Sewing Menswear - Carmanah sweatshirt by Sue

It’s a new year (apparently?) so it’s time for my next Lamazi blog and I’m sewing something for Mr Y! I don’t know about you but I’ve felt I needed to work on something a little different to most of my other recent makes, I’ve made myself some lovely garments that I’m now frustrated not to be able to wear much as I want but Tony has been in need of some new clothes for a while now so it’s his turn to be on the receiving end!

Men’s wear patterns and suitable fabrics are definitely a bit harder to come by than women’s or children’s but they are out there if you’re prepared to look. Lamazi have curated a wonderful selection of both patterns and suitable fabrics for making men’s wear. 

I had made T a couple of Thread Theory Finlayson sweatshirts in recent months and then my good friend Claire told me about their Carmanah top which was quite a new pattern. It has several options to make it individual with full length or quarter zip, hood or collar, and

Lamazi offers a range of co-ordinating See You at Six fabrics with plain and patterned French terry, and ribbing, all dyed to be a perfect match so we chose the ‘Clouds’ design in Bistro Green.

I’ve never purchased ribbing fabric before so I was unsure how much to buy. Initially I requested far too much because the pattern instructions made no sense to me. Liana at Lamazi and fellow-blogger Sharlene advised me so I had 1 metre in the end to be on the safe side and that was sufficient. If you find yourself in a similar situation I suggest you measure the appropriate pattern pieces to get an idea, or try contacting the fabric seller and I’m sure they would be happy to advise. For an adult garment it almost certainly needs joins whilst a child’s garment probably wouldn’t.

Based on T’s measurements (he’s 6’3” and, although he’s lost about 28lbs during lockdown, he’s not skinny) I cut him a size large but I added about 2cms at the CF and CB folds at the bottom to give a bit more width, the previous version was just a little snug at that point. He likes the body length which comes down to just above hip level, and the sleeves are nice and long too so I didn’t need to add any length to them. 

The making up instructions and diagrams are quite clear although I got into a bit of a pickle using the twill tape neatening method, partly because I printed off the booklet a bit small so I couldn’t easily read the instructions and partly because the green twill tape I had managed to buy was wider than required! Anyway, I persevered and it looks OK in the end. This tape method wasn’t essential and overlocking is perfectly satisfactory, I just thought I would try it for a nice finish on the inside, it definitely adds more complexity if you want to up-skill though. The collar version has a neat detail of a chin guard over the zip which is worth adding for a quality finish.

This fabric is quite pricey but, in my opinion, it’s really lovely quality and it sewed together beautifully. There’s just enough stretch and it would be a good weight for sweatpants or a sweater dress too if you’re tempted. I found that if any of the seams were a bit wavy after being sewed a good steamy press sorted that out. This is the first time I’ve used a range of co-ordinating fabrics and the finished result is really pleasing. Equally you could mix and match colours or prints using remnants for this pattern too, because of the way it’s cut in segments, and there are pattern pieces and instructions if you are using self-fabric and not ribbing.

Have you sewn anything for the men or boys in your life? How do they feel about it? Luckily T isn’t very demanding where his threads are concerned and he’s always been very happy with the items I’ve made him so far.....I haven’t attempted trousers in years though so perhaps that will be next?

Thank you as always to Lamazi for giving me the fabric to write about, all opinions are my own.

 Sue

@susanyoungsewing