Burdastyle Keyhole Sweatshirt

You know how in April Burda sent out the February issue of Burda Easy instead of the April issue of Burdastyle, the magazine to which I subscribe? Actually, that Burda Easy has a couple of cute things in it. The jacket, in particular, I want to try out at some point.

Still, I was a bit blue about missing out on the April Burdastyle. Only, then they sent that along too! And I'm glad, because there are a fair few patterns in there that I'm wanting to make. First out of the gate is the keyhole sweatshirt, pattern #116.

Here's my version. I'm regretting wearing my sun hat for the photo shoot because the strap falls right across that keyhole detail. And considering the amount of work I went through to get that sucker installed, that is a darn shame.

Here's the photo and line drawing from the magazine. Cute, right?

I paired it with a mystery knit boucle fabric that I've had in my fabric cupboard for years. It's an oddly shaped remnant, probably polyester, that I found at Backstitch in Nevada City. Hats off for a moment to mourn its passing; I loved that store. It's a mix of ivory, tan and hot pink that reads as a sort of dusty rose. Very drapey and with some heft.

I had just enough to cut out this pattern, but only if I cut the neck facing out of something else. I picked a charcoal knit of about the same weight that was going to be totally obvious if I didn't get the facing to lay down and behave. Gee, I love a challenge.

My friend, Jessica, agreed this pattern was worth a go so we held a virtual sew-along to work through the project together. And let me tell you, that neckband broke us both. We read the instructions to each other over and over. Each individual word made sense; it was clearly English. And yet those words together led us into an impenetrable fog of sewing confusion. You could see where they wanted you to end up but not how they wanted you to get there.

After some shared and sustained effort, we virtually patted each other's backs in sympathy and went off to do our own thing. In my case that involved tacking the facing down on the inside by hand. I'm 99% sure that's not what Burda was telling me but sometimes a sewist's gotta do what a sewist's gotta do.

I think it came out kind of cute, but it seemed like a lot of work for a sweatshirt. It's also a bit more oversized than I would have though from the photoshoot in the magazine, and I traced one size down from my usual Burda size 38.

I am glad to finally have this fabric out of the closet and on to my back though. If you're a whiz at Burda-speak, give this pattern a try and I bet you'll enjoy it. And if you wouldn't mind sending me a translation, that would be grand.

My pattern review is on PatternReview.com here.