Simple Solutions

I'm starting a new category in the sidebar called "simple solutions."  That's where the short little tip-oriented tutorials like the jeans fix will be stored.  Today is an equally simple tutorial.  It's the same idea, but a different application of it.

Do you ever have a cardigan or shirt that shrinks so that it's shorter and wider than before?  Do you have a shirt you like, but isn't quite as fitted as it should be?  Well, here's a quick fix. 

I noticed that when I washed the cardigan from last week so I could send it, it shrunk a bit like that.  I wanted to make sure it was still a cute, fitted cardigan, so I took matters into my own hands.  I cut a 4-inch piece of thin elastic and sewed it into the back.  This is done just like the jeans tutorial. 

I always start in the middle, just to make sure I'm sewing it in centered.  I pull the elastic tightly as I sew so it stretches, but the cardigan just feeds through the machine at a normal pace. 

Then I sew the other side.  I sewed two lines of elastic on this cardigan because I thought it looked kind of cute that way.  Here's the inside.  (Don't mind the black thread.  I started by using black thread so you'd be able to see it in the pictures.)

Here's the outside look.  Just a fun detail and a more fitted look.

Here's one tip that might be helpful.  I would recommend drawing a line with that water soluble/erasable pencil where you want the elastic to go.  Otherwise it can be tricky to sew it in exactly straight as you're pulling the elastic.  I think this would also be really cute on a blouse/collared shirt.  That's all for today.

Thanks for dropping in.

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