Reconstructed: Quick and Easy Cropped Jumper (with tutorial!)

I recently picked up some cheap men's fleece jumpers on sale (even cheaper!) to hopefully keep me warm and fuzzy this winter - the chill really comes and goes these day. We can go from a mild/warm winters day to absolutely icy the next!

As they were already cheap, by the time they were discounted, only really big sizes were left... and as they are men's, they are even bigger to me!

What the hey, they were cheap so grabbed a couple.
So this is jumper reconstruction project numero uno.

What you need:
1 x oversize fleece jumper/sweatshirt (i used men's black jumper in size XXL)
2cm wide elastic
scissors
sewing machine/matching thread
optional: embellishments, overlocker/serger

Steps:
Put the jumper on and mark where you will be cropping the jumper depending on how long you want it to be.
Remember to add the seam allowance to your desired length.
As the elastic is 2cm, i add 3cm to my desired length.

I had pre-machine embroidered a design to my jumper before the reconstruction, just in case the embroidery turned out bad. The embroidery design i appropriated was originally created as table linen corners, so i had no idea if it would work on fleece fabric as its a lot thicker :P

Save the cut-offs for another project!

Take it off, fold it in half and cut.

 Wrap the elastic around your arm (unstretched) approximately where the sleeve will end to measure elastic length. Cut out 2 pieces for the arms.
Measure around your torso where the jumper ends also. Cut one piece.

Optional: overlock the edges of the cut sleeves and hem.
This will provide a neater finish but is not critical as the fleece doesn't fray much.

Fold 3cm of the sleeve edge under. Sew the sleeve hem 2.5cm from the folded edge. Leave a small gap in the seam to thread the elastic.

argh! the focus is on the wrong spot!

Thread one of the shorter elastics through and stitch the ends together.
Stitch over the gap to close the opening.

Repeat the same steps for the other sleeve and the body hem.

And we're done!
Embellish as you please or not at all :)

Wearing with
DSquared2 shirt

Marc by Marc Jacobs leather pants
Theysken's Theory flats

Fendi mini 2jours bag

Pattern Review: V1170 Vogue Patterns American Rachel Comey

Its coming into cooler weather now and its time to break out the stash of velveteen and actually use it.
Based on the fabric, i chose to make the skirt part of this two part pattern.

Rachel Comey Vogue Patter V1170 Envelope front

The skirt is described as "flared skirt, has front and back seam details, back invisible zipper closing and wide waistband".
Its not very clear what the skirt actually looks like based on the photo on the front of the envelope as the skirt is black... and well the black just prints out as a black hole (besides seeing the shape of it).
The line drawing looks like this

Rachel Comey V1170 line drawing

Doesn't quite match the photo. The drawing looks a lot more fitted and higher waist-ed than the silhouette of the skirt in the photo.

Soldiering on.

The pattern itself turns out it matches the line drawing much more than it does the photo.
Very fitted through the hips and when they described it as a wide waistband, they weren't bloody kidding. The waistband ends up being about 6cm wide!
Not that that is all bad news, at least it helps to smooth out the tummy ;P

Almost faultless pattern until mid way when you reach the step in joining the composite skirt back/sides to the skirt hem. The pieces did not match up. The composite back/sides was a lot bigger than the skirt hem leaving me with an excess of fabric in the center back.

Secré bleu! (let's pretend the french really say this)

And you end up with something like this...

Extra wide seam

Took a little bit more stitching and seam ripping to get the back sitting nicely across the butt.

Another difference i saw was the line drawing showing some curve/flounce of the hem at the front, this was not the case with the actual pattern. Its more flat / A line.

 

This skirt is seriously high waist-ed.
So high in fact, that the top is a crop top and can be tucked in!! I have a short waist so that compounds the fact.

Overall, i could use this pattern again as the end result turned out surprisingly good... even though it neither matched the photo or the line drawing. Bear that in mind!

Wearing with 

VIVETTA 'Sandra' hands collar top
ISABEL MARANT Sheila boots

nb: if these designers allow Vogue Patterns to copy their items, why can't Vogue Patterns just get the actual item and take it apart so that it really is a pattern of the item??