5 years ago
My First Bertha Cardigan!
The Tilly and The Buttons Make It Simple Book is something that I have been slowly picking projects out of for a while. Every time I see other people make something from the book, it gives me that itch to get it out again and choose a project. For my most recent project from the book, I chose to make the Bertha Cardigan. I know that I have written about my wardrobe gaps before and this make addressed another one of my gaps. I am missing a couple of fun cardigans in my wardrobe. I have a few plain t-shirts and tank tops that could do with an extra layering piece over the top of them when it is a little cooler.
I was looking for a fun fabric on the Minerva site when I came across this amazing fleece backed sweatshirt knit. I thought that this was a really interesting fabric, initially for the cool bug print, but I then realized that it would be amazing to use in a way that would show off both sides of the fabric. When the fabric arrived with me, it was so hard to choose which side I liked the best because they are both great! The fleece side is almost like a short hair faux fur and very soft. The sweatshirt knit side is so soft and cuddly too!
The Bertha pattern was perfect to use with this fabric because it had a few options for using both sides of the fabric. The raglan style sleeves, the neckband, the cuffs and the waistband all gave me an opportunity to play with the layout of the fabric. I really wanted to display both sides of the fabric so I decided to use each side as a solid block and colour block the cardigan. You can see that I used the pink sweatshirt side for the front and back bodice, and the cuffs. I then used the black fleece side for the waistband, neckband and arms.
I cut a size four in this cardigan and didn’t make any other alterations. The cardigan is almost like a batwing cardigan with those wide raglan style sleeves and when I had looked around for inspiration, I could see that the fit did look quite big and baggy on some makes. In Tilly patterns, I am normally between a size 4 and 5, but I decided to go with the size 4 for this one so that it wasn’t too oversized. I think it actually came out great as it doesn’t look too big but still fits nicely.
This was another pattern where I was able to stitch it all up on the overlocker. The construction is actually reasonably straight forward and has very few steps to complete. I think the hardest part was actually deciding on which side of the fabric to use where! I do think that the combination that I finished with looks really effective. In hindsight, I should have used black overlocker thread to make this a fully reversible garment! I have a tiny bit of this fabric left over so I think I’m going to make a cute pair of leggings for my daughter!
#minervamakes #minervamakers #isew #memade #memades #sewing #sewist #sewists #sewinginspo #sewinginspiration #sew #sewcialist #sewingproject #sewingprojects #sewingideas #sewingprojectideas #sewingpatterninspo #lovesewing #ilovesewing #sewsewsew #sewersgonnasew #makersgonnamake #sewaholic #sewaholics #shareyoursewing #sewinglove #handmadewardrobe #handmade #handmadeclothes #isewmyclothes #diyclothes #dressmaking #fabricinspo #seamstress #memadeeveryday #imakemyclothes #fashion #fashioninspo #memadewardrobe #memadefashion #diyfashion #diywardrobe #fashionsewing #indiepatterns #indiesewingpatterns #tillyandthebuttons #sewingbertha #cardigans #sweatshirtknit #reversiblefabric #fleecebacked #fleecelined
The Tilly and The Buttons Make It Simple Book is something that I have been slowly picking projects out of for a while. Every time I see other people make something from the book, it gives me that itch to get it out again and choose a project. For my most recent project from the book, I chose to make the Bertha Cardigan. I know that I have written about my wardrobe gaps before and this make addressed another one of my gaps. I am missing a couple of fun cardigans in my wardrobe. I have a few plain t-shirts and tank tops that could do with an extra layering piece over the top of them when it is a little cooler.
I was looking for a fun fabric on the Minerva site when I came across this amazing fleece backed sweatshirt knit. I thought that this was a really interesting fabric, initially for the cool bug print, but I then realized that it would be amazing to use in a way that would show off both sides of the fabric. When the fabric arrived with me, it was so hard to choose which side I liked the best because they are both great! The fleece side is almost like a short hair faux fur and very soft. The sweatshirt knit side is so soft and cuddly too!
The Bertha pattern was perfect to use with this fabric because it had a few options for using both sides of the fabric. The raglan style sleeves, the neckband, the cuffs and the waistband all gave me an opportunity to play with the layout of the fabric. I really wanted to display both sides of the fabric so I decided to use each side as a solid block and colour block the cardigan. You can see that I used the pink sweatshirt side for the front and back bodice, and the cuffs. I then used the black fleece side for the waistband, neckband and arms.
I cut a size four in this cardigan and didn’t make any other alterations. The cardigan is almost like a batwing cardigan with those wide raglan style sleeves and when I had looked around for inspiration, I could see that the fit did look quite big and baggy on some makes. In Tilly patterns, I am normally between a size 4 and 5, but I decided to go with the size 4 for this one so that it wasn’t too oversized. I think it actually came out great as it doesn’t look too big but still fits nicely.
This was another pattern where I was able to stitch it all up on the overlocker. The construction is actually reasonably straight forward and has very few steps to complete. I think the hardest part was actually deciding on which side of the fabric to use where! I do think that the combination that I finished with looks really effective. In hindsight, I should have used black overlocker thread to make this a fully reversible garment! I have a tiny bit of this fabric left over so I think I’m going to make a cute pair of leggings for my daughter!
#minervamakes #minervamakers #isew #memade #memades #sewing #sewist #sewists #sewinginspo #sewinginspiration #sew #sewcialist #sewingproject #sewingprojects #sewingideas #sewingprojectideas #sewingpatterninspo #lovesewing #ilovesewing #sewsewsew #sewersgonnasew #makersgonnamake #sewaholic #sewaholics #shareyoursewing #sewinglove #handmadewardrobe #handmade #handmadeclothes #isewmyclothes #diyclothes #dressmaking #fabricinspo #seamstress #memadeeveryday #imakemyclothes #fashion #fashioninspo #memadewardrobe #memadefashion #diyfashion #diywardrobe #fashionsewing #indiepatterns #indiesewingpatterns #tillyandthebuttons #sewingbertha #cardigans #sweatshirtknit #reversiblefabric #fleecebacked #fleecelined