Black Friday public service announcement: You have enough. You are enough. Save your bank account. Save the environment. Ignore your inbox and avoid getting caught up in the frenzy. Enjoy a cup of tea instead.

So says the woman who just bought some discounted sewing patterns. 🙂

Ok, public service announcement over, and on to the fact that it’s the season to make and wear soft, fleecy, comfy tops! Sequins? Party dresses? Fuggetaboudit. I just want comfort food and comfort clothes that can accommodate my, um, *expanding* need for comfort food, so I’ve made a few sweatshirts lately. 

Here’s the first of the trilogy, the Style Arc Carlsson Sweater.

It features a yoke that spans across the shoulders, diagonal front seams, and a curved hi-lo hem.

And a little surprise in the back! 

I made this with buttery-soft bamboo french terry. You can see that there’s a bit of an issue with my serger tension — the white threads are visible at the seams. As I’ve mentioned before I can only be bothered having black and off-white serger thread on hand. (Ain’t nobody got time to buy matching serger thread and then CHANGE THE SERGER THREADS, amirite?) Using black or off-white thread has never been an issue but I think I need to sit down and sort out the tension now. A process which may correct the serger’s tension but never fails to ratchet up my own.  

The pattern calls for topstitching most of the seams, which I skipped, but I’m thinking I might go ahead and do the top-stitching with white thread to give the top more detail and to make those visible serger threads seem more intentional.

I really like the clever design of this top. However, bear in mind that the width of the yoke is really important to get right in terms of a good fit — you don’t have any armscye seams to take in or out if you need more or less width across the shoulders. I feel I could have gone up a size for a bit more wiggle room. You can see the shoulder seam ride up a bit when my arm is raised in the picture above. Other than that caveat, I think this is a level-up from a sweatshirt and fun to sew!May you be enjoying a lovely cup of tea and managing your money, time, and energy successfully on this black Friday. 

More cosy tops coming soon in parts 2 and 3. Thanks for stopping by!

— Lori