A Wooly Seamwork Oslo Cardigan

And now we come back to the winter-y posts! Christmas is near and it’s time to snuggle up and get warm! And what makes me feel super snuggly and super warm?

A Seamwork Oslo Cardigan made of wool!

It certainly did its job during this photo shoot as it was 90 EFFING DEGREES outside (yes, same photo shoot as my rayon Ginger Jeans…). Now I completely understand how real models feel when they have to shoot clothing out of season – bikinis in the winter and coats in the summer! Granted I shot this in November, but you get the point. #desertwoes

Look, I even managed to tap into my awesome acting skills to pretend like it was actually chilly outside!

…but I guess it’s not that convincing with the sun burning a hole in my scalp.

ANYHOO

I bought this wool remnant at my local SAS, thinking I was going to make a Seamwork Denali out of it. Then I got frantic and wanted to make more room in my fabric stash and this beast took up a LOT of room. I had good luck with the Oslo before, so I said what the hey and cut out a new cardigan for myself.

I sewed a straight size M and added twill tape to the shoulder seams. The fabric is not stretchy at all (the pattern calls for knits) but I can move around pretty well as the pattern has a good bit of ease.

Isn’t the texture to die for? Actually, all I could think about as I was sewing this was that it was going to look like a coworker’s well-known, erm… ugly… sweater that comes out every winter in the office. (Sorry, bro!) I was hoping this would be more “so-ugly-it’s-cute” and I think I may have succeeded? Either way, I love this darn thing!

The only downside is that it is itchy (hello, wool) but I make sure I wear long sleeves underneath so I’m not a scratchy monster. It is so warm and comfortable otherwise!

I couldn’t pattern-match the stripes like I wanted because I literally had just enough yardage of this to have a tiny pile of fabric left after cutting. It doesn’t bother me too much because it’s hard to notice if you’re wearing it!

Also, please excuse the many cross-armed poses. I was wondering why the collar piece wouldn’t stay put until a week later when I realized I forgot to under stitch the darn thing! It has since been fixed and now the front piece lies beautifully flat… kind of the picture below minus me forcing it flat!

I hemmed and hawed about adding buttons to keep it closed, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to when I was making it so I didn’t interface the pieces. If I decide I want a closure in the future, I think I’ll make a tie belt out of different fabric (not enough of this one left!) and make thread loops in the side seams to keep the belt in place while untied. But for now, this’ll do!

I’m pretty excited that I now have a good selection of handmade cardigans ranging from slim and chic (1 and 2) to bulky and snuggly (3 and this one!). Maybe one day I’ll take the plunge and make a real-deal coat! Maybe…

What do you make to keep warm in the winter? Share with me! Give me ideas! 🙂

-RED