Drapey cardigan

As I promised myself, this week is going to be garment making week. Most importantly, Make Lee Something Warm to Wear That is Not a Blazer week. I found so many great ideas on the web that didn’t mean me having to copy patterns carefully or measuring myself (I so love you, online crafting family!). I finally settled on four must-do projects by Tuesday.

For the first one, I was so excited by this drape cardigan from Urban Threads and realized I had just the stuff for it. You can check out the original tutorial here. I wasn’t supposed to start posting stuff I made this week till Friday but I was so happy with how this came out that I just had to post it now.

This is the first project I spent zero on. I had two old shirts that I loved for softness but never quite fit me right. A friend gave me a fabric panel even though I have no clue about quilting. And even the yarn I will use later on was a surprise gift from my favorite craft store. So I just followed the instructions for prepping and sewing the cardigan together as shown in the link above. And ended up with this:

I now realize you don’t see the drapeyness clearly but you’ll get the picture 😀 I was too excited to put on my fabric panel. The original idea was to machine embroider a design on the back of the cardigan but machine embroidery is a skill I’ve yet to learn. So enter this beautiful fabric panel I had no idea what to do with.

This is a huge panel, about a yard I think. But the real focal point (and most beautiful part) were the Kamakura Sisters. So I cut that out to fit the back of my “new” cardi and pinned in place.

So I visited my favorite (actually, the only one in Dubai) craft shop just as they were celebrating their birthday. I got to pop a balloon and discover a “prize.” I got a bag of blue yarn, yay. Except I don’t knit. Then I thought of this project and there was my yarn, perfect for handstitching my fabric patch on the cardi. I would probably have done this in a contrasting color, like red, but beggars can’t be choosers.

Now cut out the design as close to the stitching as you dare and artfully fray the edges. Or do like me and just fray, in keeping with the raw, handmade look of the whole cardigan. And you’re done! First project I did in just an hour and had me feeling like a rockstar instantly!

Love, love, love. And yes, I was actually distracted by something on TV when the camera went off. And here’s the back.

Yay! Now off to Garment Project No. 2 😀