The Linden Sweatshirt - super quick selfish sewing

After the complicated marathon project that was the boy's shirts, I was up for some simple sewing. I also felt like making something for no particular reason other than I wanted to. My sister lent me the Linden Sweatshirt pattern by Grainline Studios when I 'accidentally' bought 2 metres of grey and red striped sweatshirt fabric from Girl Charlee (I thought it was jersey and had planned to make a long sleeved Agnes top to wear under my new Cleo dress, not blogged yet).  I've been planning to make this for a while and had spent ages sourcing some grey sweatshirt ribbing to go with it. I eventually found some in the Ottobre etsy shop and bought it, despite it being ludicrously expensive. 

However, when it came down to starting the project a few weeks ago, I was put off by the thought of pattern matching the stripes on the raglan sleeves. Inspired by another sweatshirt I bought ages ago, I realised that the solution would be to get some plain grey fabric for the sleeves. No pattern matching required and it would stop the stripes looking too much. My Mum picked up some plain grey sweatshirting at Guthrie and Ghani last time she was there (she's lucky enough to live nearby). 

When I finally got round to starting the project, I was pleasantly surprised at quite how simple it was. It can be sewn up entirely on the overlocker and the whole thing took a couple of hours at most. Although it isn't essential to finish all the seams using a coverstitch machine (or twin needle on a regular machine), I've hardly used mine and wanted to have a play. I'm still getting used to it, but I love the professional finish it gives.  There were a couple of hiccups, like when I made the rookie mistake of forgetting to put the foot down (think I thought I was still on the overlocker).  Even spending extra time doing this, it was still a one-evening project, which is exactly what I needed. Even better, I know I will get so much wear out of it. This is a fab pattern and one I will make time and time again.