Lightning Flash Raglan Sweatshirt

It's be great to watch how other participants of KCW (Kid's Clothes Week) have interpreted the 'Wild Things' theme. You can see their daily blog posts here which highlights some of the awesome creations hat have been rolling in to the project page of the community-only section of their site. From a 'claw-ripped' T-shirt, to a wild-flower adorned swimming costume and animal-print fabric galore, it's been a real feast of sewing inspiration. 

For this sweatshirt, I took the 'Wild Things' theme in a punk-rock direction. I've got the appliqué bug at the moment because I love how a simple addition and completely transform a basic garment. The lightning flash on leopard print reflects the crazier side of Dolores's nature.  

Pattern:

I know I've mentioned Ottobre magazines a squillion times before on this blog, but for kid's knit sewing patterns they really the shiz. The Spring 1/2014 edition is one of the ones that contains sooo many I want to try, including this Totem Owl raglan sleeve sweatshirt. I traced the smallest size (86), thinking it'll fit her during the Autumn/Winter, which I think is a fair estimate considering how it fits her at the moment. 

Taking into account that this version is currently too big for her, I found the fit of this pattern to be much baggier than I was hoping for. I thought this might be a staple sweatshirt pattern that I could use many times going forwards, but I don't this will be The One. The neck binding was also far too tight for the neck hole, and yes I have checked that I added the required seam allowance so I'm confident that it's not my fault on this occasion!  The neckline binding, waist binding and cuffs are meant to be cut from ribbing, but this double knit has a lot of width-ways stretch so I don't think the self-binding is to blame. 

Fabric:

I made this top pictured above over four years ago and have literally worn it to death. Holes had started to appear on the cuffs, side seams and at both elbows. Made from a super soft leopard print ponte double knit, I think it was such a successful garment because the T-shirt style was easy to wear and to layer, but felt much warmer than if it'd been made in jersey so was great throughout autumn, winter and spring. I wanted to squeeze any remaining life left into a new incarnation, and just about managed to cut the Totem Owl sweatshirt pieces whilst avoiding the worn out and thinning parts. The pattern unsurprisingly called for sweatshirt fabric, but I think this double knit will feel nicer and allow for more movement in such a small garment. 

The lightning flash appliqué was cut from a scrap of t-shirt jersey and satin-stitched round the edge using my sewing machine set to a zigzag stitch (width 4, length 0.2, I think). I secured the lightning flash in place with bondaweb and fused some interfacing around the area on the back. 

Thoughts:

As I say, I'm a little disappointed with this garment. The fit isn't what I was aiming for (but I doubt I'll be arsed to try tweaking the it) and the neckline is a bit too tight and gathered in by the band being too small. I don't have any more of the fabric so can't cut a new one, and it's just about ok for her to wear as is. I think I'll resume my hunt for the perfect sweatshirt pattern. Possibly I'll give Brindille and Twig's a try.

Having said that, this sweatshirt is getting a lot of love from friends who have seen the pic at the top of this post, and I do love how the appliqué has turned out, it really pops. I'll have to see if she seems to enjoy wearing it later in the year. Maybe the fit won't bother me by then. What do you think? Have you found time to be a great healer in such sewing-related circumstances?!