Tag: Lekala 4742

Flamingoes!

I’ve developed this strange interest in flamingos recently. While I abhor pink, I have a weird fascination with the feathered creatures. What doesn’t help is that they look so funny in cartoon form and that their legs bend the wrong way. So when I saw a fabric at the market that was light blue with grey flamingos on it, I could not resist.

The fabric was a sweatshirt type fabric with a weirdly brushed inside. I decided to make a top. The end result is a pattern hack of Lekala 4742 (made before here Ochre Obsession) and Papavero pattern 0712. I did want the pockets from the Lekala, but the hood was overly large and I liked the big funnel type collar on the Papavero one. The Lekala pattern was shortened between the bust and the pocket opening by 9 cm or so since I also wanted to add a contrast band. I also increased the sleeve width and side width as I had to insert a sleeve gusset in the previous version. This fabric turned out to be a lot stretchier so all those increases were taken out during sewing again. The new collar fit without changing anything, although I did decide to use a single layer and just double fold the edge instead of doing a double layer collar.

Sewing went pretty quickly and I like the look of this thing. I will have to see if the pockets hold up and whether stitching with a straight stitch turns out to be smart in the end. If I get a lot of thread breakage, I know it wasn’t. For now, the weather turned quite warm, but perhaps it will cool down and I can wear it soon.

Ochre Obsession

So, I went on holiday and tried on a sweater. It was ochre, from Primark and I loved the colour. The fit however, terrible. The sleeve height was so high, that it felt really constricting. The colour was good, I liked the neckline (even if my friend hated it, he said there was too much fabric) and it had pockets, always a win.

This one is the inspiration

This was the start of my ochre obsession. I really, really, really wanted an ochre sweater now. Since my local fabric shops do not have something like this fabric, I started scouring the internet. I found some fabric that looked nice and even bought some more fabrics because the hoard is never full enough.

I’d already found the pattern I wanted to use, a shortened version of Lekala #4742 – Tunic with Hood. Once my fabric arrived, I was slightly disappointed. It wasn’t stretchy as I’d assumed it would be and one of the cut ends frayed a little. However, I really liked the colour, so I got to work quickly. Shortened the bottom by 12 cm, and followed the instructions apart from using grommets instead of sewing buttonholes. After it was all sewn together, it felt a little tight in the armpit, so I decided to add a little diamond piece of fabric to increase the range of motion.

The hood is ENORMOUS, I think it will fit two heads – I’m guessing something may have gone wrong with Lekala’s sizing there. However, I still like it quite a bit. Because of the size and the position, I’m not sure the hood is super functional as a hood, but I still like the look of it on the front. The fabric is super warm, so I might need to wait for a little to be able to wear it comfortably.

I may want to make something like this again, but some things would need to change. I would want to use a more stretchy fabric such that I could take the side seams in a little and reduce the swayback action going on. The size of the hood would need to be reduced by at least 5cm in height, if not more. I may want to add bands to the sleeves and bottom although I quite like this sleek look too. Now to wait for winter to wear my ochre dream.