The T- Jumper

The T-Jumper

This is just a quickie post to show off a jumper type item I made a couple of weeks ago from a bargain bit of floral jersey fabric I got for £2 in Brixton and some ribbed black jersey that I had left over from making Robin’s rainbow shirt.  I am not entirely sure what this item is hence the title of the post. It’s a Lekala t-shirt pattern costing a spectacular $2.49. If you hadn’t heard of Lekala yet,. hear about them! They have a huge range of patterns which they print out entirely to your size specification, and you can even ask them to do things like narrow shoulder adjustments IN THE PATTERN for you. Brilliant! They are very much like Style Arc in that the patterns are extremely brief and I would be nervous of trying one of their harder patterns, but for simple things like this t-shirt they are awesome. They also have some really nice free patterns too.

CHEAP!

I was a total fool though because I somehow managed to enter in my own wrong sizes. I don’t know why I randomly decided my waist was 5 inches smaller than it is (wishful thinking?) so I managed to iorder a pattern which fit perfectly everywhere except in the tummy so I had to add a bit extra back in. I’m also not sure that I printed the pattern out at the right scale so there weren’t boxes/lines round the edges of the pattern pieces  and they didn’t go together quite right. You may wonder why I left this gap, but on other pieces it was apparent that my printer had chopped a bit off so i had to go round and add it back in.

This is not right, is it?

Also ( probably another printing issue) my pattern pieces were very short. It would have made a kind of crop top. So I self drafted a placket out of the same thing I used for the sleeves and neckband to add to the bottom: I like the retro way this looks.

I can’t actually believe that this top turned out ok: the pattern was dirt cheap, ordered in the wrong size, printed out at the wrong scale and made out of cheap fabric, but I love it and wear it all the time. The floral jersey was a total steal from Simply Fabrics in Brixton: It was super wide great quality jersey left in the £2 a metre remnant bin. There was over 2 metres but there was a random hole cut out of it and so the lovely man just charged me £2 for the whole lot. I have plenty left over for some kind of vest top, or maybe a Colette Mabel.  I’m not sure why I decided that the sleeves would be this odd length: I think maybe I just couldn’t decide whether to have a t-shirt or a long-sleeved jumper. To be honest it would have made more sense with long sleeves and cuffs as a kind of lightweight jumper, and when I make it again (in some awesome quilted black and red jersey from Minerva) I will do this. The ribbed jersey is very stretchy with poor recovery so it soon bags at the elbows. But my t-jumper looks cute and is sooooo comfy and is the cheapest thing i have made yet. I like Cheap, Cute and Comfy. In fact, I think I should have the Three C’s as my mantra. Oh and Curvy.

Cheap, Cute, Comfy and Curvy 4 LYF

I’ll leave you with one more picture on my posing with my husband’s bike: I stopped him as he was about to ride off to get roti to take pictures of me in three different outfits. He is a hero. Especially as the roti shop was shut when he got there. But it does go awfully well with the top, eh?

It’s good to match your spouse’s bike