Jalie Drop Pocket Cardigan

I've been talking about this Jalie Drop Pocket Cardigan all week and now I can finally show it to you. I am just having the hardest time getting pictures of anything. I'm reduced to my phone camera and it has no timer function so I'm always waiting for someone to be home and the weather to be right and it just all feels impossible right now. I wish I could afford a nice camera, but it seams silly to spend so much money on something that I'm doing strictly as a hobby. I am not trying to make any money off this blog, so how can I justify spending that much? Especially when I just treated myself to a serger this summer.

Anyhow.... here it is.

Wait, I wasn't ready.

Ok, I'm ready hubby, are you ready?

Then I got distracted by the amazingly awesome clouds in the sky. Such a gorgeous day. But look how nicely that sweater hangs. I am going to live in this thing!

This was my first experience with a Jalie pattern and I'm sure it won't be the last. It was really a pleasure to sew. I LOVE the design. I live in cardigans all fall and winter so this one with big comfy pockets is perfection.  The fabric doesn't hurt either. This is some amazingly soft and cozy Hatchi Slub Sweater Knit in Dusty Mauve from Fabric.com. (They don't seam to have this color now but this link will take you to the sweater knit section.) I pre-washed it and laid it flat to dry. Fingers crossed that it holds up well over time, because I seriously love it. And by the way, I bought the paper pattern through Fabric.com as well because they do free shipping on orders over $35. This was my first order with them and it went great. I ordered on a Friday night and received it the next Wednesday.

I must confess that I don't often cut notches when cutting out patterns. Somehow, I sensed with this one that I should and I am so, so glad that I did. There are quite a few of them so I figured they must be more important with this pattern. Don't skip them.

Sewing this sweater helped me determine that for certain the thing I want for Christmas this year is a chair on wheels. I was back and forth between the sewing machine and the serger quite a few times. (But then again, if I get lazy and just wheel around I'm going to have to start doing squats or lunges or something to make up for it so maybe not.) The first step is to bind the neckline on the back piece and that requires the sewing machine. There are some basting steps here and there and the final hemming too. All else was done on the serger.

The first tricky bit of sewing is when attaching the front pieces to the back piece at the shoulders. Be sure to baste as instructed and line things up carefully so that the binding gets neatly tucked into the seam. The first one turned out great and then I got over-confident and messed up the second one so I had to unpick and redo. No biggie, but take your time. It's nice that the seam is enclosed in the end. I wish I had adding some stabilizer to that seam too. I think that with this fairly heavy, slouchy fabric it would have been smart.

The Jalie instructions consist of a list of steps and a separate set of numbered diagrams. It being my first time, I had to get used to it and didn't always find it super easy to find the diagram illustrating the step I was reading about. This would never stop me from using another Jalie pattern though or from recommending this pattern. All the pertinent info is there.

To form the pockets, I followed the directions and diagrams and was almost certain that I knew what I was doing, but being spatially challenged sometimes, I wanted to be sure before I headed to the serger and cut off 1-1/8"! That could be a catastrophic mistake if I interpretted it wrong. So just to be sure, I basted the first one on the sewing machine and saw that yes, I was doing it right, and then I happily serged it. Like a boss.

Now that I have done one, I know the next one will be much easier. Not that this one was hard, it was just different. I was really impressed with the construction of this sweater. And the fit is perfect. I mentioned in a previous post about the cream cardigan that my rubbed off pattern was a little small in the shoulders. This one is perfect. Even though Jalie says it is meant to be worn with a tank top, I can comfortably layer it over long sleeved tees as well. I hear we are in for a mild winter (wouldn't that be nice?) but I still want to be warm.

I'm linking up to the Capsule Wardrobe Sewalong Fall Pattern Showcase at FreeNotion. You should check it.

Come back Monday to see my JEANS!