this. I re-measured myself, and I fell into the smallest of the 3 sizes for high bust (largest for waist... hmm). According to measuring, I'd need a 3.5" bust adjustment, so that's what I did. The end paper pattern was rather large, and it looked improbable that it was going to fit me.



I tried it out using two long sleeved Christmas t-shirts I bought in the ASDA clearance sale (size 16-18 and 20-22, you'd think that was enough fabric for a trial run of a typical size 12 woman? You'd be wrong, I had virtually nothing left of the two tees). So the muslin/toile version got sewn up with just one short arm, and a front that was obviously too short, but on the whole, I could tell from the rest of the panels that this was indeed way too big. I needed to take the FBA in by about 1" in width both sides, and reduce the princess seam curve. I also needed to take the shoulder points out by 1/2" each side. I unpicked my trial top, re-cut with the smaller side panels and sewed it back up. It was MUCH better!



It only took me 2 days to make up the toile versions, then another 2 days passed, and I got on with the actual end result. So overall, I added 1/2" to the width of the shoulders, keeping the front high bust measurement the same. I did an approx 1.5" FBA, all this to the straight size 3. I wonder if I'd just cut the larger size 5 if it would have fit just as well? I suspect not, because the back is perfect in the size 3 once the shoulders were extended, and the FBA added extra width to the front, where I need it for my belly.



Overall, I'm pretty happy with it, the fit is good. I love the welt pocket openings and the fact that only I know I lined the pocket with cat print fabric. I really like the tall collar and epaulet too. But I do wonder if the style isn't doing much for my shape though?



Did you know you can follow me on Instagram and I'd love for you to give me a like on Facebook.