Navy Sweatshirt with Red and Grey Stripes

It feels pointless to make dresses or even t-shirts in the autumn and winter as it's just too cold for me to wear them, so I've been trying to make items of clothing that are warm. Because of this, I've found myself gravitating towards sweatshirting fabrics which are just so soft to wear and sew with that it's going to be a while before I want to sew with any other kind of fabric again!

When I was planning what I wanted to make next, I knew that the only thing I actually want to wear at the moment is a jumper that feels comfy and warm to wear. Determined to make myself a perfect jumper, I started looking online at sweatshirt fabrics and found exactly what I had in mind at Fabrics for All. They have a large range of different sweatshirting fabrics but I kept being drawn to the fleece-lined ones which I decided would fit my brief of warm and comfy perfectly! I liked the idea of using a plain colour which I could then get a lot of wear out of but didn't want the jumper to look too dull. The design actually came together perfectly once I saw that there were three colours in the fleece-lined sweatshirt range and I decided to use the navy as the main colour of the jumper, with red and grey as accents.

I was expecting the fabrics to be soft, but the level of cosiness when they arrived was even better than what I'd hoped for! The wrong side of the fabric is fleece-lined, making it super soft and nice to wear. It's also heavyweight, making it ideal for a jumper. I've found it so tricky to find fabrics that are thick enough to make jumpers out of so I'm really pleased to have found these. There's nothing worse than making a jumper to wear in winter but finding that the fabric is too thin to actually be able to wear it.

The stripe was so simple to do but completely makes the jumper and it's definitely something I'd like to do again. I spent a while deciding on the widths and placement, in the end I went for 1.5" for the red and 1" for the grey. My main advice for doing this would be to use fabrics which are all the same weight, as I mentioned before the fleece-backed sweatshirting fabric that I used came in three different colourways which was perfect.

When it came to choosing the style of the jumper I knew from the start that I wanted a long, relaxed fit. I enjoy wearing and making more cropped jumpers like this white hoodie and this purple Linden, but when it's cold I want something a bit warmer. Also, a relaxed jumper like this one is ideal for throwing on without having to think about how it looks! With my new jumper, I'm essentially replacing this navy Linden jumper that I made a few years ago. I really loved it and wore it so much but it's a bit worn out now and shrunk a little in the wash. I considered making another Linden but decided against raglan sleeves as I wanted to add in the stripes. The design I came up with in the end was also a bit looser than the Linden is, making it really comfortable.