Summer wraps - tutorial

     A week or two ago when I made these cardigans, a couple of you asked for a tutorial. All I need is an excuse to sew something so here it is. I made these sleeveless, but sleeves can easily be added using these instructions. I used lightweight knit material for both of these. Use stretch lace for the lace cut out if you wish to do that one. I'm going to use mostly sketches to explain this one, because I didn't feel like the pictures made a whole lot of sense.
     First I'm going to show you how to make this one.

     Start out by tracing a shirt or tank and cut out.

     Take one piece of your cut out and cut it in half. These will be your front pieces.

     Round out the corners of your neckline.

     Now cut out the following pieces. Two "scarf" pieces for either side of the front and one neck piece for the top of the back. (I am calling them "scarf pieces" because they look like a long scarf sewn to the edges of the wrap) You can angle your "scarf" pieces down, up or leave them straight. I chose to do mine angled up, but I've seen them the other ways as well.

     Sew your shoulder seams and side seams. (note: if you are adding sleeves do so now) Sew one long "scarf" piece to the neck piece and then to the other long "scarf" piece.  This will look like a long strip of fabric.

     Sew this piece to your wrap making sure your angled pieces are facing the way you want them. Try to line up the two seams with the shoulder seams. At this point you can be done or you can finish the edges some how. I chose to lettuce edge mine.

     To lettuce edge, sew a zigzag stitch set to the widest it will go along the edges. Stretch out the material as you sew. It will curl the edges. It works the best if your material has a four way stretch. Mine had only a two way stretch so some of the edge are slightly more curly than other parts.
     All done!

     The lace cut out one is very similar. Cut out your shirt pieces as above minus the "scarf" portion. On your back piece cut out whatever size portion you want to be lace. Use that as your pattern to cut out the lace.

      Sew the lace into the shirt and top stitch around it. I used my serger to sew the lace in, but if you don't have one just use a zigzag stitch.

      Sew a piece of binding across the top of the lace portion. This is how to make binding.

     The binding will look like this.



     Now sew the shoulder seams and the side seams. I didn't do anything to the edges on this one.    

     The same general method can result in a hundred different looks based on how much variety you add to sleeves, neck, edges and so on.
Happy Sewing!


Linking to:
The Freckled Laundry