Controller Cardigan

A few months ago, I thrifted a textured minky blanket for The Child.  The Child did not find it as amusing as I thought, and I decided it would be fun(ny) to turn into a cardigan.

 

There's still a small chance The Child will decide it's the right kind of funny and take it, but probably not, so I expect it'll be mine.

This is my first time using any part of Kwik Sew 3232, which I ordered back when Kwik Sew was being discontinued.  Four years ago!  I hadn't realized it was that long ago...or that recently, compared to how long it's taken me to get to some things after acquiring them.

I had separating zippers in the correct length in every possible color to coordinate with this fabric.  Why did I choose off white?  I'm not really sure.  Possibly because the non-fluffy texture of the off white parts of the fabric design is what made me so interested in it, and the zipper being in the same color reinforces the attention to that texture, but I didn't think of it that way until just now.  I was just going with what felt right.

I didn't dig around too much for a perfectly coordinated facing fabric--this sparkly homespun was near the top of the fabric stack due to being used in the Halloween layer dress, and, enh, it's close enough.

I'd had the idea to baste the zipper halves to the facing before attaching them to the front opening, because it seemed like things would be more stable that way.  I even interfaced the facings, although the pattern didn't ask for it.  (The pattern just wanted a little bit of interfacing to stabilize the shoulders; I used some loosely woven ribbon for that.)

Unfortunately.

I basted the zipper on backwards, something didn't realize until after sewing all of the facings on. 

It wasn't too much trouble to pick out all of the stitching (and basting) and sew things back in where they should be.  (I had initially tried just flipping the zipper pull, but things were just asymmetrical enough that that didn't work.)

This particular version of this pattern has a 2013 copyright, but Pattern Review says that the original copyright was 2004.  Since the design predates the acquisition by McCall's, it still has the old Kwik Sew ¼" seam allowances...but, since this particular version was printed after the acquisition, it's on tissue, instead of the old Kwik Sew paper.  It's a relic of its time.

Anyway.

The hems are all, in theory, 1", but I ended up a bit under, due to overlocking and general fluffiness.

 

And then I did a second line of stitching all around to mimic coverstitching.

I did consider edge stitching the facing down, because stitches do largely disappear in the fluff of this fabric, but I decided to stitch a big rectangle in back.  I did also consider sewing in something that might sort of look like a label, but, enh.

 

The rectangle of stitching is largely obscured, but "label stitched visibly from the outside is not unheard of, so I'm not worrying. 

This is a super basic pattern that took longer to make than it could have, because I was having second thoughts about the fabric.  I'm not exactly a gamer, and I'm not exactly fond of fluffy polyester.

It still gave me an opportunity to finally try this pattern, and that's good.

 

Edit: Turns out the unfuzzy off white yarn that makes up the controllers?  Glows in the dark.