Apple Cardigan The First

Gonna start right off with saying I'm not super thrilled with this, but that's fine.

I used Simplicity 8951 to make another cardigan

I should have gone up a size, and I should have used contrast ribbing for the bands.  It's fine.

Everything else about it is great!

I found the cotton poly knit on Fabric Mart, and I liked it so much that it tipped me over to placing my second ever Fabric Mart order.  It is indeed made by the same company that made the very loud knit in the previous project.

It sews beautifully, and I once again altered the front opening construction to use twill tape, instead of ribbing, like I first tried with the patchwork cardigan, so the buttonholes went in with absolutely no problem

I even remembered to tie the buttons off under the buttons themselves, instead of on the back of the fabric, so there are no big knots visible.

And, yes, since they're shank buttons, I did hand sew them.  I had so much hope for this project that it seemed worth it.

The knit fabric was stretchy enough to use for the bands, so I figured it would be fine to do so.

Enh.

I should have added some length to the neckband and lower band, to compensate for the way I did the front with the twill tape instead of a band of folded knit fabric, so they didn't end up drawing up quite so much.  Even if I had, though, I probably still couldn't escape the idea that the overall effect is somewhat pajamas-like.  It's fine.

I sewed all the seams with the lockstitch machine, and neatened everything with the serger

I sewed both the neckband and the waistband to the outside, folded them right sides together to sew the ends, then turned them right side out and aligned the seam-width fold on the inside along the long seam, then stitched in the ditch from the outside.  It's not the neatest, but I didn't expect it to be, and it's better than the way the pattern wants you to leave the seam allowance for all layers exposed, and no-one will ever see it in the course of normal wear anyway.  It's fine.

The back shows off the effects of the too-short neck and waist bands.  It's fine.

And the reason it's fine?  It's because I foolishly checked Fabric Mart again, after receiving this order, and saw that not only was the apple knit marked down (temporarily) to $2/yard, but they also had some 'as-is' apple green rib knit for $3/yard.

So. I placed another order.

That order (which did include a few other fabrics) arrived yesterday and I washed everything today and can try again.  This time: size 16 (the first one, in size 14, does technically fit, but not over anything with sleeves, which is not what I want in a cardigan), contrast bands, and cut them longer for the neck and waist.  I'm happy with the twill tape front finish, and plan to do all the rest of the construction just the same.

And then I will make more things from this ridiculous apple knit.