Simple Sewing

Yep, I'm still here. It's just that some life activities, chores (and football playoffs!) have zapped the blogging and sewing time/energy.

I started my latest project last weekend. A really simple sew with a "pattern" made by using a crayon to rub off seam lines onto tracing paper laid over a RTW cardi that I've wanted to duplicate forEVER.

This is the finished result, using a 2-yard cut of a lightweight sweater knit purchased from Fabric.com a couple of years ago.

And a little bit wider shot cuz I like sneaking a peak at others' homes too. ;-) But don't get too used to this view because I think Alex and I might be moving soon after my lease is up in May. I want to spend less in rent and he wants to be closer to work, so we're thinking about leaving Valrico after more than 20 years and heading across the bay to Pinellas County. We'll see. I know I'm NOT looking forward to packing again. And I can't believe I've been here almost 2 years already.

Here's the RTW cardi I used for the rub-off pattern.

And the copycat, but with long sleeves. Hey, it's been COLD here. Really.

The front and back pattern pieces I rubbed off. No seam allowances, of course, but I added them as I rotary cut the fabric.

The sleeve pattern was adapted from my TNT Ottobre tee since it's impossible to lay a sewn sleeve flat and rub off a pattern. Well, probably not impossible, but certainly more fiddly time than I was willing to spend. All I did to adapt the sleeve pattern I had was to measure the armhole opening from the pieces above and add to the underarm seam of the TNT sleeve so they matched. Highly scientific.

This is my TNT front bodice laid over the tracing to give you an idea of shape.

All of the outside edges of the cardi are finished with bands. On the RTW cardi, they are knitted in, but in a different stitch (or something ... I don't knit) so they look like separate bands. When sewing, they had to actually be separate bands.

I just measured the widths of the RTW bands and doubled that so I could fold in half for a finished edge, and then added seam allowances to the measurements. Then I measured around the outside pattern edges to figure the lengths needed for each section.I winged it for the sleeve cuffs. ;-) The neckline band is folded around the neck edge to create a shawl collar, and hand-stitched at the CB to hold it in place. This was done on the RTW cardi too.

To construct, you sew the body together like any other knit top, including sleeves and sideseams. Then the bands are pressed in half RS out and added to the raw edges like this: The bottom band (green) first, then the front (blue) band, and lastly the neckline (pink) band. The bottom edge of the front (blue) band has to be finished and turned before sewing on the band, and the same for the front edges of the neckline (pink) band.

And that's it. Really easy "drafting" and sewing.