#SewingDares - Cardigan

It must be the weather, but when I read Gillian's post  on #SewingDares - Its' back! I thought why not and it might just be what I need to get my sewing mojo back.

I did wonder what Gillian would come up with for me and I must say I was very happy with the dare that Gillian has given me:

You mentioned needing more layering pieces in your wardrobe, so I dare you to sew a drapey cardigan and/or long-sleeved tee!

The best part of the dare is that there is no time frame but I did want some winter layers/tops so that did make me focus on it a lot quicker.

I do have a drapey cardigan that I sewed back in January and at this stage I don't need another one, but after seeing all the long cardigans about this year, I thought this would be an excellent alternative.
 
I purchased this fabric back in 2004 at Martin and Savage Textiles during an ASG Industry Day and it has been quietly maturing in my stash.

What I wanted was:

• Cardigan to be open e.g. no closures
• Length to fingertips

I then figured out that my TNT t-shirt pattern KS 3740 would be perfect with some length added.

Pattern changes:

• added 18cm in length
• full bicep adjustment on sleeves of 1.5cm (eventually)

The rib in this fabric is quite distinctive so I cut it in single layers to make sure they were straight.

I did wonder how I was going to finish the edges as I didn't want a band as the fabric was too thick for that option.

This fabric looks brown, but when I auditioned various bias tapes, it looked a lot happier with olive.

Now this cardigan was started back in May and was up to the binding, but the sleeves were too tight, as I hadn't done the Full Bicep Adjustment then :( and they were 4 thread overlocked in place, and it has been sitting in the too hard corner since then.

Thankfully I had enough fabric to re-cut the sleeves so that was a relief.

Then last weekend a group of us from Pattern Review got together in Brisbane for a weekend of sewing and this cardigan was one of the items I worked on.

Luckily for me, my sister has much better eyesight and very generously unpicked the 4 thread overlock so I could add my new sleeves.

Then I started to scratch my head about the bindings when Skye, who was sitting next to me, suggested I just turn the edges under and Coverstitch!  Why do I over think things!  

To finish the edges for the Coverstitch I added some interfacing:

• Neck edge - Formband  colour charcoal
• Front edges - Edge Tape colour charcoal which I cut into 1cm strips.

I am very happy with the result as this cardigan tends to float about as I walk and the bound edge would have been a lot more noticeable.

I did add some bias for the sleeve hems.

Here is how I wore it to work last Friday.

I think it will be a great layering piece until the weather warms up.

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2016 Stash Out: 10.2 m
2016 Stash In: 18 m