Now that Christmas is over and all the gifts have been unwrapped, I can share some of the things I made to give as gifts this year. The first of which is the Itch To Stitch Castillo Cardigan, made in a gorgeous double-sided knit fabric from Mill End for my mom, Jonee. The fabric is sweatshirting on one side and fleece on the other. Mom was talked into sending me a photo!

The sizing for this make was particularly easy on me because I knew if I made my size it would fit her. The only size modification I made to the pattern was to lengthen the sleeves by 2″ — which I do for all my own clothes.

I followed the instructions pretty closely, except for the hood. The pattern instructions did not call for lining the hood, but I thought just the one layer would be too thin. I had done a lined hood for the Blackwood Cardigan in April and really liked how that turned out. I had also watched this great YouTube video on how to sew a two-sided hood. I just cut out 4 hood pieces instead of two and serged them together as she had done in the video. I was catching up on some New Adventures of The Bakery Bears at the same time.

In the end, the hood looked the same — with fleece on the inside and sweatshirting on the outside — as it would have had I not lined it. But just like little extra thickness gave it a more professional look and feel.

The pattern calls for using twill tape to enclose the seams of the collar. This was a new technique for me and it’s definitely one I am very glad to be acquainted with! Of course, when I came to this step in the pattern, I didn’t have a matching color of twill tape. This is just the type of notion that is difficult to come by these days. It can be ordered on Amazon in quantities the size of a railroad cable spool, but never in the 1/2-yard quantity you need. Luckily, they did have a navy blue twill tape at Mill End, sold by the yard, so I was saved.

This was some very careful sewing! I had to use That Purple Thang — a gift from mom — to hold the tape down as I sewed right on the edge of the tape with my edgestitch foot. I learned my lesson the hard way last year not to use my fingers anywhere near this tiny foot.

All was well until I came to the sleeve cuffs. I pinned the cuff to the end of the sleeve and it was much smaller than the sleeve.

I was really perplexed! I didn’t think it was a drafting error. So why would the cuff be so much smaller? After a long think, I figured out it must be so the cuff is tight around your wrist, and the sleeve must be pretty loose. I sewed the cuffs on and they were very gathered, but it felt good and seemed intentional in the end.

Adding the big side pockets was very easy. They’re interfaced, so should stand up to hands going in and out. Overall, another very successful make from Itch To Stitch. I often wonder why I make up patterns from anyone else! -rp