A Selfish Sew

Even though I'm a second-generation quilter, I resisted learning sewing from my mom for a long, long while. Actually, I only relented in my mid-20s when I joined a middle-eastern dance troupe, and wanted to advance beyond circle and simple petal skirts. THEN Mom was back in favor. Of course, then she introduced me to quilting, and costume-making fell by the wayside entirely.

One husband and two kids later, I'm not dancing any more, and most of the clothes I need you can buy off the shelf. That said, occasionally I do see a fabric that just makes me WANT to wear it... I don't really have the tailoring/fitting skills to make flattering wear out of wovens. But, my recent foray into custom knits has opened a whole new world for me - suddenly I am shopping for fabric (and patterns) for *myself* again. There's so much good stuff out there!

We are a nerdy family, and so when I saw this "Robopanel" fabric from Sweet N Charmed Knits, I had to have it. I paired it with Lane Raglan by Hey June, a pattern I hope to get much more use out of.

I fussycut the heck out of my robotic print (that's the fun of custom clothing, right?), and paired it with a nice royal blue jersey solid from the same site. I'm 5'7" with a long torso, so I added a little length (which I think worked out) but I also ended up taking in the sides a bit (and shortening the sleeves) because the shirt came out kind of bulky. Perhaps I should have considered sizing down, but pear shape that I am, the sizing was dictated by my hips. I thought the neck band instructions were kind of confusing - and I'm pretty sure I did it wrong, but hey it worked out: and now I think I know what to do next time.

And there will definitely be a next time! This pattern is too quick and too versatile not to use again. I suspect as long as those custom knits are calling me, this will be one of my go-to patterns. Do you have any go-to patterns for knits?

Linking up to Let's Bee Sewcial for fun.