SEWN: All the turtlenecks (Papercut Rise and Fibre Mood Daniella)

This year I want to wear all the turtleneck, so I made four. 3x Papercut Rise and 1x Fibre Mood Daniella (affiliate link). Excessive? Maybe yes but winter does not make me want to dress up. I value comfort and always seem to be digging around the washing basket for turtlenecks. Either I should wash more frequently, or wear other clothes that I own?!

A shortlist of indie turtleneck patterns 

Here’s a list of the indie ones I considered. This is not THE most comprehensive list, just what I have seen whilst browsing the internet. I am sure there are more!

Semi fitted with set in sleeve

• Papercut Rise: (2 in 1, comes with the Fall which is the oversized boxy version)
• Pattern Fantastique Glacial skivvy
• Fibre Mood Daniella (affiliate link): semi-fitted with soft shoulder gathers and gathers at the wrist which goes into a sleeve cuff. This is actually a dress but I just sliced it off since I’m not in dress mode at the moment.

More fitted with set in sleeve

• Named Paola
• Megan Nielsen Rowan
• Style Arc Alexi
• True Bias Nikko
• Tilly and the Buttons Freya – but you have to buy the whole book to get this pattern.

Oversized, boxy, dropped shoulder

• Papercut Fall (2 in 1, comes with the Rise which is the semi-fitted version)
• Paper Theory LB Pullover. Works for wovens if you cut the neckband on the bias. Here’s a pic of one in linen (one of many of Judith’s versions!)
• Tilly and the Buttons Nora top
• Tessuti Monroe

NOTE – one pattern is not better than another pattern. There is no need to buy every single pattern and hope for the best in terms of one that will fit! Better to try one, and tweak it to your liking. Remember that commercial patterns are not custom drafted for YOUR specific body. In this sense, it is no different from ready to wear so chances are you will need to make tweaks for a perfect fit.

What did I make? 

On the oversized boxy front, I have made: Papercut Fall, LB Pullover, Tilly Buttons Nora … none of which worked out for me so I didn’t really even bother with pictures! I’m keen to try the LB Pullover in a woven as a summer tee. BUT so far it seem I’m not into oversized turtlenecks! Any of these I think would make a great sweater, just add cuffs and hemband. I also turned the Just Patterns Tyra Tee (oversized boxy short sleeves) into a sweater, you can see that here. So for the next turtleneck experiment I thought I would try a semi-fitted version instead. 

Papercut Rise, 3 times over

I’ve had the Papercut Rise and Fall pattern since 2017 (according to my email purchasing history) and never used the Rise. Rather than buy another pattern I thought I would give it a go first. 

This was my first one:

Then I made two more with these modifications:

• Lower neckline by 1cm. 
• Increase neckband length by 1cm. 
• Increase sleeve length by 2cm – but I have long arms.
• Increase hem length by 2cm – because I like to be able to tuck.

For reference, I made size XS because I like ease. My bust measurement is 82, but the bust measurement and finished measurement are both 88 on the pattern.

And now the pattern is perfect for my specifications! All of them are made with a cotton jersey. Merino jersey, whilst I like the warmth of wool, is not something *that* commonly available here in fabric form (plenty of RTW to be found). The one or two merino things made from the famous merino from The Fabric Store I made feel a wee bit scratchy. Maybe I have sensitive skin?! I don’t think it’s a fabric ‘quality’ issue since it wouldn’t be that much of it sold time and time again if there was a problem. FYI I discuss the use of ‘quality’ as a useless marketing descriptor term here.

Fibre Mood Daniella

Back in issue 11 of Fibre Mood, there was this picture which was a skirt pattern (the Madeline bias skirt) and I was sad that the top wasn’t a pattern!

BUT lo and behold, there was a very similar one in issue 12 – Daniella! So I made it. If I was making it again then I would add 2cm to the sleeve, because I have long arms and like to hide my hands in my cuffs. Everything else is perfectly fine as is.

Favourite bees cotton jersey from the deep stash, and there was also juuuust enough to squeeze out a birthday top for bubs so we could be a sparkly matching pair. And I used the final scrap for a pocket which I sewed onto one of mister’s RTW tees.

In a perfect world, I would have left off the turtleneck and made a sweater that looks like the mustard one in the modelled picture from issue 11, but that would mean I would have had to source some sweater knit (not sweatshirting). No go since I couldn’t find any I liked! I’m still on the hunt if anyone has shop suggestions. PS. The gathers at the shoulders are a little less big on the Daniella than the one on the mustard picture.

—

Not much more to say, other than that I won’t be trying any more turtleneck patterns since these are ideal for me right at this moment. And four turtlenecks is enough. But, never say never….

Till next time, 

Kate xx