This week, I wanted to start on a Grainline Archer button-up because there’s a sewalong currently happening on YouTube. I can’t, however, seem to get motivated during lockdown 2020 to make anything but soft and cozy clothes! How is everyone else motivating to make dresses and blouses that they may not wear for months? Wanting to do any sewing now is really good so I let my feelings lead and made the Seamwork Oliver.

I’ve had this pattern in my stash since about December of last year and have been eager to make it. I would highly recommend a Seamwork subscription to new sewists. When I finished my Closet Case Patterns Learn to Sew class, I wasn’t sure what to do next, so I signed up for Seamwork and their magazine, patterns and community really helped push me out of the newbie nest. I chose to end my subscription this year only because I wanted to spend that money on other indie patterns and see what else was out there. Boy, have I!

The Oliver came out looking just like on the model. It has a great, recognizable shape.  I saw an Oliver on Joey Sewy and I knew instantly it was an Oliver. I really like her choice of fabric for this — it has great drape at the waist and sleeves.

I wanted it loose like this and so sized up to a 14. I also lengthened the sleeves by 1″ at the top half and 1″ at the bottom half. Not sure that was necessary, though, as the top of the two-part sleeve now sits lower than my elbow and it should sit at the elbow. I’m happy with the overall length, but think the sleeves look best rolled up a couple of times.

You may have noticed, my Oliver also has a front seam. This wasn’t intentional. I accidentally did not cut the front of the sweatshirt fabric on the fold! I was going to scrap it and cut a new piece, but miraculously the pattern matched up. This meant it was a fancy design detail.

I sewed almost this whole sweatshirt on the serger. I did some of the neck facing and hems on the sewing machine and that’s it. For anyone looking for a cozy work-from-home topper that looks great on Zoom, this would be it.

With this make, I’ve now sewn all the patterns I received with my Seamwork subscription and I feel caught up!  I still have the free Seamwork Sorbetto on my #makenine2020 list so that needs to happen.

I’m doing pretty good on this list!  The Seamwork Sonja is in the bottom right, which I didn’t spend my Seamwork credits on. I bet now I could do a Hana Tank Dress for this and add on some color-blocking. But it doesn’t look very wearable for lockdown, so it might have to wait. 🙂 -rp