Billy Cardi

For my Sister in Law I decided to make the Billy Cardi from No Big Dill.  Drafting a pattern for oneself is a hard enough task, but trying to do it for someone else is even harder.  I drew one out and sewn (sewed?) it up using leftover peach knit from the dress (I apparently never blogged about??).  Anyway, I didn't really like it in peach, but at least I got to check the fit.  It fit pretty well, but the arms were a little funky.  So, the next day I went out and got new knit in cranberry and bought a really simple t-shirt pattern.  I used the pattern solely for the sleeves and the sleeve holes.  I also made a few other changes to the width of the back and the length.  Back to the sewing machine, and viola!

I have to say that overall, it was pretty easy.  The hardest part was moving my little cutting mat around to cut it out with my rotary cutter.  I am a strong advocate of the rotary cutter when it comes tu cutting out knits.  It makes sure that the knit doesn't stretch at all when you are cutting it.  Makes a HUGE difference.  As far as the pretty shoulders go, my machine is as simple as they come, but I felt like leaving the seams on the inside was too boring.  So, onto the good old fashioned zig zag.  I know that Katy says no zig zag in her blog, but desperate times call for desperate measures.  Here's a close up of the shoulder.

Now that its up, it's apparent how horrible of a picture it is.  Sorry about that.  Anyway, she says she liked it and it fits well.  I'd like to make myself one at some point. It really is a simple and straight forward project once you get the pattern right.