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:

guide to sewing stretchy fabrics

cardigan tutorial

tunic tutorial