Look, September kicked my butt. I was late on two pattern tests, purely because I forgot when they were due… I’ve been telling Jamie every weekend that I’ll sew him pants, and 4 weeks later, I haven’t yet… and I only blogged 3 projects in September, all of which were sewn in August! The shift back from summer holidays is hard one, so I’m grateful that Canadian Thanksgiving has given me a weekend to get my head on straight!
With that, here’s an autumn project I sewed in summer!
It’s the new Helen’s Closet Elliot sweater and tee! There were a bunch of little tweaks to the pattern after testing, but I’ve also sewn up the new version and found the fit quite similar. It’s a modern boxy raglan, with options for t-shirt neckline, the half-height collar I did here, and a full height collar for maximum snuggliness.
I sewed this version in a stable heavy knit that looks like sweater knit from the outside and is like sweatshirt fleece on the inside. You can probably picture the type of fabric I mean! On the plus side, it’s super cosy – it was 30c when I took these pictures!
On the down side, the fabric doesn’t have any vertical stretch so it tents off my bust and pools at the back. My second version was made in ponte, which… lets face it, was not the best fabric choice! I think a stretchier fabric would make everything drape better on me. The cowl is a straight rectangle, so consider how it will sit in your fabric.
Yes, I do have a long yellow thread stuck to my hem/leg in all these pictures!!!!
Another point for my fellow curvy pears… I suggest you do grade between sizes! I sewed a straight size XXL (the size that fits my hips) because I thought, “Oh, a boxy style will be fine if it’s oversized on top!”.. but on both versions, the raglan seams were just too wide apart and the armscyes are quite far from my body. I think grading between sizes would fix that!
Overall, this is exactly the kind of sweater I love to wear in cold weather, especially to lounge around the house. I’ll show you my ponte version eventually, but it has to go on the Cali Fabric blog first! I think the Elliot Sweater is going to be a big hit, and I’m looking forward to seeing how other people interpret the sizing, shape and fabric choices.
Hope that’s a helpful review!
Crafting A Rainbow 
What we go through for our readers, 30′ C and modeling a cozy sweater, lol. It certainly is wearable, but grading would help the fit, for sure. Thanks for the chuckle. How are hubby’s pants coming along? I have pants for my hubby on the “to-do-list” as well. Happy Thanksgiving!
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Pants are on hold because I find them so boring to sew!!!! But at some point I should just sew them already – delaying is making me stressed! i read about your too-small shorts for your husband – that must have been so sad!!!
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Thank you for pointing out the effect of not having vertical stretch. I have been looking for something to do with a similarly one way stretch fabric, and I had just about convinced myself to use it for an inappropriate pattern. You saved me wasted time!
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I think you could adjust for it with a bit of an FBA… but the pattern does ask for 10% vertical stretch, and I see why!
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I love the style of this pattern. I’ve seen a couple sewn up and they are both lovely – one of them is your’s! 😁👍
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Thank you! I think its a modern classic! i bet we are going to see a lot this winter.
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Oooh! Looks so warm and snuggly for the 40 degree rainy/cloudy days we are having here in central MN. I guess time to sew for autumn!
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It definitely is snuggly! This time of year I always get the back of my hair trimmed short so it doesn’t get mussed when I wear turtlenecks and scarves!
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I really like the look of this jumper, thanks for such an informative review
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This is so cute! It looks like it would be super cozy when the temperature starts to dip. Thanks for the tip on fabric choice – I can definitely see how that would impact a pattern like this because the shape is really square, so drape would be important. Thanks for the review!
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Hey I just finished one of these over the weekend in a double-brushed cotton…so more shirt-like than sweater, but did go with the mock turtleneck. I loved how it came out mostly. I did think the “ease” in the neckline was a bit excessive even though it was mentioned in the instructions. Did you have a lot of ease too? Or did I just cut something wrong? (quite possible).
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