Scrappy Knit Cardigan

This is a recently completed project that is the result of an idea that I just couldn't shake. Inspired by the success of Pat's scrap busting Apollon sweatshirt (which in turn was inspired by the success of these scrap busting jersey tops) the thought popped into my brain that I could apply the same idea to actual knit fabric.     I am very interested in clever ways to reuse old garments, and am always looking to bulk out my chilly-weather clothing selection, which is pretty limited. So I cleared the decks of other projects and decided to have a play. 

I have a big bag of old knitwear garments and scraps: items that are moth eaten, felted, misshapen or badly pilled, plus scraps of knit fabric that can be bought by the metre. Some of the knit garments I've had in my stash for over a decade, that I've harvested bits from for other projects, mainly mittens over the years. I was keen to reduce the volume of my knit stash and claw back some space in my airing cupboard. 

I started out my selecting pieces that made a fairly pleasing colour palette. The chartreuse colour is my favourite. I previously used some of that moth-eaten jumper to make myself some mittens. I made sure to use include every last scrap of that garment in this project. There's quite a lot of pink in this project, which is NOT a colour I ever usually wear, but with the other bold colours, I think it looks ok and the over all effect is graphic and fun. 

As for the piecing, part of my goal was to try to be as economic with each piece as possible and be left with very few unusable scraps. I cut along the seam lines of some of the knit garments to access as much of the fabric as possible. I let the resultant shapes guide the forms and I jigsawed them together over the course of a few evenings until I had sections large enough to fit my pattern pieces on. 

The pattern I used at the base of this projects was the Jamie cardigan by Ready to Sew, which I adapted slightly to my preferences. I used some black Ponte Roma for the neck band, and black ribbing for the cuffs and waistband. I like how the solid black of these pieces creates a kind of frame for the colours and patterns within. 

As you may have noticed, this cardigan features some basket weave type knit that I also used to make the polo neck top I'm wearing here. I'm enjoying the 'alternative twin set' look! It's also nice to have a bold, fun garment to wear when the weather is freezing. Any addition of colour in the winter is welcome. 

All The Quilted Mustard Cardigans

Recently, here in the UK, the weather has turned a bit shitty. Therefore, it doesn't feel at all out of season to be sharing these recent makes. I'm trying to be more mindful about what fabric I buy to make additions to my wardrobe with, and I must confess straight away that I already own two mustard coloured cardigans (this one and this one). However, neither provide much warmth, so I justified making this one because a cosier mustard cardigan would be serving a slightly different purpose to my other two. I know I said in my Me-Made-May 2019 Lessons to Learn post that I was going to start branching out of my limited colour palette, however I'd already bought this gorgeous fabric before I'd come to that realisation, plus it only came in mustard and navy anyhow! 

Fabric:

Throughout the recent autumn/winter/spring, I massively over-relied on my black quilted ponte Kinder cardigan. By that I mean that I wore it so much/often that A) it's starting to look pretty bobbly, B) I panicked over what I was going to wear when it was in the wash, and C) I felt slightly embarrassed (which I know is stupid) at how often I was being seen in the same garment. When I saw this quilted mustard jersey at Fabric Godmother, I knew it would be great for making a similarly-cosy alternative to the black Kinder. Plus, it appealed to me because it's 80% cotton (the black quilted ponte was 100% polyester), and I'm trying to keep purchases of synthetic fibres to a minimum. Admittedly this mustard quilted jersey is also 20% polyester, but I felt this was a step in the right direction. As well as being warm, it has a lovely, soft feel, and I really enjoy the feeling of it on my bare arms. 

(image source: Ready to Sew)

Pattern:

Umm, yeah so you made have noticed that the sample pictured above appears to be made from the same fabric as I have chosen. Well, at least I knew that my quilted jersey was going to work well for my selected pattern! It's the Jamie cardigan pattern by French pattern company, Ready to Sew, and it's been firmly stuck to my 'Sewing Patterns I Want' Pinterest board for months. The volume and poufy-ness of this boy-friend style cardigan appealed to me, and feels like a mild deviation from my current usual style, which excited me. 

I made the straight size 40 which related closest to my measurements, and the fit through the body seems to be fine. I deviated from the construction method to add clear elastic to the shoulder seams to prevent them from stretching out. I always do this anyway with knit garment projects, however I think it is especially important when the sleeves are as full, and therefore heavy, as these. I also added some fusible interfacing to the lower sections of the neckband which was not asked for in the instructions, to strengthen the area for buttons/buttonholes. As you may have noticed, I have yet to add buttons. I didn't have anything suitable in my stash, and I'll probably add some eventually, but that's not stopping me wearing it in the meantime. 

Thoughts:

When I first put my finished cardigan on, I found that the sleeves felt uncomfortably short. I unpicked the cuffs and recut them from some scraps so that the finished length was 3cm longer (I added 6cm to the depth to the pattern piece, which gets folded in half). In the future, I'd probably add the 3cm by extending the sleeve piece itself, then add an additional 1.5cm or 2cm to the finished length of original cuffs as well. I also think the waistband would benefit from being a bit deeper. 

Aside from those tweaks, I'm super happy with this garment. It is definitely fills a spot in my wardrobe when I want extra warmth, and I've loved wearing it with my Heyday dungarees and basic, white, Agnes top. I'll keep my eyes peeled in the future for different, interesting knits to make another.   

The Jamie cardigan pattern required 1.5m of fabric, so I bought 2m thinking I could use the extra to make Frankie some joggers. But then Dolores had a massive growth spurt which left her low on warm tops. I didn't have anything else suitable in my stash, so the leftovers became a cardigan for her instead. 

(image source: Brindille & Twig)

Pattern:

I reached for the Retro cardigan pattern by Brindille & Twig, which I've used many times (you can see the previous versions here and here). You can't accuse me of not getting my money's worth from this pattern! I already had this, the largest size (sniff), printed out including the tweaks already done from when I made her the black quilted ponte version (another mini-me cardi using scraps from my own cardigan project). If memory serves, those tweaks included making the curve of the front section where it joins the neckband smoother and not so angled, so that it sits flatter after the neckband has been applied. I also made the waistband and cuffs deeper. The original pattern has the same widths for the waistband and cuffs across the size range, from preemie to 5-6 years, which looks odd to me in the larger sizes. It's possible I also made the neckband a little wider, but I can't be sure at this moment in time. 

Thoughts:

Dolores is tentatively leaving her pink phase, and has embraced this cardigan surprisingly well. I thought it was going to be a grower, but she's worn is a few times in the couple of weeks since its completion, including on her non-school uniform day. I wonder if she likes the colour, enjoys the soft feel of the fabric, or because I have a near-identical one. I can't even deal with how grown-up she looks in the photo below. I may use this pattern again once or twice for Dolores, now that I have the pieces prepped. I will continue to use it for Frankie as well for several years to come. I still have a limited amount of scraps of this quilted jersey left, and I may combine it with some other leftovers further down the road to make a coloured blocked cardigan or sweatshirt for Frankie also.