Made By A Fabricista: Knitting Experience Not Required

Hello-

Hope all is well! Have you ever wanted to make yourself a comfy chunky sweater, but you don’t know how to knit? Well, my sewing friends I have good news! You don’t have to know how to knit to make yourself a chunky sweater. You can just buy chunky sweater knit fabric by the yard to “sew” yourself a sweater!



Many, many years ago, I had the best chunky sweater knit coat a girl could have. I loved my sweater knit coat so much that I wore it even when it began to come apart in multiple places. I did not know how to sew then, but I hand-stitched the holes together. My stitching was very poor and the thread never matched. However, I figured if I stood at certain angles, no one would notice. One day, my beloved sweater knit coat came apart at a side seam, and before I could get home to “fix it”, the entire side of the coat unraveled. It was done! Such a sad day.

Not too long after the loss of my coat, I had enough confidence to believe I could learn to knit and make myself another one! So I signed up for a 2-day knitting class. The project was to make a small handbag. Easy right? Not quite for me. You all, I was overwhelmed. I would knit a couple of rows correctly, then the next few rows were totally different (like backwards), then I would get back on track, and then fall off again. Let’s just say my dream of knitting this amazing coat was short-lived.

Fast forward a few years later…I learned how to sew; and thankfully it has been a much better experience than learning how to knit. When I saw this beautiful chunky wool sweater knit from Italy on Fabric Mart’s site, two things came to mind. My beloved sweater knit coat and Simplicity 8217.

I thought to myself, it would be so cool if I could “sew” a new version of my coat! So I did. Guess what! This fabric is still available, click here. It is lovely and not itchy. When I received this in the mail, I hugged and snuggled with it for a few minutes, lol. It was a cold and rainy day in Vegas when I took these pictures and this coat kept me very warm and toasty. I also really love this navy/white fabric too, click here. (hint, hint: as of this post there is a *special offer price, so make sure you click the item in your cart to see).

I made view B. I cut a size 12, and although this coat appears to have an over-sized look, I felt it looked a bit too big, so I ended up taking one inch off each side. This pattern is designed so that you close the sleeve and sides in one continuous stitch, so it was easy to take out the extra. I also shortened the pattern at the waist by 1/2 inch.

Sweater knit is not a recommended fabric for this pattern, but I felt this chunky knit would work once I attached the lining to give it a little extra weight. I used ponte knit to line it.

Now my hem gave me the blues!!! I attached the lining to the hem and it just would not hang right.

However, it was a sign! I loved how the bottom of the coat and sleeves looked with the raw edges. I thought about leaving the edges raw for two days before I stitched the lining and fabric together at the hem. When I saw that it was hanging horribly, I took the hem apart and just finished the hem on the lining and shortened it a bit so that it would not hang from underneath the fabric.

I did not experience much fraying with this fabric, but I do intend on adding a little fray check to the raw edges and perhaps stay-stitching a little above the edges.

To add a little interest to the look, I attached a faux leather/silver chain trim to the sleeves and around the bottom of the coat. The trim and the unfinished hems give this coat an edgy look.

When I attached the trim at the seam, I was careful to move the chains out of the path of the needle and foot. Once the trim was sewn into the seam, I linked the chain together and removed any excess chains with jewelry making tools.

The tie ends are attached by inserting them inside the middle of the dart. The darts and tie ends are all stitched together as one. It's a little difficult to see, but this is a picture of the dart on the wrong side with the tie end stitched into it.

This is a close up of the tie end on the right side, stitched into the dart.

One last thing, I used my walking foot to stitch the sweater knit and ponte knit lining pieces together, along with a zig-zag stitch. Then I went back over each seam with my serger. I also trimmed and top-stitched and/or under-stitched in areas to remove excess bulk. I set my iron on the wool setting and pressed lightly on bulky areas. I am happy with the finished product!

That's all for now! Hope you enjoyed! Until next time, be well!

Yours truly,

Tee

Maggie Elaine (blog)