Cotton Tricot does the Trick

Time to post something I’ve made, right? I’ve sewn a sweater for myself.

I have sewn with tricot before and made a long sleeved sweater and then a turquoise dress with the same fabric. The trick when sewing in tricot is not to pull the fabric, instead gently guide it through the sewing machine. Plus change needle in your sewing machine before you start. You should use the double needle and then practice on scraps before sewing the project together!

I’ve been on the lookout for a nice pattern, but finally I gave up and made my own pattern pieces by copying another sweater! It is difficult to get the pieces even but on the other hand you get a sweater that is comfortably fitting and in a style you already enjoy.

I got the cotton tricot (bomullstrikå) online from a Swedish company called E-slöjd, back in March 2007. It has been bugging me ever since in a pile of reproaches! The fabric is lovely; high quality and a bit thicker than the turquoise fabric. Perfect for a long sleeve sweater like this. I have got several colors of this tricot, so I do have more work to do before the reproach pile is gone, but with a new brown sweater to wear I’m a content for now.

With another homemade sweater on top of this and I am ready to go! Stripes stripes stripes, I know!

And how fitting that I was wearing my very wide and extremely red corduroys when we took these photos. The pants are designed by Gudrun Sjödén, a Swedish cloth and fabric designer that I heart, thanks to my friend Ellinor of course. I’m also wearing a pair of socks from Gudrun, thick orange socks that makes me feet happy and warm.

I love Gudrun’s muted colors and the layer on top of layer style. Every season I enjoy the new designs and wish I could afford a pair of her pink or red shoes. In the catalog that comes out I savor looking at the pretty models, the environments and the clothes in the well shot photographs. Great for collage images too.

This frame is my inspiration board where I hang everything that is pretty and inspiring and happy. Can you spot what inspired my sweater design?

My sweater is very much inspired by a saved photo from the said cloth designer Gudrun Sjödén. Can you see it? You can also see the pretty and handcrafted wedding invitations for tree weddings I’ve attended this year still hanging on my inspiration board. Love always inspires me.

And in the top right corner a photo of my mothers mother Ruth. I scanned that particular photo and did some digital restoration work in Photoshop on this photo, just because it is so cute. My granny is knitting, see? I think it is so pretty!

She feels too old to knit anymore but she still crafts with her sewing machine. Mom inspires her to quilt and they exchange little packages of fabric and fun sewing notions every now and then! In her last letter to me granny had cut out an article on free-hand crocheting that she thought would inspire me. People that do things like that for you are worth a million if you ask me.

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