See & Sew Success (B6368)

This is one of those patterns I’ve seen around social media that I thought I’d try. It’s B6368 See & Sew very easy pattern for a cardigan, top (tunic) and pants. And by the way, this pattern is for knits.

First I made the cardigan. I love this one! It fits well and is very easy and quick to put together. I didn’t make any changes to the pattern for this.

B6368

This is very comfortable and can be worn as a casual or dressy cardigan.

The top, which they refer to as a tunic was a different story. On the pattern envelop the top looks like it should be long enough to belt. That was not my experience with this.

It’s a nice top, but not what I would consider a tunic. It fits well and I used the same fabric I used for the cardigan for the sleeves. I did find that the sleeves were short on this top. Even taking it out of the envelope, they looked short. So, I added a cuff to make this wrist-length.

Overall, I’m happy with the results of both pieces. I used fabric I bought at JoAnn’s for the cardigan. It’s a stretch velvet-type material (found in the knit section). I would say that if you are under 5’5″ tall, you might want to shorten the cardigan unless you want it long. It’s funny that the cardigan looks shorter on the pattern envelope, while the tunic looks longer, but whatever…

Depending on fabric choice, you can get a great looking outfit with a pattern that only costs about $2.95. I often don’t bother to even look at these. Not because there’s anything wrong with them, but they really aren’t on my mind. So, don’t ignore the cheaper, easy patterns because you could be missing out on something really great.

Lace Cardi With (OOP) McCall’s 4923

A couple of weeks ago, I spent two days going through all of my patterns in order to try to bring some organization to it all. In the midst of doing all that, I found some patterns that I had forgotten about and some I thought I had lost or gotten rid of. This particular pattern is one that I had completely forgotten about. I had made a version of this years ago using black lace and it became one of my favorites.

The pattern is for different cardigans and a top (basically like a twin set). This time around, I made View D without the trim at the edges. I like that it’s simple an easy to make, but with classic styling. I also like that I didn’t have to deal with putting buttons or closures for this one.

McCall's 4923

This is a nice sweater to have in the summer when it’s hot outside, but cold inside. It seems to give just enough coverage so as to not overheat or be uncomfortable indoors.

This particular pattern is also different in that it is collarless. All of my other patterns that I’ve used have a collar, so this is just a different look and option. That might be something to think about if you like to go on Ebay to look for out-of-print patterns.

If you have this one, it’s certainly worth thinking about making. It doesn’t take long to make and could probably be constructed in about 2 hours.

Pink lace cardi

This has become one of those go-to patterns for me. It’s McCall’s 6408 “jacket” pattern. To me, it’s much more a cardigan than jacket, but whatever. I made one years ago in off-white and it has become one of my most used garments.

So this time around, I decided to use some stretch lace I had to make another one. I’m still trying to use fabrics (and patterns) that I already have since I have so much.

I definitely believe that this one is better made than the previous one. I have had so much more experience sewing in general and knits in particular than I did back then. My sewing confidence now is so much greater now than it was 5 years ago!

So, my advice to anyone out there who tried something that they liked but maybe it didn’t work out is: keep at it! The more you do, the better you become.

This is a quick and easy project. I made it in one sitting, but if you don’t have that kind of time, it’s easily broken down to doable steps. It’s a Nancy Zieman “10-20-30 minutes to sew” pattern – perfect for busy sewists.