Tag / tutorial

by Victoria. H

Cozy Kimono Cardigan Tutorial

Fall is my favourite season. It’s when magazines are the thickest, you can start to get excited about Christmas, and best of all you get to layer! Hot summer days can be great but by September I just want to be able to wear a sweater and jacket without sweating like crazy. I saw a kimono cardigan in a store and loved it. It looked so simple yet cozy and fashionable so I figured I would try DIY’ing it.

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You will need *fabric *thread *sewing machine *bias tape (optional)

After dissecting the cardi at the store I realised it was made of 2 squares for the front and a rectangle for the back. Now the challenge was to figure out the correct measurements that would give enough drape without looking like I was wearing a sheet. After trial and error these are the measurements that looked the best on me. I’m 5’10” but my model Christa is a couple inches shorter and it works for both of us. Because the back piece is double the front pieces I only cut one 23”x23” square of paper and cut it on the fold for the back.

kimono cardi pattern

The best fabrics to use are light to mid weight because you want your cardi to drape nicely. This plaid doesn’t have much stretch but I’ve also used a cotton jersey to make a kimono cardi and both turned out great. Keep in mind if your using a patterned fabric you might need more if you want to match up the pattern at the side seam and shoulders.

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Once you cut out your three pieces, with right sides of the fabric facing each other, pin the shoulder seams together. Where the front pieces meet is where you neck goes. I’ve found it works best if you pin both the right and left side of the front to the back piece and sew it in one continuous line. I used a serger to sew the shoulder seam but if you don’t have one you could use a french seam, pinking shears, or a zig zag stitch to finish the seam and keep the fabric from fraying.

Using bias tape on the side seam and armholes is a easy way to finish the seam and add a nice feature. I made my own from micro suede.

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Before you sew the side seams you can try the cardi on and see how the drape is. If it’s too long or wide it would be easy at this stage to cut some off the bottom or sides.  Measure 7” down each side staring at the shoulder seam. This will be the armhole. Sew the bias tape around the armhole. You’ll need about 15” of tape per armhole since you want there to be some overlap when you sew the side seam. Now pin the side seams with the wrong sides together and sew the bias tape from the bottom hem to about 1/2” over the armhole bias tape. If your worried about the fabric slipping when sewing on the tape just do a basting stitch first. Then all you have to do is hem the bottom and up the center and your finished! After making the pattern this project took me about an hour to complete.

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Thanks to Christa for being such a great model!

conclusion:

I love quick and easy projects! You can be cozying up in Kimono cardi in no time.

by Victoria. H

Knitting With Pearls: A DIY Bracelet

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I haven’t knit in quite awhile even though I have a stash of yarn and plenty of needles. While perusing Pintrest the other day I saw a picture for a DIY of a Super Simple Knitted Bracelet, and inspiration struck! If you want to check out the bracelet I saw along with other fashion DIY’s on my Pintrest page click HERE.

I still kept it simple by only using the basic garter stitch, which is where you knit every row, but used 2 weights of yarn to add the pearls and added a buttonhole. The materials I used and directions are below.

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Materials

  • Yarn in 2 different weights, 1 thinner for the pearls and 1 chunkier
  • knitting needles size 3.75mm
  • pearls or beads
  • yarn or upholstery sewing needles
  • button

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Directions

When choosing your yarns it is important that the yarn you pick is thin enough to fit through the needle that also is thin enough to fit through the pearls or beads your using. If you can’t find thin enough yarn embroidery floss would also work well! This is key because you need to string all the pearls onto the yarn before you start knitting. It is better to add too many pearls instead of too little because in order to add more you would have to break your yarn or start all over, not fun. I threaded 40 pearls onto my yarn and pushed them down the length of yarn so I could have enough room to start knitting.

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Holding both pieces of yarn together cast on 40 stitches. If you feel like your wrist might be smaller or larger cast on what you think would fit. Remember that a button and buttonhole is being added so there will be some overlapping! Also when knitting with 2 threads of yarn I try to keep my tension a little looser then normal just to make it a bit easier on myself. You will always be holding the 2 strands together through this pattern.

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Row 1: knit.

Row 2: knit 5 stitches, slide a peal up the length of yarn till it is at the needle. Knit your 6th stitch and as you bring the yarn around the needle bring the pearl with it.

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The pearl should be knit into your piece. Continue down the row knitting in a pearl every 5 stitches or so. Add your last pearl on or before the 35th stitch and knit to the end. You need to leave 5 stitches at the beginning and end of each row without any pearls so you can add the buttonhole.

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Row 3: knit 10 stitches, add a pearl and continue to the end same as row 2. Doing this will stager the pearls so they are not all in a straight line.

Row 4: knit 3 stitches then bind off 3 stitches. This will be your buttonhole! Continue down the row adding pearls.

Row 5: knit like row 3 but when you get to the 3 stitches you bound off cast 3 on and knit to end.

Row 6: Knit like row 2.

Row 7: Knit, without any pearls.

Bind off and weave you loose yarn ends into the piece. Your bracelet is almost done!

If your buttonhole is a little wonky don’t worry! And if some of your pearls poked out the back you can just push them through to the other side, like I did. Here’s the back of the bracelet.

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Using some thread or the thinner yarn sew your button onto the side without the buttonhole.

Now your beautiful bracelet is complete!

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Here’s a little tip: Don’t do like I did and let one of your balls of yarn get all tangly. What a mess! I will definitely be rolling my yarn into a ball before the start of the next project. sheesh.

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conclusion:

This is my first knitting tutorial so hopefully it is easy to understand. There are so many variations for this project. just using different yarn and buttons would give it another look. You could also use sequins or small shells instead of pearls! I just might have to make another!