The Manligan (manly cardigan)

There’s no denying…2012 has arrived. And so has the KNIT-erviews! Made by Rae is hosting a blog-world-first with a whole week devoted entirely to sewing with knit fabric. It begins TODAY and I’m super excited to be taking a little part, sharing tips on making knits work for you (not the other way around) and my not-so-secret sources for superior knit fabrics. Don’t spend another moment fearing things that stretch…it’s a must-click-now!

To welcome a brand new year of sewing and maybe also because Archie has two shirts on rotation, I just had to sew something new. Last year I was wooed by the old-school, grandpa charm of this pattern and it has been sitting in my stash, taunting me with its ‘intermediate /advanced’ classification on the front, ever since. When I finally stopped being dramatic and just sewed the damn thing up, it came together quickly and similarly to a 90 minute shirt. What had at first seemed like lengthy instructions, just turned out to be thorough. I hereby pledge to be a less dramatic sewer in 2012!

Aaah, there’s nothing quite like the thrill of hunting down interesting knit fabrics. If I hadn’t I tried out this tutorial and experienced my first ever knit project success, I would never have started looking for cool men’s t-shirt to cut up. I’d probably still be ferreting through the generic selection at a local fabric department store, missing out on magical finds like THIS! Who would throw this out? And don’t they know how on-trend triangles are?

Some things you may find useful: it calls for clear elastic to stabilise the shoulders but I had none so used cotton stay tape to the same effect. Also, to give the front button placket some body, you are meant to interface it with iron-on interfacing, the knit kind. I had none of that either so I checked the non-stretchy iron-on interfacing to see if maybe there was a bias to it and found it stretched perfectly along the grain in one direction. Yay for improvs that work!