A few weeks back I wrote at some length about the demise of my favourite sweater, and the difficulties in finding a replacement that had just the right weight, the right texture, the right comfort factor and all the other rights that go into making the perfect ‘favourite’ sweater.
Well, the good news is that I am one step closer to finding what I am looking for….
This is – make no mistake about it – a ‘proto-type’ in every sense of the word, but it fits (just) and it has just the right amount of lightness and warmth that I was looking for.
It also has a whole host of mistakes and mis-calculations and some shocking sewing, but it is all in one piece and it is a great starting point to something better.
As you all know by now, I am not on particularly friendly terms with my sewing machine, and this is I think, partly because I never actually learnt to sew. I know nothing about garment construction, or pattern fitting or any of those fine things, and I am the sort of person that likes to know how things ‘work’. I need to know ‘why’ the armhole should be shaped just so, and ‘how’ the sleeve which is shaped so very differently, actually fits into the other bit.
I don’t know any of this and it puts me off.
I know that many of you are terrified at the thought of cutting into your weaving too. Strangely enough, that is something that holds no terrors for me, because I understand that the structure of a woven textile is, in actual fact very stable. It is those two separate sets of threads, our warp and weft, that make it so. Proper wet finishing, and careful treatment of cutting lines and seams mean that you can cut your handwovens and make something more exciting from them than your average scarf or tea-towel.
Obviously the structure of your cloth has a lot to do with how well it will cut and sew. If you have a really chunky texture, with thick yarn for example, it probably won’t hold together very well once cut. A weft dominant fabric also, I’m thinking, won’t do the cut and sew very comfortably.
My sweater was made from sockweight wool which also has a small acrylic content. It worked better than I could have imagined. The structure is a balanced plain weave which has just enough flexibility to allow you to sew around a few corners, and I think it is this balance that is important as far as structure goes for cut and sew.
In the same way that I am, if I’m truthful, intimidated by my total lack of seamstressing skills because I don’t really understand what I’m doing, I get that many of you are intimidated by the idea of cutting into your handwovens.
I tried to make this sweater using a modular approach to the contruction – square or rectangular panels, which should have been easy to put together, but my lack or expertise meant that they didn’t go together quite as planned, so there is a certain amount of ‘fudging’ here and there.
I did manage to draft and construct a Chinese collar though, which I am very proud of! …. And it attached to the body of the sweater without any trouble at all.
This project has been a mixed bag of triumphs and disappointments and I am fine with that. Sometimes we all will find ourselves in the situation where we’re not sure whether the picture that we have in our heads will actually work. We think, in fact we’re really quite sure that it should, but there is still that element of doubt.
The only way to find out is to jump right in and take a chance. Don’t use your best, most expensive yarn for the first try. Be prepared to make mistakes and even experience downright failure, but the bottom line is that you won’t know until you try. After all, if you want to make the perfect omelette, you need to smash some eggs first!
I’m going to learn from this, and make another sweater along similar lines – straight away – starting as soon as I am home again – the yarn is ready and waiting, and again it is not the most expensive or luxurious yarn in my stash, because I suspect that there are yet more lessons around the corner for me as far as this is concerned, but I am encouraged enough by the first round of experiments to keep on trying.
Tomorrow I am off to teach a workshop, which I have been looking forward to for ages….. this means that next week there probably won’t be any studio notes.
In the meantime though – go smash some eggs and have some fun, and learn a whole lot along the way!
