I know it took me a while to get back ! Just took me forever to take some pictures and get the inspiration to do some writing again. Also I got a kick in the butt from my lovely friend Gemma who is eager to read so more! 

When Sally who also blogs at CharityShopChic launched her pattern company  Capital Chic Patterns I just could not help myself to get some of her patterns, which are so nice!

While writing this post I actually  had a few White Russian cocktails to inspire me. Normally one cocktail glass has vodka, coffee liquor , milk or cream and ice! Oh it was lovely!

As the weather became colder and colder , I thought it was about time to make myself a sweater! Been avoiding them, as I thought they might be a bit to make. In the past I had some non happy experiences with  knits! But since I already had the pattern and a huge amount of sweater fabric – I bought with Amy Beeton (Barmy Beetroot) , it was about time I used it .

First, I found the instructions very easy to follow and it was amazingly easy to make! Wonder now why I waited to make one so long? Gee.. it could also be I have a  huge list of other projects I want to make that keeps growing each day!

Got the fabric in  the Abakan’s summer sale!  £2 a metre was a bargain, but they only had it in green. Its not a bad colour but not really my colour. So with my first version, I decided to layer the front with some left over lace I had laying in my scrap box.

On checking the finished garment measurements on the instructions (I think this is what all patterns should include) and cut up one size smaller  than the suggested size , that’s because I don’t like baggy stuff to much. As usually all sweaters I buy have sleeves way to long I decided to shorten the pattern, on a whim by about 3 inches.  Which by the way turned out to be perfect!  Got to do this more often! Seems guess work, goes well for me most of the time!

This  was my first version! I made some mistakes and it was more to test the fit of the pattern since I sized down  and shortened the sleeves. I like the fit on it!  I managed to make the neck seam to pucker, oh no!. This happened because the sweater fabric does not stretch to much so it was a bit of a hurdle to get it to fit. Also I struggle to pull it over my head.  Considering this I thought it was a good investment to use ribbing! So I started searching eBay for some and thought black is the best to use, as it will match any colour.

And so, my second version was in the make! I used the same green  sweater fabric as on the test! But this time I decided, after seeing other versions on the internet,  to try the quilted animal  version! I chose the lion as I just loved the image that comes with  the pattern. At first I wanted to machine quilt in black, but that  did not go as well as I wanted and had to unpick and do it in green and then hand trace the design after! Much happier with  the result. And on second, version I used the ribbing I bought instead of the same fabric bands.   And then I just wanted to make one with the hounds fabric that I already had in my stash some fabric that I always wanted to use but did not really had enough to make anything. Besides the pattern is a bit busy to have a full garment out of it, at least it was for me so, I ended up using two fabrics to make it. Black for the sleeves. (I actually used the wrong side of that fabric as the right side was a bit shiny for what I wanted to do. However, I have plenty left of the black shiny fabric to made some leggings as well. So the houndstooth fabric was used for the front, back and sleeve band! I just love it. With  the left over fabric I made a matching skirt that I will blog about later!  I did make some mistakes with this one as well! Although I knew not to stretch the neck and hem bands I still did it and the seam is a bit to wavy! But I like my top to much!