Cardigans and Drapes

I bought some ombre fabric from So Sew English.

This is the olive. I bought the black-grey.

I have been seeing a lot of duster-length cardigans lately and thought it might be nice to wear around the house and be a bit more Dressy than my TARDIS bathrobe to keep me warm.

So I Got to work altering a cardigan pattern to be dolman sleeves and duster length. I got it all finished except for the trim and hem. Even got nice roomy pockets.

But I didn't like it. I have been doing a free 14 day wardrobe challenge called Adore Your Wardrobe. I do adore most of my wardrobe, just wasn't adoring how I was utilizing it. But this challenge reminded me that if I don't love this cardigan, no sense in finishing it only to have something I'm not sure I even like hanging in my closet.

 I do like draped neck tops though! So I decided to cut the cardigan apart and salvage what I could to make a draped neck top. Now I love what I made!

Here is How I made it:

Cut the front and back of my cardigan apart and laid my Drape-Neck Bodice on the back- centered.

To make my bodice pattern piece, (I'll post  link to the video that helped me with this- at the end of my blog entry).

To make the front bodice piece be drape-y, cut 1-3 lines mid arm hole / bottom armhole- like up there in my picture. Don't cut all the way! leave 1/4 attached.

Spread the bodice open. More spread for more drapes, Do you want just a little drape by the neck (not lots of drape all down the torso like mine)- just cut one line- mid armhole - spread it about 3-4" open.

You need the drape to be self lined. Do this by folding over ~13" on the top of the fabric, place the shoulder seam on this fold. where my scissors point.  Some pics to demonstrate:

This next step is crucial:

then place a cat on the pattern to hold in place:

Don't have a cat? another option is curtain weights. Or sometimes a roll of scotch tape, cell phone, and a stapler work.

Now, cut out the front bodice but NOT the neckline! Start Cutting at the shoulder seam where the scissors point:

here is what it will look like cut and with the drape unfolded:

I was going to use the front pieces as my back piece, but I could not get the pockets seam-ripped!

SO I cut the back out of some black I had (from another idea that fizzled)

Now to sew up the seams!

1st- I sewed the drape at the armholes- with right side together- this finishes the armhole fronts- no need to face or hem!

Then I  cut binding for the neckline and armholes on the BACK piece and attached them. (when cutting binding to hem curved edges on knit, I cut the binding a bit shorted than the neckline/armhole. 10-15% shorter)

Next; I sewed the side seams first as I wanted less in the way when doing the shoulder seams;

I left the ~1" of the lining out- not sewn into the seam (this is different than the method in the video I will be posting at the end)

this way I could fold over and tack the lining in place- giving a more finished look to the armhole.

For the shoulder seam- I deliberately cut the front wider than the back so I could make the shoulder seam drape as well. I like the look better this way.

I folded under the upper edge of the front shoulder seam and put the back shoulder seam into the front, since the front had that lining, and made folds along the edge:

Sew in the direction of the fold.

Hem the lower edge and it's done!

Is it femsical? It is feminine, but not whimsical. That's OK. I have some DNA earrings to add WHIMSY!

Getting ready for NO PANTS APRIL.

Here is the YouTube tutorial I watched to learn how to do a drape neckline. It will explain things better than I did, but I did a few things differently.

How to Sew a Cowl Neck Top

Watch it for better instructions! I'm not great a explaining.

THANK YOU Cloud Factory for showing me how to make this!

BOTH the black DBP and Ombre SBP fabrics are from So Sew English