Paper Theory Patterns: LB Pullover

Who doesn’t love a Breton stripe? I certainly do, and this Paper Theory Patterns LB Pullover is my absolute favourite of all of them. The combination of this gorgeous cotton sweatshirt fleece with the simplicity of the Paper Theory Pattern is one of my all-time favourite combinations. This make started with the fabric and so that’s where I’ll start.

The fabric shop Bawn textiles opened a couple of years ago in the southside of Glasgow, not too far from where I live. It’s a lovely, high-end shop, focused on sustainable fabrics (this isn’t an ad by the way, I buy everything I get from the shop)! And this sweatshirting is one of the fabrics they’ve stocked from the beginning. Everybody I know who has been in there has remarked on it. It’s really high quality and so quite expensive, and it doesn’t have much stretch and so I was struggling to figure out what to make.

Judith, the founder of the Sew Over 50 instagram community, is a big fan of the LB Pullover and it brought it to my attention. It’s an oversized sweater pattern, designed for both wovens and low stretch knits. Although I liked it on other people, I had discounted it for me as I don’t like wearing funnel neck tops, and this is the version that many sewists make. So I was surprised to see there’s a traditional sweatshirt neckband option. And that’s when I had the idea for the fabric. I bought both the pattern and the fabric at Bawn.

As the fabric is low stretch, I bought some ribbing for the neckband. I found this ecru colour on Northern Monkey Makes and bought quite a lot of it as it’ll be fab for t-shirt neckbands. I think it matches really well.

I made the straight size 14 as this corresponded to my measurements. I probably could have sized down, but I’m happy with it as it feels nice and snuggly. It comes together really quickly as a pattern. Helped by me using the wonder that is maraflex thread – it’s a recent discovery which I will now always use for sewing with knits. It’s a stretchy thread, and because it’s stretchy you can use a straight stitch on a regular machine – magic! On the whole, once you’ve made a few basic jersey tops, you notice that they all come together really quickly, and this pattern is no different. It’s definitely going to be one of my go-patterns in the future.

The only downside to this make – I absolutely love it. It’s white. And I have a toddler. So it’s difficult to mix the two! We’ve already had one accident and had to bring out the stain remover and so as gorgeous as the top is, it’s generally saved for rare child-free days!