Latest Project: Raglan Sweater

7/8/2016

Bamboo or not, these raglan sweaters can hug it out and show some love regardless which mill they where born from. Here is a insider view into our studios latest make. I wouldn't really call it our latest design, mainly because it is derived from a TNA sweater, but we definitely made it our own with fabric choice and a few detail changes.

Project Specs

1.4 M of bamboo fleece (darker sweater)
1.4 M of fleece (lighter sweater)
0.4 M x 2 of ribbing
6 large spools used (not fully consumed)

5 drafted pattern pieces
6 hours over the span of 2 weeks
Sewn on a Janome Over-lock machine and a Janome Cover-stitch machine

Inspiration

Oh Aritzia, how I own so many items from your store. I worked in the production department at Aritzia back in 2008 and 2009. Yes, it is true...I own items I have not created. This TNA raglan sweater is now a sleeping shirt but I found it could have been improved if made in a thicker fabric. So voila, I made it happen.

I have been making a conscious effort to work more with natural and/or sustainably-made fabrics. This was my first time working with bamboo in fleece form. It is so soft and cuddly. I recommend hitting up the fabric store just to get a feel of it.

Pattern Drafting

I used what I like to call Reverse Pattern Drafting methods to extract the different segments of the TNA sweater. This is a fairly two dimensional design so laying each segment down flat works best. If you would like to learn how to apply this method of pattern drafting, just book a lesson.

My suggestion if you are creating sweaters with ribbing at the neckline? Make the length of the neckline ribbing at least 1" to 1 1/4" shorter in length than the actual neckline opening of the garment. When sewing you will stretch to fit. This will help avoid gaping and stretched out necklines.

Construction Details

This sweater is fairly simple in design. The trickiest part is sewing on the ribbing evenly. The machines do all the work here, and we just keep it on track.

Raglan Sleeve

In my opinion, a raglan sleeve is one of the easiest sleeves to install. The absence of a traditional (in set) armhole seam means there are no tricky curves to sew together. I would recommend this type of sleeve to beginners.

Neckline

A ribbing fabric was used for the hem, cuff and neckline to help the garment openings maintain their intended shape. Once the neckline was over-locked (pictured below), or serged, onto the garment neckline opening, a top stitching by a cover-stitch machine was applied to ensure the ribbing lay flat. This is common practice to most knitwear ribbing.

Cuffs

I made the height of the wrist cuffs the same height as the hem cuff to maintain balance in the garment. The three layers were over-locked together.

I think I had more fun wearing the cuffs in the pre-attached phase than wearing the sweater. Gotta have fun!

Finishing/Hems

Only two machines were used in the making of our raglan sweater: an over-lock machine, and a cover-stitch machine, both of which are intended for knit fabrics.

Below: Caitlyn uses the over-lock machine to sew the seams.

Finished Garment

Alice doesn't favour casual clothes too much hence why she really doesn't pull this sweater off too well. It could also be the fact that her arms are not on in this picture.