cardigan: Named Clothing Esme cardigan (simplified hack) in a brushed sweater knit from StyleMaker Fabrics

pants: Style Arc Tully pants in a lightweight bleached denim from Stonemountain and Daughter Fabrics

tank top and shoes: Target

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I have two new handmade makes in this outfit, both of which I had very different experiences making!

First - these Tully pants. Remeber my obsession with the Spring Shorts over the summer, and how I made 5 different verisons of them. Yeah, these are the fall verison of that for me. They are peeeeeeerfect. And I’ll probably make another couple of pairs before fall is over. I had to make no alterations and the fit is perfect straight from the pattern. I really like it made up in this lightweight 6.5 oz bleached denim, but now I’m kind of curious what it would be like made up in a slightly heavier denim to more like a pair of fancy jeans.

And then there was this cardigan. Oh man, this cardigan. It took me three days to finish this thing up because it just was not going well. I wanted to make an Esme cardigan but cut short just below the pockets. Literally nothing went right in the process. And I realize now that It’s not anything to do with the pattern, but with my fabric selection. The pattern calls for a medium to heavier weight fabric with very little stretch, and I chose this very lightweight, very stretchy and drapey and droopy sweater knit. As a result, the pockets drooped, the placket was all twisted and funky, and the whole thing just drooped and was sad looking. I ended up cutting off the placket and cuffs, and just turned under the raw edge with a little knit hem tape for stability. I also stitched the pocket bags to the front of the cardigan, so that the stitching is visible from the front. This helps the pockets not droop quite so much. In the end, It doesn’t really look like an Esme, more like a much more simplified version of it. But for all the issues, I still think it turned out pretty good in the end!