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McCalls 6996 - cozy cardigan

I have been planning this cardigan from McCall's 6996 from this beautiful cream stripped French Terry remnant for months. It hasn't been very cold in North Carolina this winter but I made it anyway! I'm just wearing it as a jacket instead of a cardigan :)


Sorry it's a bit wrinkled in my photos - I'll update with better ones later on, I had worn it a whole day before I took these so it needs a steam!

Fabric
I used a 1 7/8 yd remnant that was 60" wide; I had just enough to squeeze a medium size of this pattern onto my fabric. I made view D (straight hem) and I'm not sure I'd have had enough for the peplum views; the pattern envelope suggests exactly the amount of fabric I had before pre-washing it for shrinkage. To make it work I actually had to piece my belt because my fabric wasn't long enough.

Now, because my fabric was stripped this also led me to use a little more as I tried to align the stripes at the shoulder seam and my stripes were not printed on the grain, so I cut my pieces on the stripe rather than parallel to the selvage. Normally I'd say grain line but I am actually not sure how straight my grain was because I didn't check; knowing I wanted to follow the stripes. As it was a knit and the stripes aren't printed on surely they follow the grain? but like I said, I didn't check 😐 I know they weren't parallel to the selvage!

The French Terry I used is from LA Finch Fabrics, I am addicted to their "end of bolt" deals. It is very cozy and had just enough stretch for this pattern.

Pattern Directions and Fit
The directions were really simple and straight forward, no complains here! I actually put it together out of order a little bit because I wanted to avoid moving my thread back and forth from my serger to my coverstich machines (I ordered another 3 cones of white thread to avoid this going forward!) but it still came together with very little trouble.

I made a straight size medium; however my measurements in the waist/hip fall into the larger size ranges but those aren't in the same envelope. I knew this when I bought the pattern but also that I usually fit a straight medium in McCall's patterns. Before sewing, I measured the pattern pieces and felt like there was enough ease for me.

However, after sewing this sweater didn't have the wrap around coziness that I was looking for! I wanted to be engulfed in soft fabric and sit by a fireplace with a cup of cocoa! Now I did make a straight Medium instead of the larger hip I measure, but I looked again at the sample on the pattern envelope and my fit is the same as it shows. I actually didn't finish my belt because I was impatient to wear it and then when I washed it, I had a little mishap which changed the color of the cardigan, so if I'd finished the belt, it wouldn't have matched anymore. Whoops.

I will very likely make this pattern again but I think I will hold off until I buy the larger size range of
the pattern, so I can make it really big and over-sized!

Update: I made a second version after buying the larger size range of the pattern. Because it would be easier and I wanted a little more room around my arms, I made a size large bust and graded to a XL hip. This one is almost perfect for me!  I think the shoulders are now just a little too wide, maybe 1/2". If I make a third version, I think I will either grade to the medium shoulder (since I have both pattern sized) or do a narrow shoulder adjustment on the large.

I also had to piece the belt again, the pattern piece is just too long!

This second version was made with a French Terry Rayon from Olga's Closet. It's a little thinner than the cream version and perfect for Spring.



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