Oslo Tribal Print Cardigan

The past few mornings I've been getting out of bed and running to put on warmer clothes. 65 degrees in the morning? Say it aint so but it feels like fall is coming. To be honest, I love the summer heat. It's glorious and I know most people complain but I will take heat waves over snow storms any day. The only thing that makes me look forward to fall is the fashion and the beautiful colors.

Now that the temps are going down, my everyday wardrobe is going back to jeans and sweaters. I always have a few cardigans/sweaters close by because I get cold easily but when I realized that there are only a few on constant rotation in my closet, I knew I needed to make a new one.

I found this awesome tribal print in the remnant bin at JoAnns. It was about a yard and I thought I would have enough for Oslo, the cardigan I've been wanting to make from Seamwork Magazine. Turns out it wasn't enough so onto fabric.com I went to get a solid black. The biggest debacle I faced was whether the print should be on the sleeve & collar or on the body. When I wear anything with long sleeves, I tend to push them up, so I knew the print wouldn't be utilized to its full potential being on the sleeves - so on the body it went!

Changes I made to the pattern: Overall, I had to take the sleeves in quite a bit because silly me cut a size too big. (I cut xs for the body) I was nervous when cutting because with cutting my Astoria from Seamwork, the sleeves were too tight and I didn't want the same thing to happen. I would rather make something smaller than be unable to wear a garment for being too tight. I opted out of the cuff because the fabric is a little too thick and having it in a cuff was way too heavy. I also hemmed a few inches off the bottom. It was long on my short body, so now it looks normal! The last thing I changed was omitting the front buttons. I never button my sweaters/cardigans (what's the difference between those two anyway?) so I wanted to keep the open feel.

I love this piece and think it is going to get so much use in the coming months. I would love to make a few more Oslo's, the pattern is a wonderful staple and it is easy to make changes.

Also, can you tell I love my new couch? It's taken three years to invest in our own living room furniture (we bought all the furniture from the previous tenants, Drew's friend) and in one shopping trip we got a new couch and coffee table! I just need to find the perfect rug to add. If you are in the market for a couch, I highly recommend World Market. Affordable, cute, and small enough pieces for apartment living!