After sewing Clare’s french terry top, I couldn’t be bothered folding up the fabric and putting it away.  Height of laziness!  There was still plenty, and it seemed logical to use up some more.

The recently released Pattern Emporium Unwind Sweater-Jumper-Hoodie pattern seemed to be an obvious choice to pair with lightweight french terry. From the pattern website: Sweater, jumper*, sweatshirt, windcheater, sloppy-joe or pullover. Whatever you want to call it, the Unwind is pure comfort. It’s so easy going & relaxed you’re going to want to wear one all the time, in #allthefabrics and #allthestyles. And one of the best things… when it comes to choosing fabrics, there really isn’t a right or wrong. She works in both 2-way & 4-way stretch. Winter & Summer. Everything about the Unwind is relaxed: the fit, the cuffs and the hem band. All are designed to hang & move freely on the body unlike the more hugging band styles that you may be more familiar with. *AUSSIE TRANSLATION: In Australia we refer to a ‘sweater’ as a jumper. A ‘sweatshirt’ is called a sloppy joe, windcheater & even jumper. Universally, a hoodie is a hoodie.

• Easy fit batwing shape.
• Body & sleeve all in one.
• 4 Necklines – crew, relaxed, turtle, hood.
• 3 Sleeves – cuffed long & 1/2 sleeve, short sleeve.
• Relaxed cuff & hem band.
• 3 Lengths – cropped, hip & long length.
• Designed for stretch knit fabrics.
• Regular & tall cutting lines.
• Trans-seasonal.
• Lots of pattern hack/mash options.

When this pattern was first released I thought ‘nah, I have a million relaxed top patterns in my stash’.  Turns out that I had room for a million and one more.  I think that a clincher for me was the size range – this one starts at teen size 4, and goes up to size 24.  The size 4 was perfect for Stella.

Stella chose the long cuffed sleeve version, at the cropped length. As you can see it’s not super cropped – rather, it’s just below the waist. She also wanted the plain crew neckline (I suggested the hoodie, but was outvoted).  This was incredibly fast to sew, as you’d imagine. Front and back shoulder seams, neck band added, side seams sewn, hem band and sleeve cuffs added.  I did remember to have her try on the top for sleeve length before adding the sleeve cuffs, and had to cut about two inches off the sleeve length.

I used the overlocker for construction, but as per usual used my sewing machine to topstitch down the seam allowances to add some detail and structure. In this case it included alongside the shoulder/sleeve seam. I also popped a little Kylie and the Machine label into the side seam.

And then there’s the transfer! This is another iron-on transfer from Spotlight (you can buy them online; no need for an ‘essential’ in-person visit to the shops at the moment). I followed the instructions to iron it on with a decent amount of pressure, and it’s stood up nicely to a couple of trips through the washing machine since. These transfers really are a nice way to ‘fancy’ up an otherwise very plain garment.

After sewing this top, there was still french terry left over that I couldn’t be bothered folding up and putting away……