1950's Style Cardigan for My Husband from "Men's Knits"

Fortunate to have the kind of time I never had before, I’ve been avidly knitting all kinds of things this winter.  I knitted & crocheted hats, room shoes and socks for my parents and my brother in Japan, sending them via air mail as they complete. 

Then my husband complained that I never knitted for him… which is NOT true because I knitted a striped scarf for him (also from “Men’s Knits”) a couple of winters ago.  He only wore it like three times, and that is exactly why he doesn’t remember the fact I knitted for him, and the same reason why I never knitted anything for him after that (yes, I’m a grudge holder..).

My husband went shopping for a knit cardigan and came back empty handed.  At this point he begged me to knit him a new sweater cardigan.  OK, everyone deserves a second chance… so I knitted this 1950’s Style Cardigan from “Men’s Knits” by Erika Knight in extra-large.

This sweater cardigan requires gigantic knitting needles (size 17) which is a bit awkward to knit with.  But after I got the hang of it, it knitted up pretty quickly considering the size of the garment (Men’s XL).  

 I used Lion Brand’s Wool Ease Thick & Quick in charcoal instead of the expensive yarn suggested in the book… because I was still skeptical if he would wear the cardigan often enough to justify spending $150+ for the yarn…

I love this book!

 

It’s been almost 2 weeks since I completed this project, and he only wore it once.  He claims that he is saving it for more special occasions…

Well, at least he looks happy wearing it...

Top-down Knitting: Baby Alpaca 100% Sweater Dress

This is my second knit garment from the book “Modern Top- down Knitting” by Kristina McGowan.    

I used the “Feather Dress” pattern, but made some changes so the shape was more flattering on me.

At first, I followed the original pattern, but the empire shape was not doing anything for my figure, in fact, I think it was doing exactly the opposite of flattering… it looked like this:

The model is looking perfectly pretty and thin in the book, but I guess this shape isn't for me.

I knew I had spent too much money on the expensive alpaca yarn to knit something I wouldn’t wear, so I decided to fix the problem…

In the original pattern, the top bodice and the skirt pieces are joined at the under bust line and an elastic cord is attached to the joining.  I undid this joining and picked up stitches from the bodice, then knitted further down to the waist line.  I decreased stitches a bit so it gets smaller toward the waist.  I skipped the elastic cord, and re-attached the bodice and the skirt.  I undid the skirt hem about 5 inches to make it mini-length.  

I think I could have made the waist circumference even smaller for the better fit, but I am not about to undo this garment again.  I’m pretty satisfied with the sweater for now.

I also made the chiffon blouse (previous post) to wear it with… Together, it’s a cozy and super warm outfit!! 

 Thanks for visiting my blog! Happy Sewing/Knitting!! 

Sachi

White Chiffon Bow Tie Blouse

Made of polyester chiffon---not the easiest fabric to work with…but I think the result is worth the pain!

It's a bit see-through, though you can't really see that in these photos...it's really difficult to capture details of white garment!

 

I used McCalls’ 6512 view B. 

 I wasn't confident enough to roll-hem these angles, so I used serger’s wrapped roll-hem—it was done in seconds!

On chiffon fabric, I think the serged roll-hem is prettier than if it was done with regular roll-hem.

I made this shirt specifically to wear with a certain item which I also made… it is coming up in the next post! :)

Bow Tie Peplum Blouse

I know I’m overdoing this peplum thing… but it’s just so figure flattering that I hope it becomes a classic rather than just a trend.

This is a new blouse design for my (hopefully soon-to-be launched) handmade clothing line.   

I used the standard-sized sloper, so its fit on me is not as perfect as my other creations made just for myself, but I think the gather in front bodice accommodates different figures. (I wrote about my fitting problem here.)

My pattern making skill is a bit rusty, so it took me several trials, but I’m pretty happy with the end result :)