V-neck jumper for J

This is a fluffy raglan V-neck jumper made from a lovely soft wool/angora/lycra mix knit bought from Yuzawaya in Kamata. Angora wool comes from angora rabbit fur but mohair is what you get from angora goats. I suppose this is probably the rabbit version, but I am not totally certain since Japanese use of foreign words is not always related to the common usage in the foreign tongue.

This is a repeat sewing of KS2561. This time I made View A which is a short sleeved V-neck T-shirt, but using the long arm pattern from the previous sewing. So all I actually changed in the pattern used last time was the neckline. I tried very carefully to do it correctly but somehow it ended up with the V right overlapping left, which is not the manly way, apparently. Other than that the V came out OK.

I interfaced the neckline with lightweight interfacing for knits and also basted lots which probably helped things not get stretched out of shape. The fabric was quite stretchy but without good recovery. I used steam with very light (or no) pressure from the iron to shrink it back into place. I've seen it often written on PR how easy it is to reshape wool using steam but had never experienced it before. It certainly is a nice quality of the fabric. I used the almost invisible hand hemstitch that I learned from Kenneth King's tailored jacket CD to stitch down the seam allowances inside the V-neck since I thought that if I tried to machine topstitch it, it would be bound to stretch, and I didn't think leaving the SAs hanging as recommended in the KS instructions was likely to be very satisfactory in this somewhat chunky fabric.

The kerfuffle came with trying to get the arms the right length. On the previous shirt I shortened the cuffs during the stitching process. I should have adjusted the arm length on the pattern at the time. Anyway this time I ended up cutting an inch off the bottom and stitching 5/8" seam allowance on the cuffs (the rest of the pattern is 1/4" SA). I have now adjusted the pattern and taken 1.5" off the length, so next time the cuffs can be inserted with 1/4" SA and it should fit perfectly!

It is interesting how easily the long sleeve T-shirt pattern has become a jumper, but then I suppose it was quite a baggy T. I did not intend the jumper to be quite as warm as it is. The fabric didn't seem that thick to me in the shop. Perhaps it became more dense through pre-washing, or perhaps I am just not very skilled at judging these things.

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