Hacked Gertie Pin-Up Sweater

I love my muted orange cropped sweater so much I knew it wouldn't be long before I made another.

I'd had my heart set on making something fitted out of some ribbed jersey fabric for a while, so didn't feel guilty when I chucked this black rib into my stash at this year's Sew Up North event in Leeds.

I originally wanted to make a fitted cropped sweater with a narrow hem on the bottom and the sleeves and a round neck. I knew there were a few alterations I needed to make to the pattern after my last two Pin Up sweaters I'd made based on the pattern from Gertie Sews Vintage Casual book.
The first, is I really needed to scoop the arm holes a little deeper to stop the jumper pulling at the underarms, then adjust the sleeve a little to fit. Thankfully the fabric is so stretchy very little adjustment was needed on the sleeves to get them to fit. I also sloped the shoulders a little for a better fit at the neck.

Everything was going well and my jumper looked to be fitting nicely. So I came to hem the bottom and got SO frustrated as the rib just stretched out something crazy as I stitched. It should have been a 10 minute job, but I decided to unpick the lot and attach a band like I did on my orange jumper. Thankfully adding an extra width of fabric meant that I could hack off the stretchy bottom of my jumper and act like it never existed.

My second failing came at the sleeves. I thought they would look cuter shorter, so I cut them down a little, then prepared to hem them. Yes you guessed it, the sleeve hems stretched out too and I was far from happy! I came to the conclusion there was nothing I could do. I cut off the gaping fabric but knew that if I had a second attempt I could end up with no sleeve left!! Luckily my fabric doesn't fray or unravel so I settled on leaving them raw. They are a little flappier than I would have liked them, but I don't think anyone would notice if I hadn't said.

What I wanted was a cute casual jumper I could wear with jeans or a tight skirt and that's what I've got. A couple of design changes along the way, but she fits pretty nicely

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Location: Vault Car Park, Abbeydale Road, Sheffield
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