Going Home Sweater

It’s been a while but I finally have something to share and have spent so quality sewing time this week.

The Margot Pyjamas have been temporarily shelved as I’ve lost the ribbon I bought for them. So, eager to make something I moved on to the Ellie and Mac Going Home Sweater I got this as an ever so cheap PDF pattern and I was curious to find out what they were all about. Well, I nearly didn’t make it as some of you will have seen my frustration on Instagram at 8 attempts to print it out the correct size. I turns out I just needed a respectable PDF program not the basic reader I had on my laptop. I didn’t mind the sticking together too much until the last row when I just could not line up the pieces.

Once it was all together the instructions were very easy to follow and I was off!

I bought a big pink cutting mat as I’d read anything with stretch is best cut with a rotary cutter. I found it really easy to cut and the fabric behaved itself.

Love my pink set up with Penelope my machine matching my cutting mat and laptop! However, all went terribly wrong when half way through I developed a tension problem I could not fix. It was all lose underneath, I changed my needle, rewound my bobbin, rethreaded the machine, cleaned out the dust. Everytime I thought I’d fixed it I’d sew about 6-8 inches fine, then it would go again. I was so frustrated as I’m a beginner and have no idea how to fix these things and working full time and having not dedicated craft space, I only have bits of time before I had to pack up. In the end pretty Penelope was put to one side and my ugly old Janome machine came out, it was all seized and not working (which was why I had Penelope) but I managed to clean it out and oil it and get it working enough to finish this top.

Finally I finished it! I can see so many mistakes but I’ve learnt a lot and I’m very proud of my first me made item of clothing. I absolutely hate having my photo taken, but have had one taken and am posting it because that’s how proud I am!

Looking forward to my next project, hoping to fix Penelope as well!