Linden Sweatshirt

I officially have a new love in my closet, it’s the Linden Sweatshirt from Grainline Studios. I have seen this pattern pop up a lot over these last few winter months and I was just itching to make one but couldn’t decide what material I wanted to use. But when I was at my local fabric store for a Sewing Meeting up everything fell into place.

First of all, if you are a sewist in the Chicago area you absolutely need to join us for our monthly Chicago Garment Sewists at Oak Fabrics. We also do other events throughout the month at different locations. Just follow the hashtag #ChicagoGarmentSewists on instagram to stay up on the latest up coming events.

So while I was at the February meetup I was talking to the totally awesome Dani (Insta @knitty34) and she was wearing the most beautiful Linden. Dani convinced me that it was absolutely a top that I needed to make and it just so happened that Oak Fabrics had put together this lovely little kit containing the right amount of material, the pattern, and notions needed to make this lovely top. We I bought it and now I need to go back to the fabric store to get more material to make a second.

If you want a super quick knit project, this one is for you. It took me about a week to finish mine but that’s only because the little man would only let me sew about two seams at a time before demanding my attention again. But if like me you can only snag a couple sewing minutes here and there this is a great project to do that with.

One thing that I did a little different from the directions is I sewed the cuffs onto the sleeves first, before sewing up the side seams. For me this just made sense and I did try it according to the directions but I messed up two cuffs before I decided on my way. Also I some how messed up the neckline a little bit, it’s a little large, but hey if that’s my only flaw I will take it.

For this project I used my trusty dusty Brother 1034d serger to assemble the top and then my beautiful Huskavarna Viking Jade 34 sewing machine for the top stitching. The material sewed is a French Terry Knit that you can still purchase from Oak Fabrics.

After making this top for myself I knew I needed to make a mommy and me outfit for my little man. With the scraps I had remaining I was able to make him a matching little sweatshirt using the free Hooded Ragland Pattern from Brindle and Twig.

With this pattern I decided to eliminate the pocket and opted for a neck band instead of the hood. Again, just like my hoodie I still need to perfect the neck band but it is still the cutest thing you ever did see. I even used the fabric that I got in the February Fabric Swap to make a little mauve pink sweater for my friend’s baby girl.

So don’t walk RUN to your sewing machines and make one or both of these adorable patterns.