A picnic, a fabric swap + a LB Pullover

A few weeks ago a new (to me) social sewing group hosted an afternoon tea picnic and fabric swap in Sydney Park. I had some fabric to donate and, like most people, was keen for some time spent in the great outdoors (whilst being Covid-19 safe of course)! It was lovely to meet new sewing friends and catch up people I already knew too.

I took home four pieces of fabric (after donating two, so the clearing out of my stash didn't really work). Two pieces were a sweater-type knit and the other two a viscose jersey.

I decided to sew up the brown sweater fabric straight away. We were headed up to Katoomba for a few days and the weather was still sort-of coolish so I'd at least get a few wears out of this before packing it away until next year.

I chose to make the ever-popular LB Pullover by Paper Theory. I sized down quite a bit from my LB tunic and end up sewing a size 16, which is still roomy but does not look sloppy. I was able to comfortably wear this over a t-shirt (I'm not one for wearing layers so this was a new experience for me 😊).

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Pattern: LB Pullover by Paper Theory
Size: size 16
Modifications: lengthened but cannot remember by how much?
Fabric: Sweater knit donated to the fabric destash by @LynneSews (orignally from KnitWit)
Changes for next time: none though perhaps a bit more length

Wiksten Haori Jacket

If  you click on the Instagram hashtag #wikstenHaori you'll see nearly 7000 posts! I liked this jacket and wanted to make one. But, it wasn't until I got to try on Catherine's that I decided to make my own (doing this basically confirms it will fit me; Catherine made a middle of the size range so I knew there was room on the pattern size chart for me). I also got to try on Dayle's a few weeks after I'd started mine and it also fitted - a size smaller than mine so perhaps I can size down next time...though that feels scary and feelings of "what if I do all the work and it doesn't actually fit me" are bubbling to the surface.

The Wiksten Haori is a Japanese-inspired jacket that has large pockets, a fold-over collar and is fully lined. The fit is oversized (more or less oversized depending on how big your frame is). It comes in short, mid and long lengths (I have made the mid-length jacket and am about 5ft 7" tall). My denim is from Spotlight (it has a tiny amount of stretch to it but it feels very un-stretchy to me!) and the lining was bought in Phnom Penh when I was in Cambodia in 2018 (IG post on it here; fabric from Watthan Artisans Cambodia). I "think" the lining might be rayon and I was worried about working with it as I've found it tricky (and slippery) in the past. Happy to report it was (mostly) incident free!

I took my time with the lined pockets (which is the first part of the make) BUT I realised AFTER I had made them that they were very narrow compared to what I was seeing IG. Turns out I'd made some sort of error in cutting out the PDF...so that was fixed and the proper, BIG, pockets were done. For me the big pockets are one of the great features of this jacket so it was worth the effort.

Look how smug I am with my big big pockets!

The lining method was very simple (no bagging out) but after I wore this jacket yesterday I noticed that the lining near the pockets was hanging below the main fabric (you can see that there's no turned up hem)...which I don't like. I think I will do some Macgyver-ing and run a line of stitching along the bottom near the hem to try and stop that fabric from dropping. The lining was also "somehow" slightly longer than the main fabric so there is a bit of dodgy sewing with a few tucks here and there to make it fit with the main fabric - lucky the lining is so busy so you don't notice.

I also decided that I didn't want the fold-over collar. I have made two Seamwork Oslo Cardigans (here and here) with that collar style and it drives me NUTS the way it always flaps about and becomes unfolded. I don't know what went wrong here but the collar turned out to be longer than the jacket -- by about 15cms -- so some chopping went on during assembly. I don't have a walking foot either so there are a few tiny tucks in the collar where it didn't quite fit (despite surgery) and I couldn't ease it in fully. Blah, whatever! I also have only interfaced one size of the collar as I didn't want it to be too stiff, but I think I could've done both sides and been fine.



I don't always want to wear this with the sleeves rolled up. At their current length they feel just a bit too long.  The oversized style of the jacket PLUS the very long sleeves make me feel a bit sloppy and smothered in fabric. It would be easy to shorten the sleeves so I'm pondering that. What do you think - lose a couple of inches?

Overall I really like this jacket. I wouldn't mind one in the shorter length and perhaps the next size down to wear with wide-legged pants as the weather heats up. It would probably be in denim (again) as you cannot go wrong with denim!

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Pattern: Haori Jacket by Wiksten
Size: XL, mid-length
Modifications: halved the collar width

Fabric: Denim from Spotlight & lining is (possibly a Rayon) from Watthan Artisans Cambodia.
Changes for next time: would like to try the shorter length; and perhaps size down and shorten the sleeves.

Cropped Kyoto Vest

I made my first Kyoto Vest back in June 2017 and it has been a wardrobe workhorse since then (though not this year as I've not actually left the house to go to work during winter at all). I remember back in 2017 thinking a short, black Kyoto Vest would be great for wearing over dresses.

I was sure I had bought the boiled wool and wool binding for this short version but could not find it anywhere so embarked a new project with some boiled wool from a fabric swap (didn't have enough fabric so had to piece it together) and some poly-binding kindly donated by Amy (thank you for being so generous Amy). The binding was a bit too stiff so I ended up putting the project aside.

About 4 weeks later I was rearranging my sewing storage and found the wool and binding I had been storing since 2017 and now we have a black, short Kyoto Vest. The wool binding is from Ribbon Kids on ETSY - I 100% recommend them as they are very reasonably priced when compared to what is available in-store here.

I do like this but, for me, it's not as comfortable as the longer version for some reason. I made the armholes bigger than the pattern provides - but I think they could've been a bit bigger still. The armholes on the unaltered pattern feel very high and small. Don't tell anyone but I have kind of stretched the armholes a bit just by pulling on them (shhh, don't tell).

It seems like such an effort to get properly dressed with hair and makeup done just for a few blog photos so here I am in a tunic I would wear to work; worn over tracksuit pants with three day old hair and no make-up anywhere near this face. Living that Covid-19 life.

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Pattern: Kyoto Vest by Tessuti
Size: XL, shorter version
Modifications:  made the arm holes bigger (but not big enough)
Fabric: boiled wool from Tessuti (I think) & wool binding form Ribbon Kids on ETSY
Changes for next time: none...except for the armhole modification