Sunday, November 1, 2020

Stripey Seamwork Devon

Sweatah weathah!

This sweatah is the Devon, one of the newest patterns from Seamwork. 


Note: I am a Seamwork Ambassador, which means I received a one-year subscription in exchange for sewing up 10 of their patterns and providing some feedback to Seamwork about their patterns, articles, etc. If you use this link, you can get a little discount if you decide to purchase from Seamwork.

Devon is a midi-length sweater dress with dropped shoulders, slim sleeves, and a loose turtleneck. It's designed for medium-weight knits with at least 25% stretch. 

My fabric is a textured double knit (you might remember it from this Concord T-shirt I made a couple years back). Not very stretchy, but a nice drape. The white stripes are three dimensional and impossible to match since they slide and interlock with one another as you sew.


For my Devon I cut a size 16 from Seamwork's new curvy range, which now overlaps with the misses range, and runs from 12-26, drafted for a DD cup. I'm pretty jazzed about this change in their size chart... when their sizes split between 16 and 18 it was a real struggle to choose my size, which spanned the two ranges.

I cut my Devon at hip length to make a boxy top rather than a dress, figuring I would get more wear out of a top these days.


Because I didn't want to bother with stripe matching across the center back seam, I decided to cut the back on the fold. There was some shaping along that center back seam, which would be nice for the dress version, but I removed it for my boxy top.

The sleeves on the Devon pattern are quite slim, at least on my biceps! They're not dissimilar from the sleeves on the Seamwork Tacara. I like how they balance out the oversized proportions on the rest of the pattern, though.

My one issue with the pattern, which is purely a personal preference: the Devon's turtleneck has shaping that makes it wider at the top than at the base. I'll be honest, this is not my favorite shape for a turtleneck.

I don't like how it's floppy and sloppy and loose and drafty. I prefer my cozy necklines to commit: are you a true turtleneck that stays up on my neck and keeps me warm, or are you a cowl, that is artfully and purposefully floppy, but not actually purporting to keep my neck warm? The in-between is not my jam. But this is an easily remedied issue.


I am liking my stripey Devon, though, despite my issues with the floppy neck. I paired it here with my Arden pants for a day of teleworking. You can see the tell-tale wrinkles earned over the course of a long morning of sitting at my computer. Comfy and cute!