My goal when it comes to making clothes is always to make something wearable. For me, that's pieces like joggers, trousers, t-shirts and jumpers. Wearable doesn't have to mean boring though, and I am a big fan of making basic garments with a twist. This jumper is the perfect combination of something easy to wear, but with interesting design details that made sewing it enjoyable.
I love sewing with stretch fabrics and I wear plain fabrics the most, so this grey French Terry from Bobbins and Buttons was the perfect fabric! I own quite a few grey jumpers already but they are definitely my most worn items of clothing, especially at this time of year. I know from personal experience that sewing t-shirts and dresses in the Autumn and Winter is not fun because they can't be worn for ages, so my sewing at this time of year tends to gravitate quite heavily towards jumpers! For this project, I was able to create something that I've had in my mind for a while. I really like the look of jumpers with placket collars and I wanted to try and make one, it's a style that I can see myself wearing a lot.
The jumper definitely turned out quite oversized and boxy, but it was the look I was going for and I think the proportions work well together. It also makes it really comfy to wear! The sleeves are wide at the top but taper down to the cuff so they don't get in the way. Although I made my jumper cropped and boxy you could definitely add a placket collar to a more fitted jumper and I've recently made a placket t-shirt.
In order to add a placket collar like this one onto an existing jumper pattern, you'd need to create a collar that fits around the circumference of the neckline. Alternatively, you could keep the neckband and just add in a placket. I've made several placket tops (I'm not sure why, I just really like them!) and have found this tutorial to be really helpful. With this jumper, I veered off track slightly and was worried the placket had gone completely wrong but the next day was able to come back and rectify it. A lighter-weight knit like a French Terry is a good fabric to use when sewing details like a placket as it's fairly forgiving and not too bulky.
As a last-minute decision, I decided to add some jazzy cuffs! I bought this Albstoffe cuff ribbing so long ago and never seemed to find the right project for it. I wasn't sure if I should add it this jumper in case it limited what I could wear it with, but I'm so pleased I did! I love the pop of colour and it makes this jumper feel so much more special. Cuffing fabrics are quite hard to come by, but Bobbins and Buttons have two lovely navy versions here and here which I really like.
I'm really pleased with how this jumper turned out, it definitely fits the vision I had in mind. I also love making things that I know I'll get a lot of wear out of. The combination of this jumper with the black joggers I made recently is the ultimate comfy loungewear outfit!
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