Ever since I took up sewing (during the initial lockdown), I have been curious about the Cashmerette pattern range because of the fact they are drafted with curves in mind. As a curvy woman, I probably should have jumped on them, but I have never made one of the patterns until a couple of weeks ago when I used the Alcott Dress pattern to sew up a dress for New Year’s Eve.
I think what originally put me off sewing the patterns was the fact that I was not personally drawn to the styles (preferring more vintage-inspired garments) but when I needed a plain dress pattern to set off a rather fancy fabric, the Alcott dress suited my purposes – well, what a revelation it was. Encouraged by this, I dug out another Cashmerette pattern from my stash when I received this fabric from Minerva as part of their Ambassador programme – the Fuller Cardigan.
This fabric has such an interesting texture – I had never sewn with a waffle knit before and was surprised to find such a dense fabric had such a good amount of stretch (although the pattern only calls for 15% but this fabric has more). It was really easy to sew with, too… until I got to the buttonholes but the less I say about that the better. I have never had any issues with buttonholes but, for some reason, my machine just didn’t like creating them in this fabric, even when using a stabilizer. With the thickness and the weight of this fabric, this cardigan could easily work as a lightweight jacket in spring and summer!
The pattern has a couple of lovely features which help with the fit for curvier figures; the bust dart helps to create that curve over the bust area rather than hanging straight; there is a pattern piece with a built-in full bicep adjustment so, for people like me, that takes away a fitting issue. It has two length variations – waist and hip – and a choice of ¾ or full-length sleeves. I went for the cropped length and sleeves as I tend to wear mostly fuller skirts / dresses and I loved the little cuff detail on the shorter sleeves.
If anything could be considered ‘wrong’ about the pattern, I think it is due to my personal taste. I prefer my clothes to be fitted at the waist – it is that classic vintage silhouette that I am trying to emulate and there is quite a lot of ease built into this pattern. In fact, I already downsized from what the Cashmerette calculator tells me is my size (I actually needed to downsize for the Alcott dress as well – picture included for reference) before starting out and I would need to downsize again at the neckline by one size and possibly two sizes at the waist to get my preferred fit (which I am used to with the Jennifer Lauren Handmade Juniper cardigan, being my usual cropped cardigan to go to and I must have about 8 of those in my wardrobe).
Nevertheless, this will be a well-used layering piece over the next weeks and months. It’s hard for me to resist a classic floral print; and I also love an opportunity to use my Pigeon Wishes button collection which is what I have used to finish off this make.
