Pattern review: One Cardigan by Serger Pepper

My friend Irene from Serger Pepper is at it again with a wonderful versatile and upcycling-friendly pattern: the One Cardigan for girls*!

Just look at how adorable this cardigan is! I love how easy it is to personalize Irene’s patterns! With a pattern with so many possible variations, it’s no surprise that every single one of her testers came up with a totally different look.

And another thing I love about her patterns is that they’re always refashioning-friendly! I made my One Cardigan with three fabrics: an upcycled sweater, an old XXL T-shirt, and a totally irregularly-shaped piece of organic cotton velour left over from cloth pad-making.

Want a good laugh? Here I am wearing that ill-fitting sweater about 10 years ago on a train to Venice. What fashion sense, wearing that striped scarf with that sweater… yikes! The hair in my mouth and extra pimples are pretty nice, too. Ha ha!

I cut up the sweater for the sleeves and hood. The t-shirt became the bodice and hood linings, as well as the little tie and the covered buttons. Despite having checked that my pattern pieces fit onto the velour scrap properly about three times before cutting, they obviously didn’t all fit on when I actually started cutting. So I pieced the little bit of sweater fabric left onto the bottom of the front bodice pieces, and I just LOVE the result! It’s like a little faux-belt that breaks up the cream-colored velour. I was actually kind of bummed that there wasn’t enough sweater fabric left to do the same in the back! Isn’t it so cool when a mistake leads to a really great idea? For me, that’s part of the fun of sewing!

Let’s talk about the possible variations. I sewed a regular hood because that’s all I could fit in on the sweater, but there’s also an adorable long pixie hood variation. Or you could just leave the hood out completely.

Likewise, you can sew short or long sleeves, or none at all. This is wonderful, because just by changing fabrics you can make a cardigan for any season! (By the way, I made my sleeves extra long on purpose, that way Sofia can wear this for more time. Too-short sleeves are one of my pet peeves!)

There are two front bodice pieces, which overlap. You can just leave them as they are so that top flap folds down, showing the lining fabric. But I wanted the option to close up the flaps. The pattern describes how to add an elastic loop to slip over a button, if so desired, but I decided to change it a little with two buttons (covered in the t-shirt fabric) and actual buttonholes sewn into the top bodice piece. My daughter prefers wearing it buttoned up, and I totally forgot to take a picture of what it looks like unbuttoned.

The simple tie closes up this wrap-style cardigan. A few testers used buckles or buttons instead of the bow, and I loved the effect of their cardigans! My ties are a little shorter than instructed in the pattern. Also, the cardigan normally closes up more in the front, but I made a mistake with the side seams (which was totally my fault, not the patterns’s) and therefore ended up losing two centimeters on each side.

The entire bodice and hood are fully lined, and you could also line the sleeves and petal skirt, too, like some testers did. I added a strip of ric-rac inside the hood (as Irene suggested I try doing) to cover some really bad staystitching I did. (How many times have I told myself to never sew after dark because I will inevitably make a million mistakes?!)

The petal skirt! The two overlapping pieces are so easy to sew onto the bodice and give that extra bit of cuteness that little girls love, without going overboard with frillyness! (I am NOT a frilly person.) My skirt isn’t lined, so you can see the nice drape of the fabric.

And it has just that little bit of twirl in it that makes it so much fun to wear!

Another thing that this pattern has are shorten/lengthen lines, which are the points where you should make pattern pieces shorter or longer if necessary. And with my girl, this is ALWAYS necessary. She’s a very thin 8-year-old, so her correct size going by her bust measurement was size 6, but the correct length was size 8. So I cut out the size 6 pieces, cut them apart at the lengthen lines, and inserted some extra paper in to make the pieces long enough for her. This is a feature that many patterns have, and one that I appreciate a LOT! Being able to make custom-fit clothing for my kids is wonderful!

So Sofia and I agree: the One Cardigan pattern* gets two thumbs up! I love the versatility of this pattern and Sofia loves how much fun she can have in it!

What do you say? Would you like to get this pattern, too? Well, then head on over One Thimble, a digital magazine with bunches of great patterns, projects and tutorials, and buy either the whole Issue #6 or purchase it individually! And if you sign up for the One Thimble mailing list, you will get a $2 (Australian) discount for the first day that Issue #6 is out (today, February 13)! So hurry on up and get it today!

**update** This pattern is no longer available through One Thimble, however you can purchase it directly from the Serger Pepper pattern shop*!

And speaking of patterns, in case you missed it, make sure you check out my FREE Carry Everywhere Shopping Bag pattern, made from an unexpected upcycled material!

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