My love affair with the Helen’s Closet Elliot Sweater continues.

My blue and black striped sweaters are in almost constant rotation as the weather is so much cooler here. So when I saw this beautiful printed ponte di roma on the Patterns and Plains website, it was a given that it would be another Elliot Sweater.

This pattern is a firm favourite on my list of TNT patterns. I love how it is comfortingly reassuring to wear, yet looks different in each iteration. I sewed this up during the worst of the presidential election. The part when it looked like Trump was about to get a second term. It was soothing to sew something where I didn’t have to work out what the instructions were trying to tell me (looking at you Hot Patterns). And the blue seemed eminently hopeful.

This fabric is just lovely. It’s very cosy and soft to the touch and has great drape. It would also make a gorgeous winter dress or cardigan.

I love how it’s also a versatile colour. I wore it with jeans, as seen in these photos, for a dash around the supermarket this morning, and then with black linen trousers for a hospital appointment in the afternoon. Both looked good. Both felt like secret pyjamas (particularly the linen trousers).

Patterns and Plains is a new to me online store and this was my first purchase from them. Amanda has hit a very sweet spot for me. Her store is a nicely curated selection of plains, stripes and not too loud patterns. The sort of stuff you wear all the time. Especially at the moment when we’re all at home so much so.

As Amanda herself says:

We believe that in order to make a ready to wear type garment, you need to start with a ready to wear type of fabric.. Take a look in the garment stores – a large percentage of garments are in fact made of plain fabric in either classic or the latest on trend colours. There is a smaller percentage of patterned garments but in very specific patterns

Patterns and Plains

The delivery was prompt and nicely packaged. I’ll definitely shop with her again.

This Elliot is the same as the blue striped one except I wanted a slightly longer sleeve again. Unlike the black, I didn’t have enough fabric to cut the full amount of extra length, so I improvised.

I added 1″ to the length of the sleeve pattern, chalked straight onto the fabric. Then I cut 2 rectangles the width of the hem of the sleeve wide (plus a seam allowance) x 4″. I joined them into a circle and folded in half (wrong sides together). Then I just overlocked them onto the end of the sleeve. The resulting bracelet length is just perfect. And I like the additional detail, which makes this Elliot slightly different again from my other two.

I have to say I’m loving using TNTs at the moment. I’m almost ready to drop down a size in this pattern as I’m slowly losing weight. I love being able to just pull a pattern out of the drawer, cut it out and know that it’s guaranteed to fit. You might need to make a few adjustments because of the different hand and stretch in a fabric, but it’s not a full on orgiamifest to make it work.

It’s not to say that I don’t want to just stick to TNT patterns, but after the year we’ve had, I don’t have the headspace for too much technicallity in my knitting and sewing. So this is working for me.

I’ve also sorted a lovely pile of winter worthy fabrics from my stash, and these are a nice mix of TNT patterns and new. With a TNT I can clear the stash more quickly. The new patterns are a bit meatier but not urgent. I’m hopeful that once fitted they’ll also become TNTs but it feels a nice balance.

Hopefully I’ll be back soon with something off that fabric pile. There is a fabric ban in place until this little lot is sewn. That’s a great motivator too!