Ruffle Cardigan Tutorial

So I have this bright orange cardigan that I bought a few years ago (mainly because it was on sale).  It fits great, but sometimes when I wear it I feel like I should be at a San Francisco Giants game.  And, let's just say I'm not a huge Giants fan.  So I decided to make it prettier.  Adding a ruffle in a lighter color can help soften an overly bright item of clothing.

Find a cardigan that fits well, but that you are not in love with.

Find some fabric with a color that complements the color of your sweater and cut a long (45-inch) strip about one-inch wide.  I used some ivory-colored fabric that I found on clearance ($2.95/yard!)

Then sew a ruffle stitch down the center of the strip by setting your sewing machine to the highest tension and longest stitch length.  (It should be set to a straight stitch and not a zigzag stitch like it is here.  Oops)

You will end up with a ruffle about half the length of what you started with.  (So in this case, about 22 inches long)

Then pin the ruffle in a curvy pattern starting about 1/3 of the way from the bottom of the sweater and ending on the shoulder.  There is nothing special about the design I picked, I just adjusted the ruffle until I liked the way it looked:

Set your sewing machine to a small straight stitch, and sew the ruffle to the sweater, using matching thread.

Final product:

(Sorry for the poor picture quality on this last one.  Getting a good self-portrait is harder than it looks.  Dang.)

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