A little while ago, the lovely brand Clématisse Pattern arrived in the shop.
Céline, the designer, creates feminine, stylish patterns with a distinctive touch that still makes them easy to wear every day.
They are the sort of designs you might find in the collections of fashionable ready-to-wear brands. It is lovely to be able to sew them ourselves without spending a fortune!
In short, I knew I would make several Clématisse pattern designs. Given the season, I started with Butterfly, an original, on-trend sweatshirt!
Let me introduce you to it!
The design
Butterfly is a stylish sweatshirt with distinctive panel lines and beautifully pleated sleeves. The designer has given it a feminine feel by flattering the curves of the body.
Butterfly invites you to express your individuality with a look that is both chic and relaxed.
Customise it to suit your taste and get creative with colour combinations while using up your scraps! Try a tonal palette, dare to contrast bold colours, or keep it plain.
You can make it even more distinctive by adding a buttoned placket to the lovely sleeves, or choose a simpler look with a straightforward hem at the sleeve ends.
Practical information for sewing Butterfly
The pattern is available as a PDF and a printed pattern in the shop or through our webshop.
Seam allowances are included in both versions, and the pattern pieces do not overlap.
There is also a video tutorial to help you make your garment easily and without any headaches!
The sweatshirt is assembled using an overlocker.
If you do not have an overlocker, you can also sew it on a sewing machine using a stretch stitch and a jersey needle in size 80 to 90, depending on the thickness of your sweatshirt fabric.
In the sewing basket
To sew a sweatshirt, you need a knit fabric. Butterfly can be made in sweatshirt fabric or French terry, Milano, knitted fabric or jersey, with a recommended minimum stretch of 10%.Those available in the shop are very suitable for this design.
To sew Butterfly, you will need:
Single-colour version:
Sizes 34 to 48: 1.60 m (140 cm wide)
Three-colour version, all sizes:
- Colour 1 (centre panels): 80 cm high × 1 m wide
- Colour 2 (side panels): 45 cm high × 1 m wide
- Colour 3 (sleeves): 80 cm high × 1.40 m wide
Optional for the cuffs: 8 buttons measuring 18–20 mm
Nerida Hansen sweatshirt fabric
Nerida Hansen sweatshirt fabric
Nerida Hansen sweatshirt fabric
Difficulty level and technical points
The Butterfly sweatshirt is relatively straightforward to assemble and could be your first sweatshirt if you are a beginner.
The technical points are:
- Joining the panels
- Sewing the sleeve pleats
- Attaching the sleeves
- Attaching the neckband
- The cuff opening (optional)
- Hemming the body and sleeves
My supplies and alterations
I chose to sew Butterfly in size 36 after checking the size chart carefully.
I selected the three-colour version because I wanted to use scraps from my stash.
I chose a simple turned-under hem for the sleeve ends.
I quickly assembled the PDF and cut my pieces straight from the paper, in about an hour.
I wanted to have the shapes of the pieces ready so I could check whether they would fit onto my scraps.
Then I started looking through my stash for scraps. If you visited the shop this week, you will have seen that I have been very busy tidying up 😂. It helped me rediscover several pieces that had been waiting for their moment!I knew I wanted to cut into some Nerida Hansen sweatshirt fabric with large flowers that had been calling to me in the shop… So I needed scraps in matching tones, and I quickly found some beautiful khaki and plum that worked perfectly.
All that remained was to decide where to place the colours and fit the pattern pieces onto the scraps.
I chose ribbing for the neckband, in the same shade as the plum sweatshirt fabric.
As the sweatshirt was a little short for my taste, I added a band at the bottom to echo the neckband. This band better suits my style and what I like in a sweatshirt.
My sewing experience
After assembling the pattern pieces and cutting out the fabric, I moved on to sewing the sweatshirt itself.
There is no denying it: assembling a sweatshirt on an overlocker is quick!
In 1 hour and 30 minutes, the sweatshirt was assembled!
In the end, pressing and hemming the bottom take a little longer. I took the opportunity to use my coverstitch machine for even nicer finishes.
I found Céline's instructions appropriate and sufficient for this project, and there is even the video tutorial for anyone who would like it!
There is no denying it… I love my sweatshirt with its beautiful big flowers!
If, like me, you would like to sew sweatshirts on an overlocker, why not join one of our introductory overlocker classes to learn to master this wonderful machine?
Find the class programme here.
Grab your needles and sewing clips, and enjoy expressing your own unique style!
