Useful autumn sewing

Are you getting sick of olive/brown jersey yet? I hope not because here it is again.

I made this raglan sleeved cardigan in thickest fabric in this colour I had in my stash. No crazy shape experiments this time, just a useful piece for my autumn/winter wardrobe. And doesn't it look lovely with my new favorite colours?

In fact, this is more experimental for me than it might seem. I always thought long, wide cardigans didn't work for me. On a small busted girl like me, those from the shops look like sacks. However, I'm still very pleased with the look and fit of last year's coat... So I thought I could apply roughly the same principles to a cardigan.

I thought about using the same sort of square set-in sleeve, but decided against it. Actually I sort of free-handed these raglan sleeves. Definately NOT recommended in most other circumstances, but I figured I sort of know what I'm doing and knits are very forgiving...

I also added a sort of kangaroo pocket (I normally don't often do patch pockets at all and certainly not on knits) which is really cozy. The sleeves could have been a little longer, but they're OK. Neck and sleeve bands were stretched to fit, the bottom band wasn't. The closure is with jersey snaps.

I'm fairly pleased with the overall result. As I suspected: with a shape like this, it's all about proportion.

I also like the fact that it can be worn in several ways: not just open or closed but also belted and there's even a strange thing where close the bottom snap behind you back which looks nice (sorry, no pictures of that).

Seeing all these new olive/brown things, I realised they would look really good with and extra added pop of colour. So, from a scrap of red cotton (plain woven cotton), I made this little camisole. I just used the top bit of the pattern for my not very succesful bias cut pinstripe dress.

Bias cut panels with side and center front and back seams, bust darts. Self fabric bias tape around the top edges and ribbon shoulder straps (because by the time I got to those, I had run out of fabric).

The cotton will get a bit softer after being washed a few times, so I think it's OK. Yeah, autumn/winter colours!