Merlot Crepe Knit Coordinates

Happy New Year!

It’s wonderful start to a new beginning. The Chicago land area has been unseasonably warm the past few weeks. No snow on Christmas! I couldn’t believe it.

Today I’d like to share an outfit I made for my book club holiday party. I wanted to keep it simple. I paired the Mood’s Merlot crepe knit with the Sewing Workshop Pearl cardigan and Simplicity S9017 pants. This is a beefy fluid knit that is perfect for fall and winter apparel. Before cutting into it, I tossed it into the washer. It came out of the dryer with the same touchable softness, unchanged color, and beautiful recovery.


Jewel tones are my favorite. The rich hues of purple, red, and green are staple colors in my wardrobe. I’m always on the hunt for these vibrant beauties. That’s why I had to have it. Too bad, it’s no longer available, but there are several gorgeous purple textiles in Mood’s warehouse just waiting for you.

The Pearl Caridgan is loose fitting with a front casing and drawstring to ruche, cascading side panels, back waist seam, long sleeves and narrow hems. The wrong sides of the cardigan will show. The cardigan can be made up in a variety of fabrics from ponte knit to linen and silk. All sizes are available in the pattern XS to XXL. I used a size large with a lot of modifications.

For the most part, it looks like the drawing on the envelope. From the pattern drawing it is difficult to see the fullest of the collar. There is quite a bit of fabric that bunches up around the neck.

The instructions were super easy to follow. Nothing confusing about how to assemble the cardigan. That was one of the things that I especially liked about it. My challenges were more with the fit and choosing the appropriate size.

My other likes were the drawstring and the drape. This was an interesting design element. You could wear it loosely drawn or as I’m wearing it with lots of ruching.

My dislikes are the huge amount of fabric that bunches up around the back of my neck. If I make it again, I will definitely reduce the width of that area. Secondly, the length of the shoulder seams. Extremely long. The shoulder seam was about 1.75″ too long for me. Thirdly, the size large was like an XXL on me. This pattern runs BIG. I had to take it in several inches all the way around.

My other adjustments:

• For starter no FBA needed. Hooray!
• Added center back seam and back darts.
• Reduced length of shoulder seams by 1.75″
• Reduced the side seams by 1.5″
• Reduced width of the sleeve by 1.5″

All of these reductions gave my cardigan some shape, and now it looks like the picture on the envelope. Happiness..,

With that being said, next;

The Pants Simplicity S9017

Easy, easy..,

Front, back, and waistband. These pants sewed up like your typical pull-on pants. No significant changes other than to lengthen the pants by several inches. I don’t particularly care for cropped pants. From start to finish, it took me about 2.5 hours to make them, which was a great finish to an outfit that I’d spent more time than I thought I would.

In the end, I was able to wear my new holiday outfit with a smile. So happy this one did not hit the can!

Happy Sewing!
C