 So, fun fact, before this top, I actually hadn't sewn a single thing in two and a half months. And boy was I rusty. But I forged ahead and made this should've been easier than I made it out to be, sweater. More about that soon. But first, if you're new here, hi, I'm Lindsay. I sew all my own clothes and I'm glad you found me. Be sure to introduce yourself in the comments so that I can give you a formal welcome. And for everyone watching, be sure to like this video so other people will see it. Videos highlighting my makes and sewing patterns go up every Monday. I have dozens for you to watch if you want to binge. Check out the playlist in the top right corner of your screen. It opens in a new tab so you will not lose your place here. Okay, back to the sweater. So this is the Style Arc Freya tunic, which was the sew together pattern for last November. The Freya is a cow neck tunic with an angled design line and tucked sleeve opening. To me, it's both chic and comfy and with a few little interesting design details. And as you know by now, I am a sucker for patterns that are basics with a twist. And this is that pattern to a tee. Style Arc patterns, for the most part, are sold by the individual size. So I got the size that would best fit my bust and then I adjusted the hip because to me, that's easier than adjusting the bust and the shoulders and all of that. I used my Fast Fit Workbook to determine that I needed to add two inches to the hip to get the exact amount of pattern and design ease that was designed for the Freya. And then I added a little bit more just for my personal taste. But the Fast Fit Worksheet really helps me understand how the pattern should fit so I can make the necessary adjustments before cutting out my fabric. If you want to check out the Fast Fit Worksheet for yourself, check the description box. I've got links to the individual worksheets as well as the workbook that includes 100 sheets bound together for safekeeping and organization. So after getting the pattern pieces cut out and seeing as this pattern is so simple and I've sewn dozens of similar sweaters in my day, it should have taken about 30 minutes to whip up. Well, cut to two hours later and realizing that I cut the fabric off-grain, I realized that I cannot take 10 weeks away from my sewing. I technically did not have enough of this gorgeous bouquet knit for the pattern, but I needed it to work. I had this plan to sew this pattern with this fabric for months and nothing was better suited for it, either in my imagination or in my stash. As that ever happened to you before, you just cannot picture the pattern in any other fabric. So you do what you can to make it work. To get the pattern to fit on the fabric, I ended up shortening the front and back bodices by about three inches each. And I also shortened the sleeve by about two inches, which, as you can tell, ended up kind of working out. Like, I don't think you can tell that I shortened all of the pattern pieces by so much, especially the sleeve. That sleeve would have been really long if I hadn't shortened it. So it ended up being a blessing in disguise. The neckband is very, very tall. I had it doubled over here because my fabric is so thick. It lays a little funny when I just kind of have it in one layer where all the folds are kind of stacked on top of each other. So if your fabric is thick like this, you could get away with only using half of the neckband pattern piece, which is a real contributor to why this pattern takes so much yardage. If your fabric is lighter weight, though, you might like it really tall so that it lays on top of itself and comes up higher on your neck. It was only after I had played pattern tetris for about 30 minutes and also cut out three of the five pattern pieces that I realized I had my fabric folded the wrong way with the selvedge perpendicular to the fold and therefore was cutting the entire thing off grain. Oh man, but thankfully the design ease of the pattern and the non-obvious direction of the weave of the fabric meant that it didn't technically matter. I bet none of you could tell before I mentioned it and I can't tell when I wear it. So I'll take that as a huge get out of jail free card from the sewing gods. Karma is real, you guys. It's like I hadn't sewn in so long, but the sewing gods really wanted to give me like a good, successful make on my return back. So even though I kept making all these mistakes and running into all of these bead bumps, they were still on my side and we made it happen. As for the exact fabric, I got it from Stylemaker Fabric sometime, gosh, maybe in 2020. I really can't remember. I originally got it to make a crop jacket, but I am so glad that I held on to it for this instead. I paired it today with some fleece lined leggings and combat boots. I love how long it is in the back, but it scoops up in the center front to not hide absolutely everything. I think whenever tunic is the same length all the way around, especially on a pear shaped person like myself, it can make your hips look really like a lot wider than they are. But when it scoops up in the front, it tends to be a little bit more flattering showing that you do have a figure underneath the oversized sweater. I can also see myself wearing this sweater with some high waisted trousers, like half tucked with booties or pointy toed flats. So you really can dress it up or dress it down. Let me know in the comments how you would style this sweater. One little hack I might add for next time is to add a little hidden pocket between the two side seams across the front bodice. Because the side seam is angled, they actually sit closer to the front of the body, making them ideal for like an inside hidden kangaroo pocket. So a little bit of knit scrap sewn into those side seams would be super simple and really functional. Let me know if you'd like to see a tutorial on how to do that. Check the description box for a link to this pattern, the Freya pattern. I hope you are inspired to make one for yourself. I've also added my most recent pattern review for some super white like pants to the end slate here. You can just click that video on the bottom right. But that's going to do it for me today. Thank you all so much for watching. I will see you all very soon. Bye.