Hey guys! I'm Sequoia from Sequoialynnsews and I'm back with another guest blog post here at Ellie and Mac.Today, I am hacking my first ever pattern and showing you how! Recently, I saw an adorable cardigan at a local store. I snapped these pictures back when I was writing my last guest post about mixing patterns. You can read it here. So here are my inspiration pictures.
I immediately thought about the Be Mine Cardigan. I sewed it up last winter and have gotten some good wear out of it. I knew with a few changes I could recreate the ready to wear cardigan. Here are the two times I have shared it before.
I started by picking a floral and a tie dye print in double brushed poly from Stitchin' Pretties. Both prints have black and pink colors and different size scales so I knew I could make them work together. I didn't have any black crocheted trim on hand so I braved the incoming storm and headed to the store. I found a similar trim that I felt would work and was ready to get home and sew.
I cut the upper bodice pieces the same as the instructions directed and sewed them together at the shoulders. I needed to do a full bicep adjustment on the sleeves which is pretty typical when I make sleeved garments. If you are unsure how to do that, you can check my blog post out here for a video tutorial. Since I widened the sleeves I also had to widen the sleeve ruffles. I attached the sleeves to the bodice and serged the sides closed. Ok, you can set this aside for now.
This is where the hacking begins. If you compare the inspiration picture to the original Be Mine Cardigan you will see the RTW one has a lower level of fabric that is gathered where as the Be Mine is gathered at the waist line. To achieve this look, I decreased the width of the skirt pattern by 4 inches and shortened the length by 5 inches. I indicated these areas with the blue lines on my pattern piece.
By removing some of the width from the waist line seam, the skirt will need far less gathering to fit the bodice. I used the 5 inch by the original width section to create the lower ruffled area. Here is a picture for reference. The tie dye fabric will be the lower ruffle.
And here are all my pieces cut and ready to go.
Now I began assembling my hacked skirt in this order. I hemmed the lower edge of my ruffle. I serged the edge and turned it up twice and then top stitched it down. To gather my ruffle, I used my sewing machine set to a basting stitch with the tension set at 5. This created an almost perfect width of fabric to match my main skirt piece.While you are at the sewing machine, go ahead and gather your sleeve ruffles as well. You need them to be as wide as your sleeve pattern piece. The pattern is made for the ruffles to attach to the short sleeved cardigan which was perfect for my copy cat sew! Next, used my serger to attach the ruffle to the main skirt. Be mindful that your inside seams and hem in going to end up on the correct side of the garment. Here is my ruffle attached to the main skirt.
Next, I used my serger to attach the bodice and the skirt together following the normal pattern directions. Make sure to line the side seams up correctly. Do the same with the sleeve ruffles. Now your cardigan should be in one piece and ready for your trim piece. I found the center back of my pattern and pinned my trim just overlapping the edge of the cardigan fabric from center back to the lower edge. I used my sewing machine to top stitch it in place. To finish the bottom edges of the trim I double folded and tucked them to the back and stitched in place. Ta-Da! Now I have a hacked Be Mine Cardigan that looks a lot like my Inspiration pic! What do you think??
If you would like to see what else I am sewing these days, come check me out at Sequoialynnsews.wordpress.com
If you like the original pattern or my hacked version you can pick up a copy of the Be Mine Cardigan while it is on sale for 25% off. Here is the link.
