Adventures in Pattern Sewing - My first pattern project.

Up until this point I have never sewn with a pattern. I felt patterns were kind of expensive, the tissue is flimsy it takes more time to cut them out... blah blah blah. I had all kinds of reasons (excuses). But then Joann's had a sale on McCall's which are PRICEY! Printed on the pkg they are anywhere from $15-$20 (which Joanns always has 40% off) or so and even online can run pretty high if not on sale. On this particular day I walked into the store not even looking for patterns, but when I saw they were only 99 CENTS! OH MAN I just had to get at least a couple (which turned into ten cause that was the limit) 

So this is the first pattern I decided to try M6844. I saw a blog post by my fav diy blogger, mimig who made this pattern so I figured I'd give it a shot. You can find her blog post and mini tut HERE.  It looked pretty simple and I had already made myself another simple little cardigan so I was confident I could handle this. 

And it was pretty easy. However I was not thrilled with my results. I cut the Medium w/ the petite adjustments. And based on the sizing chart I was actually afraid it might be too small  because my waist and hip measurents were outside of the size range. But when I finished the shoulder seams were low on my arms, it was big in the armpit, bust and waist area and just did not fit nicely at all. I ended up taking it in at the shoulder and that helped. I think my fabric was just a little too stretchy though. Here is a pic before I took the shoulders up

 

Overall though it was a good experience. I would definitely try this pattern again, only next time I will cut a smaller size using a slightly stiffer fabric with a little less stretch.