Mr. Kiri Knits has been slow to let me make things for him. In fact, I think I have only ever made three or four things for him (and not just because I am a selfish sewer). What really made him start to appreciate the potential for custom-made clothing was the coat that I made him last year. To be fair, that coat is definitely that best thing I made for him, and it is still something that I am really proud of.
This is his coat, as seen in our engagements photos. Definitely a higher standard of photography than is usual for this blog!
For his birthday this year, I wanted to fill a big hole in his wardrobe, which is sweaters. For the first one, I wanted a neutral color that would go with most of his shirts, so I picked gray. I have actually had a hard time finding sweater knits, at least ones that are not mostly made out of polyester.
I used McCall's 6803, which is supposed to be a unisex pattern. I have used the smallest size to make a couple for myself. For Mr. Kiri Knits, I went up a size and added 3 inches to the length (he is tall and skinny). I only added one inch to the sleeves because I found them to be quite long.
He wanted in-seam pockets, which are included in the pattern, but I made them much deeper. (The ones on the pattern are basically useless.) On the next iteration of this pattern, I will modify the pockets so that they are sewn into the front and bottom bands.
The construction is pretty straightforward; it was all done on the serger, except for the bottom of the front band. The cuffs and button band are interfaced with knit interfacing. After he tried it on, we found that it was actually too long. He also wanted the pocket opening slightly lower. I unpicked the bottom band and removed some length, and also moved the pockets down.
After these changes, I think that he is pretty happy with his present. I also have the kinks worked out of the pattern, so as I find good sweater knits it will be easy to fill in this gap in his wardrobe.
