Cartigan

I love the look of the long simple cardigans that can be found at Anthropology, Down East, and pretty much every store on every corner. So I thought I would give it a try and make my own. You will need 2 yards or more of a jersey knit fabric.

Measure yourself from your t-shirt line on the back of your neck, down to the bottom of your t-shirt. I measured 27 inches. Lay your fabric out and cut it that width.

Fold in both sides 18 inches. And pin starting from the end, not the fold, for 8 inches. You will leave the 10 inches remaining open and unpinned.

Here is a close up view (and I can't figure out why blogger rotates some of my photo's like the one above...)

Take this to the sewing machine and sew from the edge to the pin mark at 8 inches. Do this to both sides.

Now you need to put it on. This might be tricky. The part that you have sewn will be under your arm pit and down to your waist. In other words the part that you left unpinned is where your arms go through. The opposite edge that you did not pin goes on your neck and you just drape the ends down over your arms like you are putting a towel around your neck.

Take two pins and mark the bottom of your neck on both sides.

Take it off again and fold it how you had it when you sewed the sides. Now on the fold place a pin.

Draw a line with chalk from the pin you just put in the fold to the pin you put in by your neckline.

Baste on this line back stitching at the start and then gather as tight as you can. Tie the two threads together on the other end and cut.

Put it on, and there you have it! You can wear it like this for a dress down look.

It looks great with jeans or a skirt.

And it's super comfortable.

And who would have guessed that the back would be so beautiful? (If you want your draped fabric to be longer so your shirt isn't showing then you need to use more fabric than 2 yards.)

Or you can grab the ends and tie it up in the front for a more dressed up look.

The perfect touch to take your outfit up a notch.

And again, the back is stunning to look at.