Happy Happy Fleece 😊
Hello Sewists! Come gather around for my first ever Gather ‘N’ Sew Blog (see what I did there?)!
My Name is Stacie, and I am a full time working mum and part time dressmaker from South Wales! I began sewing two years ago and I just love sharing all about my creations on Instagram or Facebook as Notions of A Dressmaker. It was on Instagram where I first discovered the lovely Leanne and Gather ‘N’ Sew, so imagine my delight when I then discovered that they were based in the very same small town in Lincolnshire where my mum lives!
The first chance I had, I called in to see the shop first hand, to meet Leanne and Carol and to stroke all of the beautiful fabrics. I treated myself to some lovely pink jersey, as well as stoking up on a few patterns and some essentials! Gather ‘N’ Sew stock lots of fabulous haberdashery and sewing tools, including a great range of Prym goodies (always my first choice of sewing tools!), so I treated myself to a lovely new pair of dressmaking scissors!
I was super excited when Leanne asked me if I would consider writing a blog for them; I did not hesitate to say yes! It was lots of fun browsing the online collection to choose my first blog project. The website is very nicely arranged by fabric type, which made it real easy to narrow down to some lovely soft jersey and then to the irresistibly soft Happy Fleece.
As well as beautiful fabrics and haberdashery Gather ‘N’ Sew also stock a great selection of independent patterns including the likes of Sew Over It and Tilly & The Buttons. I knew straight away that the Happy Fleece had to be a lovely cosy Nora jumper from Tilly & The Buttons, and I had an idea to make one with an extra-large neck band for even more cosiness! Leanne was able to send me absolutely everything I needed for this make, so I was able to get started right away!
As soon as the fabric arrived it went in the wash on my usual settings, and straight out on the clothes horse to dry. I was amazed at how well this washed, it came out of the machine looking and feeling exactly the same as when it went in.
This is a good time to stop and talk about the fabric in a bit more detail! The right side is a sweatshirt jersey, my version is a dusty mint colour, but it is available in a whole host of colours and some gorgeous floral prints as well as super fun prints such as stars, fire engines and chillies! But where I get really excited is the wrong side, which is anything but wrong… it’s a dark grey brushed fabric which is most probably the softest fabric I have ever known! It is so nice to wear on the inside of a jumper against your skin, for the most snuggly feeling!
An added bonus is how easy this fabric is to work with! It’s really thick and stable, it doesn’t move around when cutting, and doesn’t fray at all.
The Nora pattern from Tilly & The Buttons is a great beginner pattern, perfect if you’ve never sewn a sweatshirt or jumper before! Tilly’s patterns really do hold your hand through every step of the make, with superb photographs showing every step. I opted for the longer length jumper version, with only a minor ‘hack’ of my own! As mentioned above I decided to double the length of the neckband to make it even more snuggly. The neckband is cut on the fold, so I clipped the pattern piece to the fold line and cut along the top and the side, unclipped the pattern piece and moved it down, and then cut along the bottom and the remaining length on the side. From this point I sewed the pattern together in exactly the same way as detailed in the instructions.
All of my notions for this sew came from Gather ‘N’ Sew including the thread and the ribbon for the shoulder seams, which I sewed in using a regular zig zag stitch on my machine. I hope you’ll agree it looks perfectly neat and tidy!
The rest of the project was sewn using my machine’s triple straight stitch, which is my favourite method of sewing with jersey, just because I feel it gives a really sturdy strong seam whilst still allowing for some stretch. But you absolutely could sew this whole project with a zig zag stitch. And given that the fabric doesn’t seem to fray easily (even after washing) you do not need to finish the seams, so no overlocker required either!
All of which means you can enjoy snuggling in your new cuddly jumper even sooner!
I am absolutely thrilled with my new Nora jumper! Thank you to Leanne at Gather ‘N’ Sew for asking me to feature on their blog! Do let me know if you enjoyed reading, and of course share your own happy fleece makes with us on Instagram using the hastags #gnsimadethis and #gathernsew. You can also find me on Instagram as https://www.instagram.com/notions_of_a_dressmaker or check out my website www.notionsofadressmaker.com please do pop by and say hi!
Until next time!
Stacie