Miss Celie

Burda Magazine 9-2012 #106: Wool Sweater Knit Pullover

It’s a well documented fact that I am insanely jealous of knitters. I love love love wool sweaters. I think cotton sweaters are useless for keeping me warm. And, they fade. They fade badly. But, wool sweaters have moved out of my price range in the last ten years. For real. I can remember buying 100 percent wool sweaters at lower to mid price stores like GAP, American Outfitters, J.Crew and Express as a matter of course. In fact, I still have a wonderfully warm and dense sweater from American Eagle purchased well over 10 years ago. But, now sweaters are thin blends and just not the same quality I used to find. Actually, I was at H&M and saw a men’s sweater that had a bright sticker saying ’50 percent wool!’  So, it’s not just me who is looking for wool 🙂

I was super excited to find several wool sweater knits at Mood Fabrics when I visited back in October. I took some samples home with me and started digging through my Burda magazines for an ideal match in this Burda Magazine 9-2012-106. At $18 a yard and needing less than two yards for a sweater, I knew I’d be hard pressed to buy a RTW sweater for less.

My first sweater is a orange/ brown sweater knit that feels as soft as my friend’s J.Crew cashmere. The color just about blends in with my skin in real life 🙂

It rocks under my suits — including this denim ‘washable suit’, heh. The denim adds to a 70s vibe the color gives off.

The sweater knit doesn’t have the highest recovery. So, my sleeves stretched a bit into a bell shape. Noting this, I took about three – four inches out of the neck binding.

The French darts provide great shaping. Thanks for my Facebook friends I was able to alter the bust for a one inch FBA.

If you’ll notice, I did the binding on the bias, the bottom band on the crossgrain. It helps provide some visual interest.

Ahhh, and the back. I did a 1.5 inch swayback adjustment. I also added 1.5 inches in length to the pattern and shortened the bottom band by about four inches.

Overall, a winner of a pattern and a sweet warm sweater to boot. I’ve already gotten loads of wear and compliments on my sweater. And, best of all, I was *warm* 🙂 I have a few more sweaters planned for this winter from Mood’s sweater knits. I feel toasty already!

The material for this sweater was purchased in part using an allowance fromMood Fabrics for the Mood Sewing Network.

27 comments

  2. It looks like it does everything you wanted and keep you warm too…a win win situation!
    You look radiant in the outfit in those colors!

  5. I’m a knitter & I’m thrilled to know that I finally have a skill that you don’t have! I see all the great stuff you sew & keep hoping to come close to your skill set someday, so I’m glad to be good at something you’re not (yet!). That sweater does look great on you whether knitted or sewn.

  7. Lovely sweater, and a great choice for your skin tone! I’m mostly pro-cotton, and anti-wool, as I’m always hot! Great that you combined comfort and style in one garment!

  8. Your sewn sweater looks good. I never thought I would try knitting, but I gave it a go almost two years ago when my kids bought me a beginners knitting work book by Debbie Bliss. I’ve had some hits and some misses, but it is amazing what even a beginner can make. It doesn’t cut into sewing time because you can do it on the go, places where you would never take a sewing machine.

  12. So nice! I love the suit too. I have a small list of apparel projects for myself that I want to get to. Something like this is definitely going on there. AND you totally good snag a nice wool sweater at the GAP for not a lot of bucks pretty reliably about 10 years ago. I totally agree on that point.

  14. It’s a lovely sweater and the colour is perfect on you. I agree about the 70’s vibe. I’m thinking Pam Grier in Jackie Brown and I’d kill to look like that! If you really want a hand knitted sweater, I’d be happy to volunteer. I love to knit but I don’t wear handknits much in Australia. Plus, it’s always so much nicer when you knit for someone else.

  15. Great sweater! You’re right about wool, though. It somehow now seems to be a luxury fiber. A few weeks ago La Sewista posted about jackets advertised as “faux wool”, which is just ridiculous.

  16. You might try Edinburgh Woolen Mill here in Britain. They have reasonable prices sometimes for 100% wool knitwear. I keep a stock of v-neck cardigans and they last for years. http://www.ewm.co.uk You can search on 100% wool and get a sub-list.

  17. I love the two tone color of your sweater, it looks nice and lightweight too, since some knitted seaters can be quite heavy. I agree, sweaters these days can be a little thin on quality, I prefer 100 percent lambswool.

  19. I love this sweater! I’ve made this pattern twice and I’m not happy with either… Having seen your version I’m wondering whether to try one more time. The colour looks fabulous on you. Oh, for reasonably priced wool sweaters I normally head to Uniqlo – fairly reasonably priced (and they often have special offers), good quality (mine have lasted for ages) and a good range of colours too.

  23. It’s so great to see you fearless when it comes to sweater knit fabrics! I’m a machine knitter from way back and I didn’t feel comfortable cutting and sewing my sweater knit fabrics until recently! Your sweater is beautiful and I really love the band detail you came up with. Yes, keep sewing those sweaters!

  25. Loved everything. The blue suit is a dead ringer for a “leisure suit” I owned in the mid 70s. Think I will try the pattern. The sweaters look so RTW

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