Wednesday, September 12, 2012

cardigan

I'm so excited about this one. I made a cardigan! I decided to take the leap and try sewing a few items of clothing. I ordered a few jersey fabrics from fabric.com and went to work. I also did my homework. I studied a zillion tutorials on sewing and hemming knit fabrics, making patterns and so on. I'll give you a few of the links that were helpful to me at the end of this post.

So, this isn't so much a tutorial as it is me telling you how awesome I am because I made a cardigan, and you can be awesome and make one too! I started out taking pictures of the process and then I got too carried away and forgot to keep taking photos, plus it was late and those pictures are always terrible. Maybe the next one will get a tutorial...because, yes, there will definitely be a next one.


I started by using a cardigan I own that fits great. To make my own pattern, I replicated the back piece, two front pieces and arms. I traced each piece as well as I could without cutting up my sweater. For the sleeves, I folded my fabric in half and placed the edge of the sleeve of my cardigan along the fold and traced then cut them out.

Here are the steps I took to sew it all together:
1. sew sleeves closed, right sides together (like long tubes)
2. sew shoulders and sides of back and front pieces together
3. sew arms on 
>> this one was a little complicated, I used my existing cardigan to figure it out. To sew the sleeves on, turn the body of the sweater inside out, then place the sleeve right-side-out inside so that the sleeve is inside the sweater and both raw edges line up and sew all the way around.
4. I cut a long strip of fabric about 3 inches wide and folded it in half length-wise, then sewed it all the way around the neckline and down the front (see pic)
5. hem sleeves and bottom!








My sleeve holes ended up being a little bigger than the arm holes so I puckered them at the shoulders a little to make them fit. I love how it turned out. It's comfy, lightweight, and fits perfectly! If you wanted to add buttons you totally could! I never button my sweaters anyway though so I thought I'd spare the trouble, though I may add a pocket.

I'm so glad I tried this. I was so intimidated by knits and clothing and for what? This fabric cost $9. If it ended up being a total disaster, big deal. But it didn't!


Here are the links I found most useful:





1 comment:

Megan said...

i AM super impressed! can you make me one ;) haha I feel like I'd want you to be right next to me if I'm going to attempt making one of these...just in case something goes wrong! haha...I fixed my maxi skirt and added a thicker waistband and thought of you :) love the posts! keep it up! thanks for sharing!