While most of the Cali Fabrics staff may be pretty comfortable with their warm California winters, the rest of us have been suffering through an insanely cold winter!  But luckily, our Cali Fabrics friends haven’t forgotten us tundra-dwellers — they still have a great stock of heavy sweater knit fabrics for all the cozy sweaters we could need.

Take Exhibit 1 — this lovely and cozy Named Talvikki Sweater!

I used this heavyweight fleece-lined wool blend sweater knit for this sweater.  As you may imagine, it is waaaaarm!  The outer layer of this fabric is a nice, thick sweater knit in a lovely mottled blue color.  And then fused to that sweater knit is a blue fleece for an added layer of warmth.

If you’re not as much of a wimp in the cold as I am, Cali Fabrics stocks a number of other heavy knits that would make equally lovely Talvikki sweaters.  For example, this sweater knit sweatshirt fleece would make a great loose sweater, as would this midweight leopard print sweater knit.

The Talvikki was a great pattern choice for such a heavy fabric.  The sweater layer of this fabric alone would have been bulky to work with, so you can imagine how bulky it was with multiple layers!  Luckily, it handled the darted neckline and split hem very nicely and I think I ended up with a pretty good-looking sweater!

Heavy fabrics like this really work best in patterns with as few seamlines as possible.  I had some doubts about my fabric choice as I was marking out the 8 neckline darts on this pattern, but it all worked out ok.  I did make sure to attach and understitch my neckline facing with a zig zag stitch, though to make sure that the opening stretched enough to fit my big ol’ noggin.  I have to be careful putting it on, but as you can see, it fits!

How have you been keeping warm this winter?

**All photos are courtesy of Crystal Liepa Photography.