Double Knit Color Slub Houndstooth Jumper

 When I visited the craft thrift store in May, one of the 10¢ patterns I grabbed was Simplicity 9757 from 1996

Which I had back in the late 90s, too.  I attempted to make it once, in I believe view B, using a light pink knit with a faux quilted texture and a simple black outline, somewhat crudely-drawn Ancient Egyptian print.  My skills weren't up to that combination of fabric and pattern (or getting a correct pattern size by grading between a smaller bust size versus hip size) and I may even have tried to use bias tape to finish the neckline and arm openings?  I'm not sure if I ever even finished it, because it was going so bad.

 Things went better this time.

 

 

 The fabric from the 90s attempt probably would have worked just fine if I'd been better at sewing knits back then--I wanna say it was heavier and nicer quality than this almost slinky double knit from the Walmart mill end precut bins.

And it was definitely a mill end--I always like finding evidence like this

While I had been thinking for a while that I'd use this fabric to make a jumper, the reason I convinced myself to make this project is because I'd like to use the reverse face of the fabric for something else.

  I didn't want to risk ending up with not enough fabric to make a jumper, so it made sense to make the jumper first and see if the leftovers would work for the smaller project, right?

One of the aspects of making this that I know I wouldn't have done in the 90s is the pockets.  I don't remember being very prone to marking things like this back then, and, wow, did this fabric make it hard to mark like this now, too.  All my tailor's chalk options blended with the fabric.

I know tailor's tacks and thread tracing would have been better, but that also felt beyond the scope of a project as simple as this.  Looking at how I approached this same pattern in the past, maybe I'll progress to the point of embracing tailor's tacks and thread tracing in the future.

I constructed and applied the pockets first, deciding at that point to committing to stitching every edge twice (I mean, you knew I would.)

There was no was I was going to press under the edges freehand, so I added lining to the pockets.  I figured that would help with stability, too.

 I used the pocket pattern to cut the lining remnant, then eyeballed the amount to cut off to work with the fold over at the pocket top.  (I also applied interfacing to the tops of the pockets.) When I sewed the lining to the fabric, I left an unstitched area in the center of each seam, so I could turn the pockets right-side-out after sewing all around the edges.  I closed the openings by catching the edges when I stitched across all layers.

Then I aligned everything with the chalk markings and edge stitched then top stitched to attach the pockets to the jumper.

I guess it's time to mention that the instruction sheet is completely missing from this pattern?  Along with the armhole and neckline facings for this view.  Which is fine, on both counts, because I would have ignored the instructions anyway, and because I prefer all-in-one facings...which I attach using the burrito method, which also would not have been in the official instructions.

I cut this with the bust and up in size Small, grading out to Medium by the time it reached waist level.

I serged the side seam allowances and the lower edge before pressing it up.  I didn't set the iron on maximum heat, because I didn't know if this very-probably-synthetic could handle it, but it pressed well enough at the temperature I used.

I double stitched at the hem, too, always pursuing that fake coverstitch look in knits.  I used the magnetic seam gauge instead of following the actual edge of the fabric, so it's not super tidy inside.  Don't look, OK?

The illustration for view C shows it ending several inches above the knee, which would have been fine, but my stubby legs mean it grazed the top of the knee like shown in view B, which is also fine!  And means I can take 4" off the length of this in the future, if needed for fabric-limitation reasons, and still have enough for the full 1¼" hem. (If I do that, I might want to move the pockets up, though.)

I feel like this might be lighter weight than I expect out of a jumper, but "Lightweight Double Knits" is on the suggested fabrics list on the pattern envelope, so it's within the designer's ~vision~.  This is one of those fast and easy projects that I feel like I could make again and often, but will probably get pushed aside for more complicated things.  Time, of course, will tell.