Crow Sweater

My last sew of 2017 was a 100% belgian product:
both the pattern and the fabric are "homegrown".

I used an amazing pattern from a belgian sewing book: "Stof-Voor-Durf-Het-Zelvers 3". 

That roughly translates into "fabric/ideas for dare it yourselfers". Griet's first and second book were my guides for the first dress I ever made for my daughter. I made her first communion dress by following her guidelines too. She's awesome!

The pattern for this sweater is pure genius.

Your average sweater pattern has 4 pattern pieces: front, back and 2 sleeves (we're not counting the ribbing). This one is made of 3 pieces. And with those 3 "exotic" pieces, you get a sweater WITH a front pocket. You can see a bit of the magic on picture of the back. 

The picture next to it shows my son's favorite feature: a "tunnel" pocket. You can shake hands in it or squeeze both arms through and get a rather weird pose.

The side seams don't go straight down either in this unusual sweater. They come from the back to the front and magically make the pocket too.

The fabric is from "All Animals Are Equal", a collection by the Belgian company Chat Chocolat. They make very soft french terry.  As a Game of Thrones lover, I fell in love with the crows right away. I showed the release pictures to my son and it only took him half a second to decide it: OK!

I used a tutorial by Riet (Leven met Liv), the creative mind behind Mind The Whale to add thumbholes to the sleeves.

She's also Belgian, so that makes this a triple belgian sew!

A fitting end to a great sewing year!