Nina Lee Southbank Sweater

With Storm Dennis is at its peak, its time to hunker down and sew something cosy! This lovely soft fleece backed pink sweatshirting has gold sparkles going through the knit. It has been in my stash since last year and today is the day for it to be used. It appears to have sold out of this particular colour way but there is this very similar pink sweatshirting with silver sparkle.

I was torn between the Stella Hoodie from Tilly and the buttons and the Nina Lee Southbank sweatshirt and dress. I love the Stella sample, but rarely wear hoodies so I decided to go for the Southbank version 3. The cropped sweater will make a versatile addition to my wardrobe. This a very straightforward make that even I could sew relatively quickly. It certainly is a nice project after wrestling with making a viscose shirt!

On this version, the bottom is hemmed by turning up and topstitching. Personally, as I don’t have a coverstitch and my machine hates the twin needle, I prefer to finish my knits with bands. I also did this to my Seamwork Astoria cuffs as I feel if gives a cleaner look.

This is a really simple modification. Generally the band that you are attaching will need to be 10% shorter than the edge you are looking to finish. In this case there is already a band drafted for the other two versions. I simply measured the difference between the bottom of version 2 and version 3. This was 3.5cm on the front, AND 3.5cm on the back bodice pieces.

I simply subtracted this amount from the front and back bottom bands.

In order to compensate for adding length to the sweater with the addition of the bottom band, I shortened the bodice pieces to maintain the slightly cropped style that I wanted. I removed about 2″ from the bottom.

To gauge how much to remove, I measured from my collarbone level to where I wanted the sweater to finish; at my low waist/high hip. I then measured the centre front length of the bodice pieces and the bottom bands; minus 2cm seam allowance for the band and the neckline.

The other slight change I made, but I believe has made a big difference, was to have the fleece backing on the inside of the collar piece. As there is lurex thread running through the knit, I didn’t think it would be comfortable to have this against my neck area.

I cut one collar piece half the height of the pattern piece +2cm (this is the outer piece) and a second half the height. By having the inner piece slightly shorter, it will help it roll inwards, so that the cream fleece backing is not visible on the outside.

I seamed the two pieces along the long edge, right side to wrong side. I then under stitched the seam allowances to the inner piece to keep it neat.

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I cut a size 8 bust and graded to a 10 at the waist and hips. I am really pleased with the fit across the shoulders and the ease in the body. My only issue is this fabric has very little stretch and I have a ridiculously large head, (Seriously, I can never find a hat that fits in the summer!) so it is a struggle to get it over my big noggin!

It is a boxier fit compared to the Seamwork Astoria which I quite like and means it works well in thicker knits.

I’m looking forward to making this as a dress version very soon!