Sweater Proportion Update

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I’ve had this sweater in my closet for about a year & a half now. It’s the only patterned sweater I have (surprisingly). I keep reminding myself every time I wear it that I need to get more patterned cardigans! The sparkly buttons really drew me in in the first place. I don’t really own a lot of items like this, but I love it!

For some reason, I feel like the proportions on this cardigan are slightly off for my body. I want the cardi to be either 4 inches longer or 4 inches shorter. Same with the sleeves. They’re just about 2 inches shy of being a full sleeve, but they’re too long to be considered a 3/4. The cardi tends to stretch a little bit during the day, so pushing up the sleeves is something I’m constantly doing through out the day. You’d think it was a nervous tick.

This morning while getting ready to go out to lunch with my parents & sisters, I tried on a bunch of cardigans with this tank, but I wasn’t really liking anything. This cardigan was the best, but didn’t quite go with its proportions. It was just slightly shorter than the tank, so it hit at a funny spot where it made me look bulky in funny places. It was time to re-think this cardigan. I spent about 20 minutes pinning (5 of that 20 was photographing my steps) and sewing to shorten the cardi. I like the length SOOOOO much better now! Here’s how I did it:

I didn’t want to make a new hem, so I measured out how much I wanted to shorten the sleeve & waistband by, then halfed it. with the cardi right side out, I folded the sleeve up until the end of the cuff & the fold read 3 inches. I pinned my fold in place & sewed along the hemmed line.

From there, I folded the cuff back over & ironed the seam down – use the highest setting your garment will allow. Then I cut off the excess & ironed again.

Looks pretty flawless, no? Isn’t that easy peasy? I’ve seen some tutorials online use this same technique for hemming denim. It’s a pretty quick way to shorten something & keep it looking professional. I love these results.

These proportions look so much better in my opinion. I think I’ll be getting a lot more use out of this cardigan now. What do you think? Do you have cardigans that hit at awkward spots? For outfit details & info, check out the fashion blog.

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    1. Katie says:

      I’ve seen the denim tutorial, but it never even crossed my mind to do this to my sweaters! Thanks! When we’re done with pneumonia, I’m going to go through my closet. This is such a great and cheap way for me to update my wardrobe.

    2. madison says:

      cute! that looks a lot better! and i love your outfit!!

    3. Shaela says:

      I like the sleeves now, but I thought the length was fine before :)

    4. Very cute! Always a good thing to modify clothes so that you want to wear them, not leave them taking up space in the cupboard!

    5. erica says:

      awesome! i do like the new proportions much better. you did a great job!

    6. Amanda says:

      This is such a great trick! Thanks for coming up with it!

    7. Elaine says:

      love it! totally doing it this weekend.

    8. I love it! Now that is a witty idea. I have never thought about refashioning a cardigan because I am afraid of that material. And that outfit is great with 2 prints going on. I should be more brave! LOL I almost inboxed you what I refashioned last night. I did a bookbag for my daughter. You know because a Disney Princess or Dora one is just well…GAG. anyway here is the link to the bookbag. I could cry Im so pleased. What a nerd.
      http://laurachavous.blogspot.com/2011/08/bookbag-before.html

    9. VettyV says:

      The sweater looks great! Amazing what a difference a few inches makes!

    10. Bellesme says:

      omg I was hemming my denim b/c the lady in Turkey said thats how you should do it for denim but b/c I don’t have sewing machine I’m doing it by hand… and its taking a while… but I’m desperate =P
      Bellesme

    11. Marissa says:

      i am so jealous of your skills and your style. :) is that wrong to admit? plus, those shoes rock.

    12. […] It just had a bit of a funky fit, which I felt was liveable for 5o cents. But once I found this brilliant cardigan hemming tutorial on Pinterest, I couldn’t resist. (I didn’t take before pics, but just know that I have almost the […]

    13. […] used this super simple tutorial over at I Still Love You and it probably only took 30 minutes to alter both […]

    14. […] SWEATER PROPORTION UPDATE at I Still Love You /* Filed Under: Tops · Tagged With: sweater proportion tutorial, sweater refashion, sweater update […]

    15. gin says:

      I have done this for years, it always worked for me also

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