April’s sew my style choices were the Sinclair Patterns Nova Sweatshirt and the 5 out of 4 patterns men’s redwood vest. I was set on sewing the nova sweatshirt from the beginning but in the age of isolation, comfort is key and so it was a real no brainer. If you saw my April plans video, you know I had a particular idea about this sweatshirt…
Well, I made the shorts and the sweatshirt and was so excited to try them on together, but was not sold. I took a pic and posted it to my Patreon to ask everyone there what they thought and everyone pretty much agreed it was an odd match. Thankfully, I had enough fabric to make a pair of lounge shorts from the same fleece! So, without further ado…here’s my little lounge outfit feating the Sinclair Nova Sweatshirt!
Ahh. Isn’t it so cute?! Ok, let’s get into the details.
The fabric is a sweatshirt fleece I got from Style Maker Fabrics this time last year. I love it’s pinky coral color and the fleece is so so soft. This particular fleece doesn’t have a ton of stretch, certainly not the 20 to 30 percent the pattern calls for, so I sized up to make sure it would fit comfortably. This fabric is now sold out, but Style Maker Fabrics has this other sweatshirt fleece that is very compatible in weight. The one I used is a cotton poly blend and this other one is bamboo, cotton and hemp. So, it will be even softer than mine! And, there’s nothing wrong with that! And check out all these colors!
Now, let’s talk patterns. As I said, the top is the nova sweatshirt. The nova is a classic raglan sweatshirt that’s designed to be relaxed at the shoulders, bust and waist, fitted at the hips (with the bottom band) or semi fitted at the hips (with the drawstrings). but you can probably tell, mine doesn’t look much like the line drawings. I ended up shortening mine by 10 inches to get it to hit at my low waist. This was intentional as I wanted to emulate some of the styles I’ve seen in ready to wear lately.
I also shortened the sleeve by 4 inches with the intention of omitting the cuff, but it ended up being too short and so I added the cuff after all. It’s a very long cuff and I don’t love that about it, but the length of the sleeve on the whole is perfect.
Everything else about the sweatshirt is as it was designed. There are a ton of options that come with this pattern. It is Offered with crew neck finished with a band, a medium sized lined cowl or overlapped lined hood. it can Can have a chest patch pocket or a classic kangaroo pocket finished with bands. I can see myself reaching for this pattern again when I want a simple, comfy top. It’s similar to my beloved McCall’s pattern, 6992, that I’ve made many times but this one has a lot more options.
For the shorts, I used a pattern that really doesn’t get enough love from me. It’s McCAll’s 6848. How cute are all of these designs? Especially since I’m wearing more and more loungewear. I have made the jumpsuit before so I knew the shorts were low rise, which I absolutely did not want since my sweatshirt was cropped. I needed the waistband of the shorts to hit right below the top so I adjusted the rise of the shorts by 3 inches. It was a super quick sew as the shorts have no pockets or any extra design details. Well, except for that curved, split hemline. Oh, and I should say that the front of the shorts are not supposed to be shorter than the back. I’m still learning about altering bottoms and I forgot to true the side seams. No big deal since I’m not leaving the house in these shorts, but I just wanted to point that out in case you guys set out to make this one for yourself.
Alright, there you have it. Everything you need to know about my new lounge set for Sew My Style’s April pattern! Let me know what you think of this little outfit in the comments section below.
If you want to see this outfit in action, watch the video here: https://youtu.be/uXkOJnGMMKE