DIY Cardigan Tutorial

For the last few weeks I have spent endless amounts of time customising cardigans by adding pearls, bows, buttons, ribbons, sequins and flowers. It is my latest interest, I enjoy designing the cardigans and I love the satisfaction of completing an item. It can be time consuming but I normally work on them in front of the television at night so that makes it fun and relaxing. I started this idea with my family and they helped me get started and come up with some ideas and now it has really taken off from there. As I have said before, I am often surprised by the extent to which the price of an item increases simply because it has some sparkle or detailing. I also noticed how simple it is to completely change the look of an item just sewing on some detailing or even changing the buttons. The first one I completed was my sequin cardigan which I posted here.

For this post I thought I would show you how I made this particular cardigan. It is very simple. I took some photos as I was sewing but please tell me if there is anything I should explain further.

What you will need:- a cardigan
- ribbon or trim (or whatever you would like to sew onto the cardigan). I bought 2 metres of this trim and I had a small amount left over at the end.
-buttons
-thread
-needle
-pins
-scissors
-sewing machine (not essential since you can hand sew everything if you would like although this would take much longer).
Step 1: place the trim on the cardigan, wherever you would like it to be stitched. For mine, I placed the trim down the front on both sides. Pin the trim into place making sure you use enough pins to keep it in position. Make sure you leave a couple of centimetres extra which hang off the buttom of the cardigan which you will later sew to the underside of the garment.

Step 2: using the sewing machine, attach the trim to the cardigan. This is achieved by sewing straight lines down both edges of the trim in all areas where you have pinned the material. Take extra care to ensure that the cardigan remains flat at all times. (This has caused me major problems in the past where the material bunches and I had to spend ages unpicking my sewing).


Step 3: If the sewing lines are not particularly close to the edges of the trim, hand stitch the edges in a few places. This can be achieved at largely spaced intervals. It is not essential since you have already machine sewn the trim to the cardigan but it makes the trim sit flatter against the material.


Step 4: fold over and hand sew any excess trim to the underside of the garment.


Step 5: remove the buttons

Step 6: sew on new buttons which match the design of the cardigan...

... until all the buttons have been changed


...and your cardigan is complete!





I would love to see pictures if anyone decides to try this or something similar. If you have any questions then ask me in the comments section or email me at tia_cherie@yahoo.com