Wonders happen overnight ... sometimes!

I must say that I've never done this before ... cut and sewn a new garment, literally overnight! (no sewing fairies were available during the making of this edition, due to holidays)

I think it was Wednesday evening, when I arrived home from work I was at a bit of a loss ... I didn't have to cook dinner and kids were all taken care of, so that just left me and my sewing corner :-) But I couldn't carry on with my current labour of love (B5882) because it needed a fitting and the body needed for said fitting wasn't home.  What to do???  Pull out a quick and easy project on the to do list, of course!

This is the Jenna Cardi that I first made back in September and have worn endlessly ever since. The cropped version with long sleeves is spot on for me.

It sits bang on my waist and is perfect for wearing with just about everything in my wardrobe, but it works well with a dress.

I hadn't transferred any of the adjustments from my first cardi over to the pattern, so first things first I made the following changes to the original size 36 I'd traced off:

• shaved 1/4" off the shoulder seam, at the sleeve edge, blending into the curve of the armscye about half way down.
• removed 1" from the length of the sleeve
• added 1" to the length of the sleeve cuff - just cause I prefer a deep cuff.
• removed 1" from the sleeve cuff pattern piece, reducing the circumference of the cuff by 2".
• removed 1" from each side of the sleeve hem, tapering to zero about 2" below the underarm, providing me with a more fitting sleeve - again personal preference.

The fabric was maturing in the cupboard... the sold black is merino (not the best btw) that I picked up from the Arthur Toye closing down sale for $15 p/m.  At the time I thought it was a bargain, but when I got it home to discover that it was all off grain and with a few flaws, well it then wasn't such a bargain!

I ignored the selvage matching and just tried to lay the fabric out on-grain as much as I could.  That seemed to work pretty well because it doesn't feel 'all wiggly' when I wear it.

The chevron is a poly knit that I previously used to make an Ensis Tee (that I don't wear that often because the cuffs are too tight and I can't be assed fixing them).

The chevrons!!!  I cut both front pieces on a single layer so I could match the chevrons exactly where I wanted - and I'm pretty darn happy with dem chevrons :-)  I'm pretty much floating away on the happy matching cloud right now!

I'll leave you with more photos on my Flickr while I revel in this happy sewing high...

Hello Chevron Ensis!

Did I tell you that I am in Love with Papercut Patterns - okay so moving right along then, let's talk about my Ensis Tee which I've made up in this fabulous cream and black chevron.

The top black pieces are NZ merino, a remnant piece from my stash and the bottom is a polyester knit, recently found on Trade Me (the NZ equivalent to EBay).  Yes, I did say polyester!  I've been looking for chevron knit fabric but NZ seem to be behind the rest of the world in realising that this is popular right now.  There are plenty of overseas online stores with great cotton knits but the shipping makes it really, really expensive for a knit fabric - so I've settled for a poly!

In saying that, the polyester hangs really nicely and just needed hemming with a double needle, which looks awesome btw!

I made a size xtra small and added 1" to the sleeve length, well actually to the cuff length.  I'm a bit of a fan of the deeper cuff :-)  Note to self for next time, add about 1/2" to the width of the cuff, which will still be a snug fit, but will be a little easier to attach to those pesky sleeve ends.

I like how the upper body and arms have a snug fit but through the body it's a little more free flowing.  I like how this pattern could also be sewn up in a double knit, perhaps a size bigger and be a great stylie sweater - version 1 with the bands lends itself that way, or you could add a bit of length and get a lovely tunic top.

My Papercut love includes:
Peter and the Wolf Pants
Circle Top 2 - Black
Circle Top 1 - Red

As always more photos on my Flickr -->