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The Fuller Cardigan by Cashmerette was released back in February and I was drawn to it’s features, BUT I was in full blown Brazilian summer at the time and just thinking about touching a sweater knit made me start sweating even more.

Autumn came in the southern hemisphere and it was the right time to make this lovely cardigan and I had some ideas to add a little sprinkle of details to make it special and have my touch.

The Features

Both views have common features: They have raglan sleeves with cuffs, shoulder darts on the sleeves, side bust darts on the front and the necklines are finished inside neatly with interfaced facings. There are button on the front as closure.

View A is longer and hits the hip, the facings are wider and the neckline forms a deeper V, the hem is turned up and finished at the center front with a mitered corner that includes the facing.

View B is cropped to the waist height, the facings are narrower, the neckline higher and rounded and hem bands finish the bottom.

My preference is neither views on their own. My winter is mild and my cardigans are my “coats” and for layering, I like them to reach mid knee length. The reason? so that the longer cardigan is always longer than my skirts and dresses that are above the knee. This is a personal style choice.

For styles that reach the hip, I prefer jackets and blazers and as for the cropped waist length version, this style does not suit my proportions. I am tall and have a short torso and a longer pelvic frame and legs. Garments that reach my waist highlight how short my torso is and also, I don’t sew or wear many full skirt styles.

Considering all of this, I decided on View A because I prefer the wider facings and deep V neckline. Plenty of length was added!

Sizing

Cashmerette has limited sizing from 12-32 US. I mention limited because it does not include sizes 0-10 in their range. There are three separate drafts per size for cup sizes that are grouped in “two”: C/D, E/F and G/H. Size 32 will accommodate a bust and hip circumference of 62″. There are two sleeve options: standard raglan sleeve and a full bicep sleeve that has 2″ extra ease on the bicep area. There is ZERO ease at the bust and approximately 3″ of positive ease at the hips.

Personal length considerations:

I am a size 14 and a C cup size, therefore sew the C/D cup option. From previous experience of sewing many other patterns (see a playlist of garments made with Cashmerette patterns on my channel HERE), I know the waist height is high or short for my body . I am taller than the 5ft 6″ dratted height at 5 ft 8″ and generally have a short torso for my height. BUT, Cashmerette does draft a shorter waist purposely and I discovered this in one of their own blog posts that details the reason why. See that blog post from the Cashmerette website HERE.

Considering the above, 1.5″ were added at the shorten and lengthen line above the waist. There is an official line on the pattern for this adjustment.

Because I wanted a long cardigan, I used the shorten and lengthen line at the bottom of the pattern pieces and added 11″ there. This means there is a total of 12.5″ or 31cm extra length for the cardigan to reach mid knee on my body. The lines of the cardigan are straight down. They don’t flare out.

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In regards to the cup size:

Having my cup size available in this brand does not mean that the drafted bust height will match mine. For every single pattern I sew from any brand, checking this aspect is a top priority because FIT is a priority. I’d love the bust dart to be sewn matching my bust height.

Performing flat measurements on a raglan style is trickier. The higher shoulder point used to measure bust height on styles with a full front piece is not available in raglan style, because the higher shoulder point is on the sleeve and not on the front piece. I did quick “paper fitting” (pinning the raglan sleeve on the front and the shoulder dart) and determined that the bust dart needed to be lowered by 1 1/4″ to be right for my body.

As seen above, I cut out the original dart and moved it down to my bust height. The little blue dot represents the pattern’s height and its relation to my body. This paper fitting had the sole purpose of checking this aspect and nothing else.

The sewing and construction considerations

While sewing, I tried the cardigan on before sewing the side seams that are actually one continuous stitch that also includes the raglan sleeve underarm seam. At this point, the lowered dart is pinned only. Checking that my adjustment is correct before sewing the dart is paramount. Who wants to seam rip? I sure don’t.

The placement was correct for my body. I could then sew the darts and the side seams and keep going. This took an extra 5 minutes and its an important step that can make all the difference. See below a side view. The dashed line represents where the original dart would have been on my body…. not great as it would’ve been over my bust.

About the facings:

They are interfaced and that’s awesome. It’s a step not to skip as they add structure to the garment. I used knit interfacing. I also did block fusing do prevent the facings turning out smaller.

The instructions mention turning the raw edge under by 3/8″ and top stitching as an option. I never enjoy the bulk this method can potentially create. Any method that will have two layers of fabric on the edge is a no-go, in my opinion. The other option is to serge the edges… yes, that’s less bulky and with matching thread, very dicreet.

