So, if you haven’t figured it by now, the first item of the 12 month sewalong set up by Alex over at Bluebird Fabrics is this – the Toaster Sweater #2 by Sew House Seven.

You might have caught the first glimpse of mine here when I made a tutorial on adding thumbholes and cuffs to my sweaters. I thought I’d hold off on posting the full thing until this week when everyone else will also be finishing off their #sewmystyle sweaters!

I have to say, I wasn’t hugely enamoured with this pattern when it was chosen. It’s not something I necessarily would’ve picked out myself but maybe that was a good thing! I think it’s easy to get stuck in a sewing pattern rut – just look at how many shirtdress patterns I have! (They are really starting to all look the same…)

I knew with this sewalong, there would be items I wouldn’t immediately drawn to but then my challenge was how was I going to alter and change that pattern to something I did like.

With this Toaster Sweater, most of the hard work was finding the right fabric. I lucked out and came across this lovely metallic ribbed knit in Walthamstow market which at first sight, I knew would be the perfect fit for this pattern.

I usually like my sweaters a little oversized so I opted to make a M-L version. (I kind of regretted that later as I hadn’t realised a) just how wide the hem would really sit and b) how stiffly the fabric would fall). I did keep it at the original length though. I know a lot of people weren’t keen on the length and chose to add to it but I kind of liked it!

The fabric was really easy to work with and this is a very quick sweater to make – so no excuses to not finish in time for those joining in with #sewmystyle!

I overlocked the seams where I could but I did most of the work with a regular machine with a zig zag stitch. The edges I finished with a twin needle which was a little awkward when going around corners but I much preferred this finish to just a zig zag.

So this is it!

I like it! I think it could do with being a little narrower in the body (it’s very much a swing sweater in it’s original form) but overall it’s definitely something I can add to my regular wardrobe and I can see myself getting a lot of wear out of it. Plus I love my addition to the sleeves!