Papercut Fjord Elongated Red Cardi

Every collection of clothes in my wardrobe has to have a cardigan, I used to have a red cardigan which I don't remember purging from the wardrobe but it wasn't there last time I went to wear it. So a cardigan was an essential need for my Minnie Mouse jeans wardrobe.  This isn't the planned cardigan, that is Vogue 8653 a Marcy Tilton pattern that will eventually appear in a lovely fleecy red Merino. The Papercut Patterns Fjord cardi shot to the top of the list however because of the fabric and the Pattern Review Sewing Bee round one challenge.

For a nano second I considered sewing the cardigan for the PR Sewing Bee. Living Coral in its literal sense as the colour of the year Pantone 16-1546 was a non-starter. Coral is not a colour that features large in either my wardrobe or fabric stash. However I found the words used to describe Living Coral very evocative.

"Vibrant, yet mellow PANTONE 16-1546 Living Coral embraces us with warmth and nourishment to provide comfort and buoyancy in our continually shifting environment.  Living Coral emits the desired, familiar, and energising aspects of colour found in nature. In its glorious, yet unfortunately more elusive, display beneath the sea, this vivifying and effervescent colour mesmerises the eye and mind. Lying at the centre of our naturally vivid and chromatic ecosystem, Living Coral is evocative of how coral reefs provide shelter to a diverse kaleidoscope of colour."

I saw my chosen fabric as vibrant and buoyant, embracing me with warmth and comfort, and together these are extremely nourishing and energising for me. Watching the image of the fish swimming amongst the coral I could clearly see this gorgeous vibrant red amongst the colourful kaleidoscope. I also saw my choice of red as conveying the danger living coral is facing from mankind with tourism, global warming and local pollution causing the diminution of coral reefs.

Even the fabric cooperated it was waiting for me at home on Thursday, was washed on Friday and I had until 6pm on Saturday (19 January) to finish my entry (sewing, photos, review etc) which would have been a challenge but not completely unachievable. So why no sewing bee entry (aside from the sheer terror at the thought of progressing to the next round)?

(Un)fortunately the rules did not suit my vision for pattern and fabric, which was for a mid-calf length cardigan not one between waist and knee length. After a momentary pause I decided  compromising that vision for Sewing Bee wasn't an option. That choice wasn't at all influenced by the terror! Once Sewing Bee faded from my mind so did the urgency to get this finished or even started.

The finished garment

For some reason this cardigan was quite hard to photograph. This could have been because of the temperature (low 30°C) with bright sunshine.

Posing in front of our gorgeous (if somewhat stunted*) silk tree

Delicate silk tree flowers

*the silk tree is stunted because a much larger pine tree fell on it in its formative years and whilst it has finally developed the canopy of the silk tree it will never regain its lost inches in height.

The fabric

This fabric was a recent purchase from Elliott Berman Textiles specifically for a lengthened Fjord cardi and is described as a darkened high risk red. It is 100% wool, 60" wide and imported from Italy. "This deep colour boiled wool is ideal for a Fall/Winter jacket or coat. It has a nice fuzzy finish and soft drape."

What is not mentioned in the description is the course texture with that most despised of wool properties scratchiness.  If I had been able to feel this fabric before purchase I would not have bought it. It did soften slightly after its gentle woolly wash with wool wash liquid. Since making I have washed it in two cups of white vinegar which didn't really alter the softness much either. Maybe my disappointment with this wool is because of the easy access I have to high quality New Zealand merino which is always baby soft. In hindsight I should have bought merino and boil washed it myself.

I was in too minds about using this wool for its intended purpose but decided I had nothing to loose. Otherwise the fabric would have been consigned to the stash never to see the light of day until it was finally disposed of. As the pattern had never been used before I was more than happy to sacrifice this wool if it turned out not to be a wearable muslin. Of course if I had my brain engaged when I made this it would have been underlined to protect me from the wool but I didn't so it isn't.

The pattern

This pattern is described as "Cosy at it’s finest! This super comfy cardigan features angled side pockets, a wide neckband and two length options. Inspired by a Fjord, a long narrow deep inlet."

Recommended fabrics are: medium weight jersey knits.

The pattern alterations

For style preference, to achieve a 44" long coat cardigan, I lengthened the back (3), and front band (5) pattern pieces by 23½" (including a 1" hem as the hem band wasn't used). The side front (2) and centre front (1) pattern pieces were lengthened by 2" because I wanted a deeper pocket. Then a new pattern piece was created to attach to the bottom of the side and centre front pieces, 12⅝" wide by 22¼" long. I also lengthened the sleeves by 4" plus a 2" hem instead of using the sleeve cuff.

The height of the front band at the back of the neck was reduced by 1", and re-shaped to blend back into the original band width at the notch.  I did this to remove the rolled edge of the shawl collar as I felt it was too small to get a really full shawl collar so would rather have a stand-up collar.

I used the size small for the bust and waist grading out to the size large at the hips. Measuring over the dress I was wearing at the time this gave me 1" of ease at the bust, 3" at the waist and 3" at the hip. I kept the ease at the waist and hips the same to try and give the illusion of a waist through a little bit of shaping.

The only alteration I made for fit was a 1½" sway back adjustment. As the pattern has raglan sleeves I didn't do my normal forward shoulder adjustment.

For the future the length of the front band needs to be reduced by 2" so that the collar snugs into the back of the neck.  Not quite sure how to tackle this change on the front band pattern piece as it is cut double width and folded in half. Maybe it is as easy as reducing the overall length of the pattern piece by 2" and stretching it more around the neck. Think this will be a trial and error experiment next time I make this cardigan.

Top left: protruding back collar; top right; collar hugging back of neck
Bottom left: dart created in neckband; bottom right the wedge removed from the neckband

I was able to alter this in the finished garment because the selvedge of the wool fabric was used at the outer edge rather than folding the band in half. At the centre back seam a 2" dart was made by sewing 1" further in at the selvedge tapering to nothing at the neck edge.

The sewing

This was sewn on the overlocker with red thread rather than black to emphasise the lines of the cardigan. Even though it is only visible on the inside I was still slightly fixated on the whole coral imagery, and as I was making it I saw the seam lines as a nod to the coral branches. Now it is made and I have taken pictures of the inside it looks nothing like branches.

Inside the Fjord elongated red cardigan

Amazingly I even followed the instructions as I made this. They were good apart from only sometimes mentioning to press the seams. On the positive side when they did mention pressing the seam they told you which direction to press it, very useful for beginner sewers.

Outfit of the day

It isn't really the weather for this as an outfit of the day. I have carried it to Wellington on a couple of occasions and wore it more indoors than out. Our building is super air conditioned to the point of freezing the occupants and here in NZ we are not used to the concept of taking a layer off to go outside.

Instead of an outfit of the day here are my beloved and I at the end of a very arduous photo shoot. The difficulty was I kept shutting my eyes as I squinted at the sun and beloved couldn't see the screen of my phone very well when taking the pictures. Those pictures where I had my eyes open often had strange shadows across my face and outfit which made it difficult to see the lines of the cardigan. Many photos later we had enough to use for the blog so a very big thank you to my other half for his patience and perseverance.