I’ve been so busy sewing, that I’ve got a HUGE backlog of projects to upload!

Today I’m going to write about one of my FAVORITE new wardrobe builder patterns:  Jalie 3248.  This is a pattern for a simple, unstructured cardigan.

Jalie is a Canadian based independent company, mostly specializing in sports wear and dance costumes.  Their patterns are mostly for knits/lycra.  They have a small catalogue with a few fashion patterns.  With Jalie, all patterns come in one package:  from girls sizes to women’s XL.  The sizing is in US & European sizes.  Since all sizes are included, it is easy to trace and grade as you go.  In my case, I traced a size “V”, grading into the larger size “X” in the arms and bust (my usual fitting alterations).

I chose a hatchi sweater knit from FFC (Fashion Fabrics Club).  Online ordering is usually tricky, but this turned out to be a gamble that paid off (I only had once disappointment with this order: one of two coordinating fabrics was out of stock. Unfortunately, FFC will not contact you first to verify that you don’t want to make adjustments to your order.  You will find out when the order comes).  This was from a lot of fabric called “Minx Designs” … all of the fabrics from Minx turned out to be lovely!!

The assembly of this garment was very fast and easy, but I had to read and re-read the instructions a couple of times to understand what was required.  The drop pocket is not well described.  I managed to figure it out, and I photographed the steps (see images below – hover to pause).  Basically, you are going to sew the outside facing layer together as the pocket lining, and the inside layer will be the outside of the pocket.  Confusing, right?  Well, just follow the steps in the pictures.  It’s IMPOSSIBLE to properly describe in words.  In the end, you should have a very professional looking garment, with most seams enclosed (see the photo of the shoulder).  The front will be two layers, and the back one.  The front layer will enclose the seams of the shoulder when the pieces are turned.

One of the things I really like about Jalie patterns is the 1/4″ seam allowance and their binding method.  It leaves much less distortion than the methods of any of the Big 4 (Simplicity, Butterick, McCall & Vogue).  Jalie will have you sew the binding piece along the garment edge, then you wrap the seam with the binding and topstitch down.  In this case, I was a tad worried about the lack of structure of the hatchi knit, so I used a piece of black athletic lycra instead (you can see in the photos of the back, above & below).

Now that I’ve figured it out, I plan to make many more.  It is very quick and easy (mechanically) to put together, and makes a great modern styling wardrobe builder.  In all, it’s a very well drafted pattern, but the instructions require more work.

If I find a videographer, I will record the steps on the next project and update this post.