Sewing the DIBY Adrianne Slouchy Split Side Sweater

This winter season I have loved everything about the slouchy sweater trend. Comfy, cozy, warm, relaxed.. so, of course, I wanted a few more in my closet. So, I tried out the DIBY Adrianne Sweater. I made two and am excited to review the pattern for you today! If you stick around to the very end, I also have random life for you – homeschooling life and a book review!

My Favorite Detail 

I was instantly drawn to the split side and hem detail on this pattern. The bottom bands overlap at the side, and the pattern has such a genius way of going about it. During construction, I watched the video on how to do the split hem on the DIBY website (You can watch it here.). It made this part super easy. 

Pattern Options 

The Adrianne Sweater* has the option of three necklines: crew, boat, or cowl. I chose the crew neckline. The pattern has the option for short, 3/4, or long sleeves and all sleeve options are finished with a cuff. This means that no hemming is required on this pattern! I am 5’2″ but have a “normal” torso, which means my lack of height is mostly in my legs. I didn’t remove any length in the body or sleeves. 

For my second sweater, I removed one inch from the sleeves, but due to my fabric choice, they are even longer than my first!! So, let’s talk about fabric choice. 

Fabric

The pattern requires knit fabric that stretches from side to side and up and down by at least 40%. This means that if you grab a section of fabric that is 4 inches in length, you should be able to stretch that section to be at least 5.6 inches. The pattern also requires that the fabric have a “very soft hand.” This means that it has wonderful drape and is not stiff or structured. When I think of fabrics with a soft hand, I imagine rib knit, sweater knit, bamboo spandex, and some double brushed polyesters. Fabric that would not work would be double knit, medium to heavy weight cotton lycra, and ponte. If you use fabric that is too structured, I think it will make your hips look bigger because of the extra ease through the hips.

I chose to use sweater knit and a ribbed sweater knit. The cream/white is a sweater knit with 50% horizontal stretch and 20% vertical stretch. It is pretty much right at what the pattern envisioned. It has nice recovery but not too firm. It was perfect for this pattern. It is slightly see through so I make sure to wear a nude bra underneath and may wear a nude tank if I need a layer underneath.

The fuchsia ribbed knit, on the other hand, has 150% stretch widthwise and 50% stretch lengthwise!!! It has an incredibly soft hand is brushed on the right side. Since this fabric has so much more stretch than the pattern requires and has poorer recovery, I should have sized down one, but alas, I didn’t so it is just extra cozy and looks bigger on me than the same exact pattern in a fabric that isn’t so stretchy. 

Can you see the difference in how the two fabrics behave?! Do you have a preference in which one you prefer? Is it because of the color or because of how the fit of the sweater looks? I am not sure I regret that I didn’t size down because I have been wearing this fuchsia sweater so much, and it’s so cozy, forgiving, comfortable, and goes great with a pair of leggings!

Pattern Review

I really liked how easily everything came together. Since there is a video on how to do the bottom band, a beginner could tackle this project and come out very proud with what they make. The instructions are so thorough that at times I would need to search for what I was looking for. Thankfully, there is a table of contents to help me quickly locate what I needed. 

There is a lot of information on fitting in the pattern, and if you are new to doing FBAs or needing adjustments, I think it is very nice to have all of that information in one pattern. Thankfully, the only adjustment I needed was to size down in the hips, which also meant I had to adjust my band pattern piece slightly.  I also recalculated my neckbands to 85% because the pattern piece was shorter than what I needed for this fabric.

The back is a two-piece back which I LOVE. I find that two-piece backs are just so much more flattering, and fabric just sits better on the back with the added shape. It makes doing a sway back adjustment so much easier, and even if you don’t have a sway back or a full butt for fabric to shelve on, a two-piece back just looks good!! I have a few store bought shirts with a two-piece back but very few sewing patterns that do!

Resources

1. You can find the DIBY Adrianne Sweater HERE*. You can find the gallery of testers’ photos HERE. I always find those helpful to browse while I am narrowing down fabric and options. 
2. I bought the fabric I used for both sweaters in the Dallas Fabric District, most likely at Wherehouse Fabrics. It was hit by a tornado the next day after I went shopping and bought this fabric, though 🙁 I am hoping they are able to come back from the destruction and the sad loss. 

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*Disclosures

This post is my honest opinion using a pattern that I received for free from the Do It Better Yourself Club. Also, this post may contain affiliate links, which means I receive a small compensation when you purchase via my link. This does not cost you anything, and I genuinely appreciate the support. Any and all opinions expressed are still my own.

Random Life

We are deep into homeschooling and are attending a homeschool coop this year. This semester I am teaching SEWING!! Ah! It has been a lot of work and a blast. The girls are 4th, 5th, and 6th graders and all brought their own machines. The first day wast mostly just setting each girl up on her machine, showing her how to thread it, and getting her comfortable with basics.

Our first project was a basic pillow, and the second project was a scrunchie. For the scrunchie, I had the girls cut out strips of fabric that were 4 inches wide by 16 inches long, sew the long ends right sides together, while leaving a gap at the beginning and end. Then, they turned it right side out. Next, they sewed the short ends right side together. Then, they threaded a 6.5 inch length of 1/4″ elastic through and sewed the elastic into a loop. Finally, they turned the raw ends of the opening in and sewed it shut. They were ecstatic that they could make scrunchies!!! If you haven’t made scrunchies before, and need photos to demonstrate, just let me know and I can update this post with photos. I was too busy jumping from girl to girl to document the process. Thank God for 2 amazing assistants!

I also am enjoying lots of audiobooks while I sew. I just finished The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Greggory this morning, and it was fantastic. It is the 9th book in her Plantagenet and Tudor Novels series. I tried to read the first book in the series, The Lady of the Rivers, but I just could not get into it. After the first few chapters, I had no idea what was going on so I just skipped to book 9, which was the book I really wanted to read anyways. 

I love historical fiction. I feel like I learn so much history in such a fun way. I always try to go back and check on which part of the book is historical and which part is fiction, but it can be such an inspiring way to dig into the historical aspects while being entertained. 

I will give you three random things that came to mind in this book. These are *spoilers* so don’t read this part if that is going to ruin the book for you.

First, agenda. This book was an extreme example of a family with agenda and how they used the people they controlled to further their self-serving desires. I am amazed each time I read historical books about how women and marriage in general were used to further agendas. Marriage for the sake of love didn’t seem to be the normal??? Do you think that was true or maybe just the way it was for the mid to upper class? Or maybe just for those who are so eager to advance in power or finances? 

Second, Ann Boleyn and her brother were executed for incest!! This was part of history class that I missed. I only remembered Henry VIII killing or dismissing wives due to failure to produce a male heir. I didn’t know that she was trying to do exactly that for him, ummm just through her brother!

Third, at times I was slightly annoyed at the depressing nature of the sibling relationship between Ann and Mary. It was so strange how much Mary loved Ann despite how nasty she was to her. There never were those soft times or times where words or circumstances made up for the cruelty. Well, except they would sleep in the same bed and she would brush her hair, but their words were never really what I would call kind. She really seemed like a monster. I think Mary felt sorry and somewhat at fault for having had the King first or maybe because she knew the lack of choice that they both had. 

XO