A Summer Linden

I’d been eyeing up this gorgeous See You At Six ‘Summer Flowers’ French Terry fabric for a long time. I just love the summery feel to the colours and pattern. I could ‘see’ it becoming a Grainline Linden Sweater and using this Merchant & Mills ‘Ice & Cream’ Ribbing as a feature for the neckband, waistband, and cuffs. Dorte at Dragonfly Fabrics very kindly sent me a photo of the two together and I knew I just had to purchase them when they had a sale – it would’ve been rude not to!

I’ve adapted this pattern a few times when I’ve made it before, so that it skims over my bust and curves in at the waist, and I’ve made the opening for the neckband a bit smaller too.

I used 1.5m of the main fabric and 2 x 1m lengths of ribbing. For the neckband I measured the opening and then cut the ribbing at 70% + seam allowances; for the waistband, once I’d sewn up the body I put it on and held the ribbing snug to my body around where the sweater ended and cut it at that length + seam allowances; and used same method for the cuffs.

In each case, I basted the bands on first with my sewing machine, for accuracy, before running them through my overlocker.

A note about the ribbing… I’m not entirely convinced on the quality, which surprises me as Merchant and Mills is a well-known high-end brand. The recovery of the stretch isn’t as good as I would expect it to be, nor as good as other brands I’ve used.

Despite that, I love the colours in the ribbing and the way they work with my main fabric, contrasting the stripes with the floral, and I’m super-pleased with how this make has turned out. It’s the perfect lightweight sweater for the summer.

We headed down to the East Quay in Wells-next-the-Sea this morning to take photos but it was a bit breezy, so we went back to the gallery to take some more – here’s a selection: