This was a fun wee project! Contrado, a London-based print on demand factory which I visited a while back, recently gave me some budget to make a new pattern and have it printed on whatever fabric I liked. Luckily I’d just returned from a quick holiday to Iceland, and being up on a glacier really reminded me of fabric prints – Liberty’s Manning springs to mind, which was literally also inspired by glacial landscapes. Here I am on said glacier and some of the pictures I took which acted as print-spiration:
I followed this tutorial to create a repeat pattern from one of my photos, and the file below is the one I entered into Contrado‘s online tool, from which you can set up scale and repeat styles.
I chose the Vintage loop-back sweatshirt fabric, a cosy and stable knit with an off-white base, a poly front side and cotton looped back. I was super pleased when I received the fabric a week or so later, it looks just how I imagined it and apart from a slight chemical smell that dispersed in the pre-wash you’d think it was any regular printed fabric.
I sewed it up into a Papercut Kyoto sweater, minus the cute sleeve ruffles, as I thought a simple sweatshirt would show off the print the best, and I only had 1.5m to play with.
Not a lot to say about the construction, it was super easy and the only fitting amend I made was to shorten the body and sleeves by a couple of inches each. This sort of drop-shoulder style isn’t really the most flattering on me to be honest, but for a cosy sweatshirt I don’t really care!
The fabrics I had printed through Contrado over a year ago are still holding up super well with repeated washing, by the way – I still wear my emoji Inari and Olivia dress a lot, so I was pleased to have the opportunity to get some more made, and end up with a cool wearable holiday souvenir. Thanks Contrado!
Love it! Liberty / Glacier inspired gorgeousness. It looks really comfy, snuggly but super stylish.
This is ingenious! Love the fabric design. What a creation! Congrats!
Gah, that fabric is awesome! It looks so good. I love the shape of the Kyoto without the frill too, I left the sleeves off mine and kept the frill but hadn’t thought about trying it the other way around!
That is such a cool holiday souvenir!
Such a winner. Looks great.
This has to be one of the coolest travel souvenirs ever!!
So cool, must feel awesome using something so personal. I love it!!!
I love this idea and your fabric turned out beautifully.
This is amazing! What a lovely way to remember your holiday.
Very cool!
I love the photos from your trip and the finished product! Definitely considering having a go myself now.
I love the story and inspiration behind the sewing. The sweatshirt is just lovely.
My favourite blog posts always include inspiration to final creation and yours is the bees knees :) I love your pics of Iceland (a place very high on my bucket list!) and your sweatershirt design is an amazing rendition. Beautiful!