My husband is the opposite. In fact, I don't know if he has ever cracked open an instruction manual to anything! Having lived in older homes for most of our married life, with plenty of quirky, unforseen problems popping up all the time, this amazing ability of his to "think outside the box" has come in handy on many, many occasions. And his willingness to "just try" has inspired me to do the same.
This is one of such projects...me trying to "colour outside the lines" so to speak. After all, what is there to lose...really? In this case...it would be the cost of a sweater, found at my local thrift shop. No biggee.
So I found a cardigan/shrug that my 4 year old loves and pulled out the handy dandy tracing paper and started making up pattern pieces. Then I cut up this super soft felted sweater I had kicking around and after some cutting, experimentation, and help from dear old mom (I wasn't sure how to get the sweater edge piece to ruffle)...some sewing, trying on and adjusting, and...Voila!
Here's to not being afraid to "just try". :)
A very nice experiment indeed.
ReplyDeleteI love it.
Looks cute!!
ReplyDeleteWow! Well done! Did you zig-zag stitch (is that the term?) the edges to get the ruffling?
ReplyDeletenice job. and how did you get the edges to ruffle? do tell, do tell.
ReplyDeletegreat job! it's scary venturing out with no pattern the first time.. yet so liberating!
ReplyDeletelove the cardigan.
following you now, found you on the Etsy Blog Team.
kristanlynn @ adelynSTONE
www.kristanlynn.blogspot.com
I too am curious about the ruffles! Very sweet!
ReplyDeleteHi guys...thanks for the encouragement. :) It turned out that the ruffling was easier than I thought it would be. All I had to do (W-S, you're right) was set my sewing machine to a very narrow zig zag stitch, and then stretch the trim as I sewed along the very edge. Then, when I attached the trim to the body of the sweater, I used a straight stitch and stretched the trim out as I sewed it to the main body. Does that make sense? It probably sounds confusing. I'm not always very good at explaining things...just ask my kids...I always make their math homework sound way more complicated than it is. :)
ReplyDeleteP.S. I follow you too, now, kristanlynn!
It turned out beautiful! I used to think I couldn't make anything without a pattern, but I decided to just try and amazed myself! This is a great post!
ReplyDeleteIt is so much fun...and very liberating!
ReplyDelete