Fair Isle Reindeer Sweater

The semester is over!

Going back to school as a mom has kicked my trash, but I survived and passed all my classes, even the horrible statistics. 

 On to history and social sciences next semester where my brain can be more comfortable.

So I am thrilled to get to dedicate some time these next 3 weeks to sewing again!

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First up is a little knit sweater for the holidays,

a fair isle reindeer print simple blouse!

Actually, it's really a t-shirt, posing as a sweater.

The knit is from Girl Charlie and comes in red and green as well.

It seems fair isle prints are big this winter, popping up in leggings as well as traditional sweaters.

I love it for the nerdy Christmas vibe, but not quite passes the "ugly sweater" line.  I chose the turquoise and charcoal print rather than red/ green so I could wear it throughout winter and not stop after Christmas.

Fair isle always reminds me of this scene in Dumb and Dumber as well.

{source 1} {source 2}

Sewing with striped fabric can be a pain because you have to pattern match when you cut out.

It's not too hard, I usually use the horizontal lines at the top of the side seams on everything since that is a junction of front, back and sleeve.

With this print I cut the front first to ensure the stripes would land to avoid reindeer prancing across the largest part of my chest, so they went above and below.

The back and sleeves were then matched to the front as far as stripes go.

As for the pattern, I used the simple blouse one size smaller to account for using a knit that stretches.

I raised the neckline for more of a crew neck.

 The wide sweater ribbing finished it off since to try to make as it's a faux sweater really.

Now for my exciting announcement:

I've given myself a deadline for releasing the simple blouse pattern!

It was really done in September when I taught the class at Sewing Summit, but since then my plan has grown to be bigger and better. Rather than just a pattern, it's turned into a whole series on adding variations to a simple base.  I'm thrilled about the options and can't wait to share everything in the next few weeks!

GET READY FOR AN EVEN  BIGGER AND MORE EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT IN MY NEXT POST!

I probably won't be able to get a picture with my mouth getting wider than this last announcement, but it's going to be good and has been in the works for a few months. 

This blog is going to be a lot better in the future!!!