When Love Notions had a sale on their Boyfriend Cardigan I decided it was a good time for me to grab the pattern. As someone who is perpetually cold, cozy cardigans are a necessity in my freezing cold office. I was planning to improve my knitting and start knitting myself cardigans and sweaters, but there is no way that is happening on time to get me a wearable sweater for this winter. I contemplated buying one or two to add to my wardrobe, but I find most of them have sleeves that are too short and tight, are too flimsy, or are too heavy for the amount of warmth they provide.
Enter, cardigan sewing! I generally like cardigans with buttons, but decided to risk making an open one this time because I liked everything else about it. I've been wearing it now for a couple of weeks, and I'm extremely happy with it. My
fall pinterest board has a lot of sweaters, and this one fits in with the vibe I'm going for.
I found the fabric that I wanted a cardigan out of, a marled grey sweater knit, but at $15/m I was hesitant to use it for my first time making a pattern. I picked it up when it was on sale for 50% off, but I also looked in the sale section with the help of a lovely lady that worked at the fabric store and found this green striped knit for $4/m and bought 3 metres of it for a wearable muslin. I love wearable muslins, and since the pattern was so easy, I'm happy with this one.

This cardigan came together really fast, which is a major bonus considering how many I've decided I need in my wardrobe. There were not gotchas, no missed instructions and almost nothing new to learn. My biggest takeaway about pattern-matching. I was much better at it at the end of the project than at the beginning, and pins didn't really help me - they matched up better when I was just eyeballing it. Overall, the stripes don't match up very well, but it doesn't bother me. It's still cozy, and it fits me the way I want it to.
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Look how cozy it looks |
Pattern:
Love Notions Boyfriend Cardigan on sale for $5 (USD)
Material: Green knit from Fabricville for $4/m
Modifications: I added 3 inches to the body and to the sleeves. I was going to grade out the hips but totally forgot, and since it's open it's not a big deal.
Learning: Cardigan sewing is my jam, pattern matching is not.
Total Cost: $8 for fabric, $9.37 for the pattern (conversion rate and tax did a number on that one) = $17.37