Sunday, April 07, 2019

Simplicity 8059 - An Eyelet Cardigan

I've made this cardigan several times over the last couple of years and it's become my go to pattern.


It was made to go with the latest Pembroke tunic recently completed. An early spring outfit to wear with leggings and/or white jeans.


Supplies ~
*Cotton Eyelet w/o stretch purchased from Fashionista Fabrics in 2007 
  (12 years old) so it's deep stash from the collection 
  (I blogged about the fabric here - and Fashionista Fabrics no longer exists)
*Silk Organza
*Ltwt fusible interfacing
*1" curtain matte gold grommets from Amazon
*1.5 yds beige ribbon from Joyce Trimmings from NYC Garment District

Design Decisions ~
I've made this cardigan a bunch of times, what makes this version interesting is the closure on the cardi front. I was inspired by this design I saw online. 


When I pulled the eyelet and the rayon knit from deep stash, I thought the closing would work on a cardigan with a little engineering.

The second decision was to cut the eyelet off the selvedge and add it to the cardigan hemline, as well as make it part of the ribbon tie that holds the cardigan together.

Construction Information ~
To make the grommets work without tearing the eyelet, I had to put some thought into making them work.

First I decided to beef up the front and facing because this eyelet is quite holey. To give the facing some strength I cut the facings from the fashion fabric, silk organza, and a fusible interfacing. The fusible interfacing was adherred to the silk organza which was then sewn to the facing on the edges. This not only beefed up the facing but it clean finished the facings.


After I attached the facing, I made a sample of the grommet before placing it on my cardigan.


Then I held my breathe, followed the video instructions, cut a 1" hole in my garment, then placed the grommet in...and it worked! Y'all I seriously did the joy joy dance in the Sewing Cave and I may have shed a tear or two of relief!


The second design challenge was adding the selvedge to the hemline. In an unusual move I decided to add it only to the body and not the facing bands.


The last thing was making the ribbon to close the cardigan fronts. It's made from a purchased beige ribbon with a piece of the selvedge lace sewn to it. I purchased a bunch of ribbons hoping one would work with the cardigan but none did. So I made my own.


I wrapped one piece of the selvedge edge around the ribbon and stitched it down. One row on each edge and then two down the center to insure that the ribbon and fabric wouldn't pull apart. Even though I really wanted a contrast ribbon for the cardigan, I'm happy with this solution.

A few pictures of the cardigan ~




Conclusion ~
This was a fun piece to make. I liked the challenge of adding the grommets to the cardigan and figuring out how to use the selvedge as lace. It was a great detail to add to my TNT pattern.  

The sleeves weren't hemmed in these pictures because I couldn't decide how to hem them. After seeing these pictures, I'm going to add a hem to them before wearing it out.  Otherwise, I really love this new version.

Parting Shot ~

Walking with the grandbabies to take pictures

That was the last piece from my Sew Camp weekend finished at home. I had planned to sew something for the granddaughters but that got cancelled so I have no idea what's up next. I'm floundering a little on what to sew because the weather is changing so do I sew for now or do I sew for summer? 

...as always more later!






10 comments:

  1. What a lovely, and clever, cardigan. I like all your sewing solutions, especially the grommets!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a seriously beautiful cardigan! One of my favorite colors. And it looks wonderful on you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love, love, love this soooooo much Carolyn!!! Great idea using the grommets. They add a special design feature to your beautiful fabric. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Carolyn, to my eyes, this is one of your most successful garments! It is beautiful, the fabric drape and colors are lovely, it fits and flatters you so well, and the addition of the grommets is the touch that makes it especially interesting. You've inspired me. Now I want one for myself.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Karel - did I show you this fabric at Sew Camp? Cause I had it with me even if I didn't work on it until I got home.

      Delete
  5. This is a truly gorgeous cardigan! I love the fabrics you used. I am so glad that the grommets worked. I recently found two packets of grommets I purchased way back. I think I would like to try them on a cardi pattern. You mentioned a video, I would love to see that video. Could you post a link to it, please.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Linda - I posted a link to the grommets on Amazon. The video is on that link.

      Delete
  6. This is such a great use of the fabric for a lightweight cardigan layer and the way you finished the facings and edges turned out perfectly.

    ReplyDelete
  7. How pretty!! The grommet is such a nice detail, and looks great with the belt.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment! It is so appreciated!

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails