Last year I saw some jacquard knit fabric in Spotlight and thought I’d love to do something with it, but it’s polyester and I’m not a fan. Ever since I’ve been looking around for something similar in a natural fibre and haven’t had any luck, so when I found it in a red and there was a storewide sale I thought I’d take the plunge.
Top Pattern Used
I thought the style of the Sinclair Patterns – Jemma Knit Tunic would be perfect for this fabric. The cable knit looks like stripes, so I could take advantage of this by running them horizontally along the front collar section, and vertically for the rest of the top.
I made this in a lightweight knit a few years ago as part of my #MakeNine2019 and I love it, wearing it quite often. So even thought this fabric is alot heavier I thought it was worth a try. The pattern suggests medium to heavy weight that drapes well so it would be suitable.
To allow for the extra fabric thickness and to be worn over other tops I did use a size larger than I needed. I went with the US20 in the Regular length (I’m 170cm tall), without the cuffs, pockets or bottom band.
No alterations were made to the pattern.
The Fabric
A deep red cable jacquard knit that was 150cm wide from Spotlight. It is 81% Polyester, 16% Viscose and 3% Elastane; and weighs 340GSM. It has 40% horizontal stretch, 20% vertical stretch (See video from Megan Nielsen on how to test stretch).
After a quick iron test I found that this fabric doesn’t like heat or steam, it melts to the iron. So during construction I used a press cloth and a silk setting on the iron with no steam.
Sewing the Top
To handle the stretch in the fabric I used a narrow zig zag stitch first. The pattern has 7mm seam allowances so I ran the edge of the fabric along the edge of my regular zig zag foot (A foot). I then used a 4 thread overlock to finish the seam.
The shoulders were stabilised on the Back piece with 2cm wide fusible edge tape. For the Front piece the neckline creates a V and is a stress point so a small square of knit fusible interfacing was adhered to the corner.
The buttons (from my stash) are purely decorative so these were sewn on as the very last step, and they truly take it up a level.
Top Review
This was a quick sew. Cut out and sewn in a day (while my son had an extra long day at school with an excursion). And I’ve worn it quite a bit since but always with something underneath. The fabric has a bit of a plasticky feel to it which I don’t like against my skin. The fabric also pilled after the first wear, which is quite disappointing.
Overall I like the look of the top and I’m glad I did a larger size. I’ll just have to keep looking for a similar looking fabric in a natural fibre for my ultimate Jemma Knit Top.
Pattern: Sinclair Patterns – Jemma Knit Tunic, Size US20 – Regular | Pattern Review
Fabric: 2m Deep Red Cable Jacquard Knit from Spotlight – AU$36.00
Shoulder Interfacing: 10cm of 2cm wide Edge tape – AU$0.02
Front Neckline Interfacing: 2.5cm x 2.5cm KnitBond Fusible (for Front corner) from KnitWit – AU$0.02
Buttons: 3x 24mm Plain Black Buttons from my Stash
Sewing Machine Thread: Gutermann Polyester 36 (Red) – approx AU$0.40
Overlocker Thread: Serafil 120/2 Col 1282 (Charcoal), Woolly Nylon (Black) – approx AU$0.50
Cost of Top: AU$36.44
Sewing Machine Settings on my Memory Craft 3500:
- Sewing Machine Needle: Schmetz Ballpoint 90
- Seams: Tension of 4.0, Zig Zag (Stitch #11) Width 0.5, Stitch Length of 2.5
- Twin Needle: Schmetz Twin Needle Stretch 4.0/75
- Twin Needle Hem: Tension of 4.0, Straight (Stitch #1) Length of 3.5
Overlocker Settings on my Janome 644D:
- Needle: Schmetz Super Stretch HAx1 SP 90
- 4 Thread: 2x Charcoal Serafil in needles, 2x Black Woolly Nylon in loopers
- Thread Tension: 3.0 3.0 6.0 7.0
- Stitch Length: 3.0
- Differential Feed: 2.0
0 Comments