Banbury Cross cardigan

A design for a vintage-style cardigan for my son has been swimming around in my brain for the past few weeks. At first I thought I might try to design a knitting pattern. Then I woke up from that fantasy and realized I am not a knitter and Edmund would likely be grown and married before I finished such a project. Playing on my strengths as a seamstress, I thought I might try to sew a cardigan, but I was not willing to pay big bucks to order a sweaterknit fabric (and frankly, all the ones I've ever seen for sale are kinda ugly anyway). I had an "a-ha!" moment when I found this old J. Crew turtleneck sweater of mine stashed away in a bag of things to give away. On closer inspection, I discovered it had some moth holes so it wasn't really fit to sell or donate to a thrift store. But it is a beautiful, slate blue color and the fiber is fine quality 100% merino wool. So here is the obligatory "before" shot:


(This is not the actual sweater I repurposed, but the exact same style in a different colorway. I forgot to get a photo before I started cutting it up!)

And here is the "after":


This is basically a tot-sized grandpa cardigan... shawl collar, elbow patches, horn buttons (well, they're plastic but let's pretend). I love the way it turned out and it's roomy enough I think he'll be able to wear it even when he's in 2T clothes (he's about 18 mos. size right now). Sewing the sweater was basically like sewing any other knit. Tricky at times, but the stretch is forgiving.


Just so I could feel thrifty I went on the crewcuts website to see how much they're charging for their vintage-style sweaters for boys. Here's a similar one that's going for a hefty $72. I paid $1.61 for the buttons on Edmund's cardigan. Let the smugness ensue.


And now let me gush a little about my son. He'll be one year old a week from tomorrow and he's grown so BIG! He's been walking for about a month... the "drunken sailor" walk but walking nonetheless. His favorite activity is putting things in his mouth. Once he gets going gnawing/sucking/chewing on something his eyes glaze over and he goes to his happy baby place. I won't regale you with all the things I've found him sucking on that he shouldn't be.

He is so, so precious though, and full of energy and curiosity! I love being his mother. :)


[Edmund gallops off into the sunset!]