Another option that I am not a fan of is cutting the facing and interfacing pieces separately, sewing them right sides together and then flipping them right sides out and THEN fusing them. This is thankfully not mentioned in this pattern. This method provides a clean finished edge, but a very bulky one at that.

Under-stitching the facing is mentioned as optional. Sadly, many sewists will skip this step and its such a great way to have beautiful turned in facings. Personally its a skip that I find very important and would never opt out of.

When top stitching down the facing, I chose a narrower distance from the edge. 1 1/4″ is what I prefer visually. The facing is about 3/8″ wider than that.

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The hacks

Faux Piping

I had matching leather look jersey and decided to create faux piping details to the raglan seams and the cuff of the sleeves. Little detail to highlight the features of the design. See the images below.

Long strips 1 1/4″ tall

Fold them lengthwise wrong sides together

The fabric is a structured knit, the long strips are cut normal “on the grain” (though knit fabric does not have a proper grain) and not on the bias. The strips will conform to the curves of the raglan shape.

Place the folded faux piping along the edge of the armscye of the back and front pattern pieces

A step above for neatness is to hand baste this on close to the edge

After having the faux piping basted on all the armscye of the front and back, construct the cardigan as usual. The raglan sleeve and the main pieces will sandwich the faux piping piece. The seam allowance is 3/8″ and there will be a small residue on the outside creating the “piping look”.

The same was done between the cuffs and the sleeve pieces.

The side slits with faux leather look details

Because my cardigan is 12.5″ longer, I thought side slits would create a nice detail. One aspect to consider is that my sweater knit has a “wrong side” that is the same color and that I like the look of. If it weren’t the case, side slits would not be an option for me.

How to get to this result shown above? This was an afterthought! the pattern has 3/8″ seam allowance and it had all been cut out when I decided I would like side slits. Sewing slits with 3/8″ SA is possible but NOT pretty, in my opinion. I see this in RTW clothing all the time and personally don’t enjoy the look. I should have cut the side seams wider where I wanted the slits, but obliviously it was too late for that.

I decided to cut “extensions” for the side seams with the same leather look jersey I had used for the faux piping details. They are 13″ long and this is the length of the slit from the bottom up. These are sewn to the 4 side seams to extend them.

The little raw area on the right side will be covered with a little 1.5″ square. I folded the edges in and hand basted them before top stitching them on the top of the slit.

Inside the slit, there is also a little raw area that I covered with a tiny amount of rayon self made bias tape for that little hidden pop of color. This was hand sewn on invisibly. See below.

Video footage with all the tutorials

This all is best explained through VIDEO and its all included in my vlog on my sewing channel below. Included are: a video pattern review, how to sew the faux piping, facings, side slits, lookbook and styling. See below:

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Let’s see it!

Here you can see my Fuller cardigan paired with a matching Presto Tunic lengthened into a dress. This is a pattern by Love Notions and I had needed a layering piece to match (See video about this dress HERE). This dress was the reason I chose this color sweater knit for this project. I also have matching 2″ heels yay! This style has a button closure feature….no matching buttons…. no buttons added 🙂

The Presto tunic dress is above my knee and the Fuller Cardigan a tad longer. That is the goal.

The length of the cardigan covers the hem of what I wear below completely and that is my style preference. I like the deep V neckline of the Fuller cardigan because it’s flattering and leaves the details of the dress underneath to be seen easily.

In the two photos above, I am wearing my Vivace Dolman dress made with pretty matching chiffon (See video about this dress HERE and my blog post HERE). This is dress is a tad shorter than my comfort level! That is my own fault because I forgot to add length to the dress, silly me (taller person issues and a brain freeze). Wearing my Vivace Dolman dress it on it’s own makes feel me self conscious, but with the longer cardigan on top, I feel it’s appropriate because only the front of my legs are shown, and not the back, as they are covered with the long cardigan. WIN!

In summary, the Fuller Cardigan was a great project, lots of fun that included adding my own personal style, ideas for discreet little details that makes this garment more unique. I enjoyed the pattern and will surely make more in the longer style and with different details I can think of along the way.

Happy sewing!

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DISCLAIMER: I Purchased my own fabric for all the garments shown here.

I have affiliate links in this post ONLY to the Love Notions patterns mentioned (Presto and Vivace). If you click on these links and purchase, at no cost to you, I receive a small commission that helps finance my sewing, blog and Youtube channel. Cashmerette does not have an affiliate program

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