Dinosaur Mika Sweater

Never work with children or animals… and after trying to capture the items I made for my two I can totally agree with that statement.

It all started with a piece of fabric, and a really cool one at that. Since my children developed a real love of dinosaurs so have I, there is something very fun and cool about them that I just can’t shift. Plus, I love how much joy my children get from me wearing clothing that has dinosaurs on it. This fabric has a lovely feel, is soft and has a great vibrancy to the print. It’s a loop back which means its thicker than a standard jersey, but its on the thinner end of the loopback spectrum so it’s got a great weight for a huge volume of project opportunities.

My first instinct was that I fancied a sweater for me in it, and after an extensive hunt around at sweater patterns I came across FibreMood’s Mika top. It’s a really classic style with rib cuff, neck and waistband and the very traditional triangle with stitching detail at the neck (this part is optional but I liked the vibe it gave).

I’m new to FibreMood patterns, but have been very impressed having made this one. The instructions are really clear and the sizing was absolutely spot on for me. I measured in at a size 18 so cut a large and it fits so well, has got lots of room but isn’t massively oversized. The cut of it is also just such a great shape, its hard to really capture but because of the waistband pulling it back in it doesn’t feel really baggy but has got a real comfort value to it. Comfort and style… perfection!

This pattern calls for a rib fabric for the neckline, cuffs and waistband… now you could absolutely use the same fabric (it would be slightly bulkier though given it’s doubled up), or a standard jersey weight fabric if you didn’t have any rib but the rib does create a classic sweater finish and the retraction you get from a rib fabric is brilliant. I had a hunt through my stash and found this rainbow striped rib that I’ve had for ages that never seemed to be able to make work and bazaarly felt really worked. I thought I’d gone a bit mad with the combination at first but I love a pattern clash and the colours really seemed to work well together. Now it’s all made up I can honestly say I absolutely stand by this combination; I just think its absolute perfection.

The first bit of sewing here is the triangle to the front. It’s appliqued on with a zig zag that is then continued past the point to create this traditional look. I should have tested my zig zag settings a little more as I think it would have looked better slightly denser and a little wider, the settings I used worked but are almost too delicate in my view.

Once that is done, the shoulders go together, neck band is added, sleeves are added on the flat before sewing up the underarm and side seams in one. Then the cuffs and waistband are added in exactly the same manner as each other. Usually after adding a neckline of this style I would always topstitch the seam allowance down, but the pattern didn’t call for it here and with using rib it does behave without it and gives a much cleaner look. This is such a quick project to whip up and just looks very cool, I can see me making more of these.

But with my sweater complete I found myself with lots of scraps remaining (and large size bits at that). I’ve been working very hard on my scrap busting and sewing from my stash recently so decided to keep on sewing. So, from my 2m piece of fabric I have managed to make myself a sweater, a sweater for my 5-year-old and a pair of leggings for my 2-year-old. It is so mad how much you can make from scraps and is always worth exploring… because even if you don’t have kids (kids stuff is always a great scrap buster but there are other things to consider too) a local charity would love the stuff or even make it as gifts for friends too.

The kids sweater pattern I used was from MadeByMePatterns and the leggings is BrindilleandTwig.
Because it’s not a really thick or heavy loopback it works really well as leggings as well as sweaters.


#fibremood #fibremoodpatterns #fibremoodmika #sewingmika #loopbackjersey #sewingwithloopback #sewingwithstretch #sewingforkids #scrapbusting #minervamakes #minervabrandambassador #minervamakers #handmadewardrobe #handemadeclothes #isew #isewmyclothes #memade #memades #memadefashion #diyclothes #diyfashion #diywardrobe #dressmaking #sewing #sewist #sewists #sewinginspo #sewinginspiration #sew #sewcialist #sewingproject #sewingprojects #sewingideas #sewingprojectideas #sewingpatterninspo #fabricinspo #fashionsewing #seamstress #lovesewing #ilovesewing #sewsewsew #sewersgonnasew #makersgonnamake #memadeeveryday #sewaholic #sewaholics #sewingaddict #sewingblogger #makersgonnamake #memade #shareyoursewing #imakemyclothes #imakemyownclothes #fashion #fashioninspo #memadewardrobe #sewinglove