I just finished this cardigan…started it in December — whew! It was an on-again, off-again kind of affair. It’s a bit of a milestone for me because it is the first garment I’ve knitted for which I didn’t follow someone else’s pattern! When I first started knitting a few years ago I remember browsing through projects on Ravelry and seeing knitters who had made modifications to a pattern to suit their liking or, even more shockingly, had knit something out of their own head! It seemed as easy to do as traveling to the moon as far as I was concerned. But now having knitted dozens of sweaters (not all of them wearable, of course), and then having added sewing to my pastimes, I’ve gained a pretty good sense of garment shape and construction, so now it doesn’t seem like such a big deal. Experience is everything, I guess.

It’s a basic top-down raglan cardigan, and I added a collar band knitted in a lace pattern I found in a book called 400 Knitting Stitches: A Complete Dictionary of Essential Stitch Patterns by Potter Craft. (Ok, so I didn’t make up the whole pattern; making up a lace pattern still seems like landing on the moon to me.) Looking at these pictures now I think this style would have been better just a few inches longer, but whatever. Still also debating whether to rip back the sleeves a few inches and add a sideways lace panel to each sleeve to finish them off. I also notice I look pretty puzzled in the pics where you can see my face — that’s me still figuring out whether my remote control shutter release is going to work or not. 🙂

Sewing-wise, here’s what I’m working on at the moment, and I need some advice from you experienced sewists! This is Burda’s Cap Sleeve V-Neck Dress from the June 2014 issue.

I was intrigued by the subversive little design detail on this otherwise very simple dress: the front and back are cut a little skee-wiff (how do you spell that word, anyway?) so that you need to straighten out the side seams once it’s on, creating a twist across the midriff.  But I screwed up sewing the neckline, as you can see in these pictures. I sewed it with a twin-needle, didn’t use any stay-tape/binding at the neckline as instructed (cause I’m a rebel that way; a stupid, regret-filled rebel), and I clearly stretched the fabric out a bit as I sewed it. So you can see the neckline doesn’t lie flat because it’s stretched out of shape. My question for you is: can I rip out the neckline seam and resew it, and will the fabric survive and the neckline become a shining example of my sewing whoop-assiness? Or do you think this basic T-shirt fabric would be shot by the time I’ve sewn and ripped and sewn it again? Should I sew with a twin needle or regular straight stitch? Is the bias tape really necessary if I don’t stretch the fabric while stitching? Ok, that’s several questions for you.

I think it would be a gorgeous little dress if I got the neckline right…and if I can hold in my breath the entire time I’m wearing it to ensure full gut in-suckage. This pattern is definitely drafted with negative ease, so bear that in mind if you intend to sew it — go up a size if you want a little wiggle room.

Truth be told, I’ve thrown myself into gardening, sewing, and knitting lately because all this refusal to acknowledge all the misogynist fuckery going on in online editorials & comments lately is actually, truly making me feel despair. Anyone else feeling the same?

Anyway, let’s get our heads back in the sand(box) of sewing and please let me know what you think I should do: rip and re-do, or start again? Thanks for your help!