Raglan sleeve sweater

My first sewingproject of the year 2020 is finished and it’s a raglan sleeve sweater. The original pattern I’ve used is from KnipMode December 2013. Original, because I made quite some changes.

In the picture below you can see the original linedrawing of this pattern. See those curved seams? The front and back bodypiece do have this curved seamline (second picture), but the sleeves do not. They're straight at that point. Anyone who has been sewing for a while knows that when you sew a curved and a straight seam together, you create depth. The fabric is no longer laying flat. And that’s exactly what happened when I made this sweater some years ago. Front and back, left and right.

I remember I took some time trying to fix it but for some reason I never really succeeded, so that sweater ended up never being worn. Last year I wanted to give it another go and I smoothed out the line of the front and back bodypiece. That did the trick, as was to be expected. No strange bulges at places where there aren't supposed to be any. I was (and am) quite pleased with this one. I added a band at the bottom, cuffs at the sleeves and finished the neckline with a simple neckband. So basically, not much of the original pattern survived....

I was so pleased with it that I bought some lovely pink sweaterfabric and made another one. (I left out the band at the bottom and made it longer with slits in the side so it would be more appropriate to wear for my job.) This fabric is thicker so I added some width to the sideseams and underarmseams, to avoid a snugger fit. Again, a succes.

And then, yes, I made the grey one you see at the beginning of this post. Although the grey jersey fabric is much thinner than the pink fabric, I kept the width I added to the pattern. Again I added the band at the bottom. This one turned out great as well.

But…..

Yes, I’m afraid there is a but. On all three of them the neckband is not completely lying flat in the front. The pictures don't show this and it's probably something most people wouldn’t even notice, but I do. The next time I’ll try to fix this, because there will be a next time, definitely. I love this pattern!

For attaching the neckband I used the method in which you divide both the neckband and neckline in 4 equal parts, using notches to indicate where the neckband and neckline should be pinned together. Then, while sewing, you stretch the neckband  (between the notches) to accommodate for the longer length of the neckline.

Lots of video’s on youtube show this method, and after a good pressing it always looks perfect. Somehow, for me that was not the case.

The neckband should have been stretched more in the front and less over the shoulders (The wrinkles at the shoulders were way too obvious. I was able to get most out by pressing, but in a certain light you can still see it. Something was just off.

So I took a long and hard think. And this is what I’ll be doing next time:

- Dividing the neckband in 4 equal parts  (same as in the other method)

- Dividing the neckline in 4 equal parts BUT move both notches at the side 3/4 cm backwards.

That way the neckband has to be stretched a bit more in the front because of the loner neckline (+ 1,5 cm) which will hopefully solve the problem of it sticking out. And over the shoulders it’s the opposite: shorter neckline (-/- 1,5 cm) so less stretching of the neckband needed, which will hopefully result in less wrinkles.  Fingers crossed that this will work out.

Next on the cutting-table is a midi-skirt which should be a no-brainer as I’m using a true-and-tried pattern which can be sewn up in a very short time. Let’s call it ‘instant sewisfaction’ shall we?

Talk to you soon!
Lilian