Cardigan Alterations

Here in the Sacramento area, we don't really have a cold winter.

In fact, here we are at the beginning of October and it just started cooling down today.

I bought this cardigan at Target on clearance a couple years ago when I was working at WF.  Long sleeved, black and white houndstooth pattern.  It's a great cardigan, but it hasn't been getting a lot of wear in the last few years because I don't like the long sleeves.  I'm more of a 3/4-length sleeve kind of girl.  

I asked my husband if he could watch J for a bit one evening so I could get in some sewing time and alter this cardigan a bit.  Being the sweet man he is, of course he agreed (and I think he was happy to see me using the sewing machine I insisted on buying because I insisted I'd use it but haven't really used much at all).

And so now I present to you: how to alter your cardigan from a long sleeve cardigan to a 3/4-length sleeve cardigan (or shorter, if you prefer)!

(I'm sorry I don't have a before picture.)

First: Get your cardigan and fold up your sleeve to the length that you'd like, but you want to include the bottom part of your cardigan sleeve (the part that's tighter and gathered) in your length so that your sleeve will looked finished and intentional.

Second: Get your straight pins out and pin that sleeve length in place.  

I only measured one sleeve on my arm to the length that I wanted.  I then pinned it and then measured the length of what I had pinned.  I then duplicated it on the other sleeve because I wanted both sleeves to match pretty close to perfectly.

Ok, sleeves pinned in place.  Start sewing around the sleeve at the base of the gathered part of the sleeve, just like the pictures below.

Your sleeve should look like this now:

Now you want to cut around the edge of your newly sewn seam to get rid of the extra fabric, like the picture below.

 You don't want your cardigan to fray or come apart at all, so if you have a surger, surge the edges.  If you don't, like me, then switch your machine to a zig-zag setting and sew around your new sleeve seams again.  Like this.

Rinse and repeat on the other sleeve. :)

Flip your sweater sleeve the right way out and there you have it!  You have a now shorter sleeved cardigan! 

This is what it looks like afterwards!  The 3/4-length sleeves are so much better!

Next up to get a revamp on my sewing machine is a pair of clearance pants from Target (too long) and a white shirt from Downeast Outfitters (too wide).

What kind of alterations have you done to turn your clothes from blah to WOW?