City girl Summer Cardigan sewing tutorial

This tutorial was originally posted as part of Summer of Skills series over at Brassy apply. Reposting it here now.

I sew clothes all the time...for my daughter.For me? Not so much. Even simple repairs like sewing on a button, or hemming a pair of pants languish for months in my unfinished pile, before they get to my machine. With that state of affairs, I signed up for Meg's SOS series, for "Something for Me" part - not sure what I was thinking. Maybe I was just too thrilled to guest post among such talented ladies that I couldn't think straight. Anyhow, after a lot of back and forth, I decided I wanted to make a summer cardigan...from T shirts. So far so good. Here's what I did...

Supplies:

1. A T shirt in size one larger than required
2. Grosgrain ribbon - 1 inch wide - 1 yard
3. Bleach Pen

Construction:

1. Take a Tshirt thats one size larger than me.

2. Fold in half along the width, cut out only the front part.

3. Remove the neck binding.

4. Cut the front neck into a V shape.

5. Serge along the neck and front opening. If you dont have a serger you could fold a small part inside, or you could even skip this step. Since knits do not fray...It will be ok to have a raw edge inside.

6. Fold the serged part inside ( about half inch). Sew a seam over it.

7. Cut two 10 inch long strips of 1 inch wide grosgrain ribbon.

8. Sew one end of the ribbon on the inside where the V shape of the neck ends.

The cardigan is done...now for the embellishments...I drove myself crazy on this one. Just nothing fit well with this faded purple color...I loved the color by itself, it had a very worn in, comfy, summerish feel... the only problem is that it also has a grandma(ish) feel. While I love grandmas, especially mine...I just don't think I'm quite there yet. I wanted some embellishment to bring the chic personality to this cardigan. However my usual friends...ruffles, laces, flowers, tulle were just too feminine for the washed out look of the original fabric...As I stood there, looking at the mess of tulle, lace and other coordinating fabrics...which just didn't work with it...a light-bulb went off in my head. Maybe its time I tried a bleach pen. The thought did cross my mind earlier...but at that point I was thinking paisleys and florals...which were just too predictable. But this time something else inspired me and I got excited.

Excited enough to run to the nearest target and get this...

And I doodled away...knowing fully well that there was no going back now.

Remember to draw your doodles in as thin a line possible, because they will become wider as they dry. Let it dry for two full days, don't try to speed this up, or you will have white spots in the areas that come in contact with the bleach. Don't ask me how I know.
If you find it difficult to draw thin lines after a while. Just screw the cap again shake well and try again, it should be better now. I don't know why it works, but that's how I did it.
Once the bleach dries completely, there will be some residue on the cardigan, to get rid of it, I scraped the design with a knife and then cleaned it with a lint roller.

Finally I got this...

I think I like it...I think I love it...as in..really really love it.
Meg, thanks for having me here...it was so much fun and I learned something new.