A few months ago, I kept seeing sailor knot bracelets on Etsy. I'm the sort of person who likes someone else's genius idea and then copies it rather than paying them what they deserve! So when my sister asked me if I could make anything with a pair of white and silver shoelaces she had, I said "Yeah!" I made four identical sailor knot bracelets, one for me and each of my sisters. Then I googled the term "knot" and came up with images for all sorts of beautiful, elegant knots that would make fabulous bracelets. I only made a couple more simple ones, but a chunky, smooth cord reveals the beauty in even the most basic, ordinary knot. I rummaged through my yarn/cord box and found a red lanyard, which I made into the anklet in the photo. (I knew I was saving that lanyard for something!)
I've had this striped knit jersey fabric in my stash for over a year. I often feel hesitant to cut up fabric, because once I do, I can't change my mind and make something else! I decided on shrugs because I have a few solid brown tops that desperately need a complementary second layer. The reason I like stripes is the way they make shapes look wider or longer and the way they interact with each other when they converge. No lines straight across and parallel for me! I cut the shrug on the bias so that the stripes would point up to the shoulder and make my shoulders look wider, which I think they do. I cut the sleeves on the bias too so that from the front they also point up and draw the eye toward the shoulder from the other direction.
What I learned in making this shrug:
- It might be a good idea to let bias pieces that will be stitched to a straight of grain piece hang after cutting and before sewing . It's not extremely noticeable, but the front did stretch out a little- except where the front binding was stabilizing it, creating a few stress wrinkles.
- I should have made the stripes on the left and right of the front binding symmetrical. I thought about all the other pieces, but it's these stripes that are most crucial because they're right next to each other and horizontal too. Oh, well, I just won't pull it closed when I wear it.
- The stretch stitches on my machine never turn out well at all, so I've learned how to use the zigzag for knits. I put it on a stitch width of 1 mm. That allows the seam enough give that it at least doesn't break when I pull the garment on (when I'm not in a hurry anyway). When using a zigzag stitch on a knit, it helps to stretch the fabric a little. Not a habit I've really picked up since I got most of my experience sewing knits on a serger at school and we were taught NOT to stretch the fabric. If the fabric still looks tense around the seam, I pin one end of the seam down on my ironing board and gently stretch the seam while steaming it with my iron. That eased some of the tension in the shrug, especially at the back, which hangs beautifully now!
- I intended for the front binding to reach all the way to the hem, but I forgot to include the 2-inch shoulder pieces in my calculation. How long will it take me to learn to measure properly?! I like the way it looks though. Chance is sometimes a better designer than I am.
I couldn't wait to take pictures once I was done with the shrug (Thus all the sewing mess in the background.) I'm going to keep it new until the fall weather comes along. I'm not sure I'll have much money or time to sew things then so it will be nice to treat myself.
I really like the perfect chevrons at the back.
I made an asymmetrical peplum tank top out of this material too, but I'll save that one for another post.
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