SewLibra:
Itch to Stitch Castillo Cardigan. Has raglan sleeves, hood, pockets and side slits. No closures in the center front, meant to be worn open.
SewLibra:
I'm using this gorgeous teal cable knit from EOS for my ITS Castillo Cardi. It's called Blue Lagoon, weight 355 GSM, 70% rayon, 30% poly. I washed and dried it, came out fine. Most photos will show a dark blue due to lighting, but it's dark teal.
SewLibra:
Bought my pattern with the copy shop option from PR. It comes on heavy paper so hard to tissue fit, but I was waffling between size 12 or 14. Pinned it to my dress form, decided to cut 14 since my knit is thick. Also want the front to meet at the bust.
SewLibra:
I think this is strange. On the side vent, only on ONE side of it, there is a curve at the bottom cut line. I made mine straight but if there is some reason for it I can always cut it this way when I get there. EDIT: I left it straight.
SewLibra:
Cuffs are always too big for me and these are no exception. Will need to fix that before cutting the fabric.
SewLibra:
I pinned out 3/4" and that seems good for my thick sweater knit. If it's not quite enough I can take a deeper seam when sewing it. EDIT: I did take off 1/4" later for a total of 1". I have small wrists though.
SewLibra:
To decrease the cuff circumference I folded in a vertical line at the center and pinched up 3/8" on each side. Folded to one side and taped in place. That gives a 3/4" difference from before.
SewLibra:
Now I need to fit the sleeve to fit the new cuff size. I took 3/8" from bottom of each side and tapered up to zero at the notches. Again, if too much circumference I can take deeper seams, but I'd rather err on the side of too much than too little!
SewLibra:
The pattern is made for a 5'6" person and I'm 5'3". I pinned the cuff to the sleeve and decided to shorten the sleeve by 3", so folded up 1 1/2" on the lengthen/shorten line. Next I trued the sides by trimming off excess.
SewLibra:
Ha! This looks so long but it's a raglan sleeve so goes up to the neckline. I pinned the cuff to the sleeve and will carefully try it on since it's pattern paper.
SewLibra:
I don't want to mess it up my pattern too much by moving but this looks about right for outerwear. I can tweak it during the sewing process if necessary. We'll see!
SewLibra:
The only part I'm making a muslin of is the hood. Since it's outerwear I want the cardi itself a loose fit and I'm keeping all the length, not shortening it for my height like I did on the sleeves. Hoods are often too large for me though.
SewLibra:
It's huge and there is also a band that will extend it almost 2". Will cut it down in front but need to keep the collar part the same so it fits the neckline. Then there's the band length to think about.
SewLibra:
I started the hood reduction on my muslin by folding under 1" at center front on the top tapering to zero at the neckline. The neckline of the hood needs to match the neckline of the cardi bodice.
SewLibra:
After trying on my hood I transferred the changes to the pattern tracing. On the left I cut off what had been folded, and I have put the curve back in the hood side front as per the original pattern.
SewLibra:
I pinned a partial band to my muslin. Still so big! But at least I have a little bit of peripheral vision. Lol. Huge hoods are in style now but I don't think they're practical. They blow right off in the wind, especially this type with no drawstring.
SewLibra:
Time to cut. I have a 2.5' and it's heavy and wiggly. Definitely need my laser level as I'm going to be matching the cables on the pieces as I go along.
SewLibra:
Cutting single layer for this pattern since I'm matching cables, starting with a cable in center back. I was surprised my rotary cutter sailed right through the thickness of the cables. Nice clean cuts.
SewLibra:
These are tailors tack's as didn't have any marker that would work. Later I wished I hadn't put them so close to the edge. Had to re-do some before serging. Great for pocket placement and side vent though!
SewLibra:
Not shown, but I cut the front pieces so a cable would match up with the back piece at side seams, making the sides looks the same. Above is one of the two bands and they're very long. Measured and pinned in the center between two cables first.
SewLibra:
I folded the band pattern in half lengthwise, centered the fold over the pins, and went down the line taking pins from the fabric to pin through the pattern and into the fabric. I had to use tons of pins on this project to keep it from shifting.
SewLibra:
For the second band I used the first one as the pattern, lining up the cables. Here is one folded and tacked. I had added the 3/8" seam allowance so when sewn the cable should be right down the center!
SewLibra:
To match the cables on the patch pockets I drew lines where I wanted to match them up. When cutting the second pocket I flipped it over as you always do when cutting single layer.
SewLibra:
I knew I wanted to use my Bernina 1008 instead of my computerized Brother SB4138. Figured I would need a walking foot (shown on the right) in some places plus the 1008 is fantastic on thick fabrics.
SewLibra:
The settings I used on my Brother 1034D serger for the thick cable knit are as shown above. The differential feed has to be turned way up in order for the seams to lie flat.
SewLibra:
The instructions have you use a rather large piece of interfacing that gets folded down. It ends up double thick. They don't tell you to clip corners before turning right side out but I always do for a sharper corner.
SewLibra:
I sewed the pockets on first thing, not at the end as the instructions say. By then the project would be so big and heavy it would have been difficult. Here using a walking foot to attach a pocket. Walking foot = even feed foot.
