baby lock Katy and Claire threw down the Christmas gauntlet with “make a Christmas sweater inspired by Fair Isle designs using the baby lock PRIMO”. Sew, I love a challenge, getting the creative juices flowing and having fun on the PRIMO. I was in! Read on to see what the PRIMO and I came up with.

With a theme of Fair Isle knitting designs, Katy supplied me with the new baby lock fluffy thread, and the doodling started.

Now, my other passion is knitting, and I’ve knitted a fair few Fair Isle jumpers over the years, so a couple of designs came to mind. The tree of life resembles a Christmas tree and, of course, my fair isle take on a snowflake seemed to both fit the theme.

WHICH PATTERN TO USE? A raglan sleeve was in the brief, so it had to be the tried and tested (many times, by many of my sewers) the Sew House Seven Toaster Sweater. It always seems to fit, is a straightforward sew and a great vehicle for surface decoration.

COLOUR – red, had to be!

FABRIC – I like looped backed French terry with a high cotton content if I can find it. Over to Vend fabrics, a tried and tested supplier of jersey fabrics for many years (I can really recommend their cotton interlock as well) for some 100% cotton French terry. Prompt delivery as always. 

I have a City & Guilds Fashion background and taught City & Guilds fashion for many years so, in my experience, it is all about the sampling. This is the bit I enjoy – trying out lots of ideas and matching the technique and materials to the design. I dug deep into my box of threads and decided on the white fluffy thread mixed with baby lock’s metallic woolly nylon and Maderia white Aeroflock on the SWING FOOT, standard polyester thread in the needles and the Maderia Aeroflock in the chain looper.

To support the outer fabric, I pinned some Avalon soluble stabilizer behind where the decorative stitching was going to be. This is helpful for stretch knits and fabrics or lighter weight fabrics giving the surface layer stablity a bit of oomph.

Getting the surface pattern placement (I really didn’t want a snowflake on my bust point) and proportion was going to be key. 

I traced off the front and back pattern pieces as a whole front and a whole back. Then, using my trusty Swedish Tracing paper pinned to the pattern where I thought I wanted the

design to be, I drew the trees and snowflake several times until I was happy with the look, size and where they fell on the body.

Now how to get the design from the paper to the fabric. I used my vintage tracing wheel and some white dressmaker’s carbon.

And I was off! Carefully following the marked lines, the PRIMO stitched out the design. Here are a 3 of my top tips for starting and finishing in the body of the fabric which is much trickier than starting and finishing at the edges and how to pivot. 

Jane’s Top Tip 1 for starting without the thread chained – this method works for cover stitch and overlocking. Lift the presser foot up. Turn the side wheel BACKWARDS one revolution and then pull the existing chain towards the back of the machine. This clears the threads from the surface looper fingers separating the chain and letting you get the fabric under the foot without the chain getting in the way. 

Jane’s Top Tip 2 for finishing before the edge of the fabric. Turn the side wheel towards you until the needles are at their highest position. This is important because if you turn it backwards the stitching will unravel as you pull the fabric out of the machine. Lift the presser foot to release the thread tension. Using the red handled screwdriver or a small crochet hook, pull the threads in front of the needles a little bit to loosen them. Then, scoop the screwdriver under the foot from the back collecting the threads from under the foot. Pull them out for about 10cm and then cut the folded end. Wriggle the fabric backwards slightly and then quickly pull the fabric towards the back left hand corner of the machine. Ta Dah, the top needle threads will have been pulled through to the back of the fabric. Finish them off by darning them in or dabbing with a bit of Fray Check.

Jane’s Top Tip 3 for pivoting with triple cover stitch. Pivoting with one needle is straightforward but double or triple cover stitch requires a different technique because a pivot is impossible. After a bit of practice, the method I used was to hover. So, I stitched up to the pivot point, made sure the needles were above the fabric, lifted the presser foot and then carefully turned the fabric. I pierced the fabric with the needles and then dropped the presser foot. The knee lift made this easier.

THE BORDER - White didn’t look right because is distracted the eye from the trees and snowflake. After a few samples I settled on the red fluffy wool with the silver metallic

woolly nylon in one wiper and baby lock extra thick woolly nylon in the other wiper. Standard polyester thread in the needles. The PRIMO loves thread – thick, thin, mixed, fluffy, give them a go. This is how the top of my machine looked!

Having mastered the ‘pivot’ I joined the raglan seams together first which eliminated having to match the border stitching. With the garment flat, I stitched across the sleeves and body in one go. 

Then it was just a case of adding the neck bank, joining the side and sleeve seams and attaching the cuffs and bottom band.

I’m all ready for Christmas now! 

 Thank you for reading and I'd love you to share your Christmas sweater makes with me.

Jane

Jane White, City & Guilds Fashion Adv. Cert Ed.. 

Jane is qualified with City & Guilds in design, pattern cutting and couture sewing to degree level and has taught vocational and non vocational classes for over 25 years. She has been sewing as long as she can remember. Her journey took off with Great Aunt Margaret’s hand Singer sewing machine aged 9. Technology has advanced a lot since then but her passion for making garments and textiles that are a bit different, her love of sharing practical skills, supporting sewers and loving her baby lock machines is at the heart of what she does.