Nicole at Home: Wool knit Linden with lace overlay

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Wool knit Linden with lace overlay

If you are visiting from Britex, welcome!

I was won over by the Linden sweatshirt, designed by fellow Guest Blogger Jen from Grainline Studios, after making it in a sporty quilted fabric. But the wheels started turning immediately, and I felt like a lace-overlay version would take this basic wardrobe staple up a couple of notches.

As luck would have it, I was due for my next project with Britex working with one of their amazing knits! After working hard to narrow down the choices, I decided on this beautiful medium-weight wool knit fabric, in an extra-dark loden (almost black) color. I'm a sucker for pale pink, so this cotton-blend lace was the perfect contrast. The image below shows how nicely this wool drapes. Very luxurious!

The Linden is a super quick sew, and creating the lace overlay only adds a few short minutes (with big impact!). I wanted to adjust for turn-of-cloth, so instead of cutting both lace and wool exactly the same size, I first cut out the front piece from the wool (in the image, it is shown folded down center front). I placed the wool on the length of lace, lining up the center front (the fold) with a motif on the lace that I wanted smack-dab in the middle of my finished garment.

Then, the lace was folded around the wool, carefully matching everything up and smoothing the fabric all around. I pinned around the perimeter to avoid shifting, and cut along right along the wool fabric. The dark wool is pretty well camouflaged inside the lace!

After cutting, I carefully opened out both pieces and pinned along the edges, then basted them together.

From there, the construction is exactly the same, including handling and sewing the neckline and hem binding.

Between this stunning wool knit and the cute lace overlay, this is quite the high-end and fashionable garment! Such a satisfying project, and good foray into working with both knits and lace.