McCall’s 7695 Pattern Review

A sewists in search of a zip front sweater pattern. I purchased this gorgeous knit from Elliot Berman Textiles several years ago. I wanted a “Mr. Roger’s” zip front that would look nicer than an ordinary hoodie. I discovered an old McCall’s jacket pattern in my stash, and was able to alter it to accomplish my goals. My McCall’s 7695 pattern review highlights the alternations I made to take this woven outwear pattern to a knit sweater.

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The Pattern

This McCall’s outerwear pattern has several views; and for the sweater I wanted View D without the puffer feature. The best option was to make a test garment and I decided to make a modified View D — as a quilted vest. Worth noting: The length of View D is the actually longer than View C — it pays to check the back of the pattern envelope

The Practice Garment

When making up a new pattern, it is important to check the fit with a practice garment. The straight forward pattern, with very little shaping and no darting made this a good candidate for a wearable muslin. A pitfall of using a knit on a woven pattern is the garment can be too big, knits require some negative ease. It’s best to check and see if you need to downsize.

A wearable muslin is a practice garment that you most likely will be able to wear with out the final alterations required in your fashion garment.

The extra volume from the puffer style jacket is not flattering to anyone. I’m sure that’s why the pattern was retired. However, the quilting aspect presented the perfect opportunity to try out a twin needle technique I have been interested in exploring.

Quilting the stretch Ralph Lauren fabric remnant from my stash backed with a stretch denim was an easy task. You can view the twin needle technique in my post Using A Twin Needle To Sew Knits.

To begin the process, I chalked off the first stitching line and used my measuring gauge from there. This only required a few simple tools: A good ruler, tailor chalk, and a twin needle.

Quilt your entire fabric piece before you cut out your pattern. The fabric will “shrink” from all the quilting stitches making your pieces smaller if you cut them out first.

I love the vest, I used the black denim for the pockets and finished off the neck edge and arm holes with the fringy selvedge of the denim. Not too bad for a practice garment.

The Sweater

Sweater knits can be tricky to work with, the seams stretch out of shape easily. The biggest issue is they fray. Serging all the edges is critical to the longevity of your sweater.

A good introductory serger is the Brother 2340 CV. I have several sergers; and my Brother is a real workhorse.

I added a separating zipper with some cute tabs, and voila!

Conclusion

I was surprised how much I liked this pattern. Of course, you would never guess this sweater was made from this puffer coat pattern. Isn’t that the best part of designing and sewing your own clothes?

I hope you enjoyed this McCall’s 7695 pattern review. We would love to see what you are sewing. I invite you to join our private sewing group where sewists of all abilities share ideas, tips, and techniques. It’s also a great place to ask for advice. Sewing #MeMade Clothes With Sandi

Happy Sewing

Sandi