Smart comfort – I Am Patterns

I was looking for a bell/bishop sleeve sweatshirt which didn’t have loads of gather at the shoulder and this is it!

I didn’t bother with the snap closure at the shoulder, but it looks very easy to do and well explained.

When I initially put it together, I used a ribbing which wasn’t very strong, due to the amount of fabric at the sleeves, you really need something with very good recovery, so I took it apart and re-made it with stronger ribbing. As i’d used a heavy sweatshirting, I also took out some of the flare at the wrist, as the sleeves were verging on ridiculously large. I also chose to use non-stretch fabric at the waist, as the gather effect from the ribbing there wasn’t very flattering.

I LOVE this sweatshirt and feel like I can get away with it for work as the statement sleeves make it more than just loungewear. I particularly love the colourblocking on it and will be making joggers to match.

My reason for not giving it a full 5 stars is due to the somewhat over large sleeve and I feel the cuffs are a bit too long and look a bit weird – but this might be less noticeable if not using contrast colours.