White Raglan Blouse

One more color block blouse I made recently, this one is intended for Gaby.

I've been planning a raglan zipped cardigan for Gaby and on Shkatulka sewing site I found a pattern , that I really liked. However, first I decided to try their raglan patterns with something simpler, like a short sleeve T-shirt, which is free for all sizes on their site and includes a straight long sleeve tee and a short-sleeve tailored tee.

I took out all of my knit fabric scraps and selected a pair that went really well together - off white and black and white stripes. 

Pattern: Shkatulka Raglan Tee

Size: Russian 42 (EU 36, S), height 168 cm; shortened

Fabric: cotton knit fabric

Thread: off white polyester

Time to make: 3 days

Notes: I'm not happy with the fit and I don't think their raglan patterns fit me - they seem to be too narrow at the shoulders and the sleeves don't lay naturally, following the curves of the arms, but pucker up. After I finished this tee, I made two testers of the raglan cardigan I was eyeing, and found them both unacceptable, so I've given up the Shkatulka patterns for now and I'm looking at some other raglan cardigans.

However, I like the idea of using bigger scraps for such small raglan T-shirts and I'm planning at least one more, using a true-and-tried Burda pattern, but probably later next year. It's time to take out the long-sleeve patterns now, winter is coming :)

Burda 6990 B Raglan Sweater

I finally sewed one of the Burda patterns for knit fabrics I bought recently - this is Burda 6990 basic raglan sweater, featuring 5 different necklines. And I liked so much the result that I made a second one out of the same fabric for my daughter.

I  chose view B - boat neckline and the smallest size - 34. However, this pattern runs really big and this XS is truly just an S - with more than enough ease around the body and the sleeves. I shortened the pattern a little above and below the waist, as I usually do. I also a bit modified the finishing of the neckline - I did a sort of a bias binding with a 3.5 cm wide band of the same knit fabric.

Pattern: Burda 6990 view B

Size: 34 and 32, shortened

Fabric: cotton jersey, 2.2 m

Thread: black polyester

Time to make:  5 days for both tees

As I mentioned, after I made the size 34 for myself, I downsized the pattern to 32 and made an identical, but a bit narrower sweater for Gaby. This cotton jersey is very soft and stretchy and this is currently one of my most favorite blouses.

And of course, I added my personalized labels - these are actually quite necessary for boat neck T-shirts, as the difference between the front and the back is rather subtle.

Raglan Sweater

At the beginning of the month I bought 2 m of cotton knit fabric to make a pair of sweatpants and  a sweater. However, the fabric turned thinner than I thought, more suitable for tops than for bottoms. Nevertheless, I did sew the pants for Alex and he loves them and wears them as lounge pants. I plan to take a few flat pictures of them soon and tell you about the pattern, as he absolutely refuses to act as a model for my blog.

This sweater is the second garment I made out of the remaining fabric - a raglan sweater for my husband. I bought the pattern from the Russian site Shkatulka, size 52. I've sewn quite a few patterns from Shkatulka and this is the first that I'm definitely not happy with - I find the sleeves rather wide for the body and I do not like the amount of fabric under the arms.

Thankfully, the fabric itself is nice and soft and husband, bless his tender soul, not only likes his new sweater, but obligingly acts as my model in it. He was happy to put it on for today's hike.  

 

The modifications I made to the pattern: as it is designed for shorter men, I elongated the body by 6 cm and the sleeves by 3 cm and I added about 1 cm width to the front and back pieces, that is a total of 4 cm added to the width of the body. I did this, as the size 52 seemed a bit snug on my husband, but the next size had even wider sleeves and I wanted to have the slimmer sleeves. I have zero experience with raglan patterns and I didn't dare narrow the sleeves for fear of distorting the raglan lines.

To add a little color to the boring grey, I made the neckline out of blue knit fabric and added blue sleeve cuffs. I also added blue stitching to the raglan lines and the hem, though it is barely visible.

 

Pattern: Raglan Sweater from Shkatulka

Size: 52,a bit modified

Fabric: cotton knit

Thread: grey and navy blue polyester

Time to make: 2 days

 

Starry Night

My latest sweater - for me! No pattern, improvised top down raglan with round yoke and Asian back correction. The body is tailored with decreases at six points, like in tailored shirts - on the sides and at two points on the front (symmetrical under the bust) and on the back (symmetrical under the shoulder blades).

Inspired by Gaby's Lavandula, I added beads to my very simple blue sweater and I'm so happy with the result. Initially I had started adding the beads randomly, as in the Lavandula, but then it occurred to me that they could be a feature, forming a pattern, so I alternated placing them in the center and in the end of each of the 16 sections, within which I was adding the stitches to form the round yoke.

Pattern: Starry Night (personal pattern)
Yarn: Filpucci Ascot - Italian bobbin yarn, 70% merino, 15% cashmere goat, 15% angora, 170g
Needle: 3.5 mm body, 3 mm broken rib
Time to knit: 17 days