I don’t know whether every sewist is the same, but some patterns hang around for a long time in my pattern stash waiting for their time in the sun. This pattern has been waiting patiently to be made for 25 years – but it’s finally had its turn, and I love this pattern! It’s a pattern from Prima magazine, from November 1991.
![Prima November 1991 Pattern](https://i0.wp.com/www.sewsmart.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Prima-Nov-1991-top-300x236.jpg?resize=300%2C236)
My mum bought Prima fairly regularly back in the ‘90’s, and between us we kept some of the patterns (although not all unfortunately). This pattern has probably been overlooked for a couple of reasons – the first being that it’s described on the sheet as a sequin top. That’s probably not that off-putting for most people, but I don’t really do sequins – in case you’ve not noticed, I very rarely do patterns, let alone sparkles! The second reason is that I don’t have the instructions for the pattern and also it’s designed for knits – so with my very limited experience of sewing knits, I’m afraid it’s just lurked at the bottom of my pattern box.
![Unknown Brown Knit Material](https://i0.wp.com/www.sewsmart.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Brown-Knit-300x199.jpg?resize=300%2C199)
A while back however, I picked up a remnant of a brown woolly knit material – I’ve no idea what the material is, but comparing it to my ready to wear jumpers, I would guess it’s a lightweight acrylic. I’ve looked at the material for a while, wondering what I can do with it, and then I had a surprise few days to myself. I didn’t really feel up to actually sewing anything (I had chicken pox!) but I decided I could cut out a few pattern pieces every so often. Looking at the material and the pattern, it appeared that a simple round necked jumper would work in this fabric, and I thought I could probably guess at the construction. To aid me with the construction I decided to use the sewists favourite sewalong – the Coco from Tilly and the Buttons – figuring that the Prima pattern is very similar to the basic Coco.
![Reinforcing the Shoulder Seams](https://i0.wp.com/www.sewsmart.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Shoulder-reinforcing-166x300.jpg?resize=166%2C300)
I reinforced the shoulders with a couple of short lengths of ribbon that were probably cut out of another top. I used a 3 step zigzag stitch for this, ensuring the stitch width was almost as wide as the ribbon. In the image above you can see the stay-stitching around the neckline and armscye; I wasn’t sure whether this is required on a knit, but I decided it couldn’t do any harm! I then sewed the shoulder seams, inserted the flat sleeves, and sewed the side and sleeve seams. The seams were all sewn with what appears to be called a lightning stitch in the blog world. This worked well and gave stretch, but I did find that it was a bit too easy for the material to slip and gather on the thread. I think it would probably have been better to have used the three step zigzag stitch, or stretch overcasting stitch (obviously if I had cut it without so much seam allowance).
I then used my twin needle for the first time on a real garment, and it worked wonderfully (stitch length of 3.5mm and thread tension of about 3.25.) The only problem I had with this was that it didn’t like going over the seams where there were many layers of fabric – I don’t think it was the thickness that was an issue, so much as the change in the thickness. I didn’t snap my needle until I had completed the last stitch though, so I’m considering it a win!
What I hadn’t reckoned on was the facings – I’ve used facings before but never in a knit. I didn’t know what to do about interfacing them, so I left that off figuring that an inflexible interfacing may make the neckline non-stretchy, but other than that I constructed them as a woven facing, notching, clipping and understitching in the same manner. This unfortunately left the facings flopping about and coming out of the neckline looking more like a ruffle than a smooth neckline with a facing! As such I decided to topstitch the facing and the outer layer together around the neckline with the double needle in the same way that I topstitched the hem and the sleeve hems. I’m really pleased with the result, the neckline lies nice and flat, and I didn’t get too much tunnelling from the twin needle stitching.
![Nice Flat Neckline with Twin-Needle Topstitching](https://i0.wp.com/www.sewsmart.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Brown-knit-neckline-300x264.jpg?resize=300%2C264)
Despite the difficulty with the facings I’m definitely going to be looking out for more material to make this pattern with – I need to learn to do the facings properly, (I have since found out that you can buy knit interfacing) and also I would like to narrow and lengthen the sleeves a little at the wrists, but other than that, this pattern is one that fits my usual winter dress style very well – I spend a lot of time at home and work wearing lightweight jumpers and either jeans or a skirt, so it’s great that I’ve found a pattern that I can use to make them – it’s just a shame it’s wasted 25 years in the pattern box!
![Brown Knit Top, Back View](https://i0.wp.com/www.sewsmart.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Brown-knit-back-300x257.jpg?resize=300%2C257)