Fabulous DIY: Chic Steals Guest Blogs!

It’s no surprise that Leah and I love a good DIY! We couldn’t think of anyone more Fabulous on a Budget than one of our most favorite fellow bloggers, Carly from Chic Steals to show us how to re-create this seasons Peter Som cardigan. Her blog is devoted to entirely to designer DIY’s… if you don’t know, now you know!

*DIY Peter Som Tweed-Embellished Cardigan*

Taking a leaf from Chanel’s book, *Peter Som* has come out with a ladylike
tweed-embellished cardigan for Spring/Summer 2011. I loved the retro,
slightly collegiate-feel to this sweater update – and set about re-creating
it with some fabric glue and some scraps of my favorite fabrics.

*Materials:*
*neutral cardigan (choose one that is medium-weight so the fabrics won’t
weigh it down, and opt for a crewneck collar)

*tweed boucle fabric (I bought 1/2 yd. of 56″ fabric and found it was more
than enough)

*5/8 yd. of 1.5″-wide trim (mine is a stretchy jersey trim; grosgrain ribbon
would work well too)

*6 large sew-on snaps (13/16″ wide or size 10)

*And…*
*fabric glue
*measuring tape
*marking chalk
*scissors
*pins
*matching thread & hand-sewing needle
*sewing machine***
*machine needle for knits***

*How To:*

1. Remove the buttons from the cardigan.

2. Cut the tweed – I chose to place the tweed weave pattern on an angle
(like the original inspiration), which required *cutting the fabric on the
bias.* To do that, I just folded one side of the fabric down to make a
right-angled triangle, measured 2.25″ down from the angled fold, and cut
parallel to that angle (which would be following the hypotenuse of that
triangle – if you remember Geometry back from high school!;-) I repeated
this to make another 2.25″ folded-over piece of fabric. You don’t need to
cut on the bias if you don’t want to…just cut two pieces of fabric that
are folded over to use as the center pieces. (The reason for the fabric
being folded over will become clear soon…)

3. Measure and cut *TWO smaller rectangles 5.5″ wide x 1″ high*…and *TWO
more rectangles 5.5″ wide x 1.75″ high*. These will become the faux
pockets.

4. Pin each folded-over piece of fabric to the underside of the cardigan at
the center front. Make sure each piece of fabric sticks out about 1.5″
inches in the center, and is longer at both ends than the cardigan front.

5. Now it’s *glue time! * Spread fabric glue on the tweed piece pinned to
the left side of the cardigan, and press your trim down onto the glue. The
top of the trim piece needs to be either lined up with the top of the
cardigan neck, or slightly below to mimic the placing in the original.

6. Also glue down the faux pockets about 2″ or so from the center from of
the cardigan, and a little above the bottom ribbing. Allow the glue to dry.

7. Trim the bottom edges of the tweed fabric (and the trim) to line up with
the cardigan bottom, and the top edges to line up with the cardigan top.

8. To make the tweed piece for the neck, pin some extra fabric under the
neck part. I found putting my hand inside the cardigan and holding it up
helps with the pinning.

9. Measure 2.25″ (or less, if you prefer) from the edge of the cardigan
neck. Cut the tweed fabric. Also trim the tweed fabric on the underside so
it only underlaps about 1/2″.

10. Slit open the tweed fabric piece at the vertical fold on the right side
of the cardigan (no need to do this to the one on the left side with the
trim stuck to it).

11. Sew the tweed fabric to the cardigan at the cardigan center front and
around the neck. Also stitch about 1/4″ from all the tweed piece edges to
prevent unraveling. (No need to sew the faux pocket pieces.)

12. Place the 6 sew-on snaps onto the trim piece, and adjust to space
evenly. Hand-sew the snaps onto the trim, and the other sides of the snaps
to the underside of the tweed piece on the other side of the cardigan front.

You’re done! Wear closed to be done-up and demure, or open to be casual and
ladylike. I love it paired with something bright for Spring ’11!

***If you really don’t want to use the sewing machine, you can make this
piece using only fabric glue, but it will be a lot more fragile. Just cut
long pieces of tweed fabric (not folded over) and glue onto the center front
of the cardigan, covering up the buttonholes and where the buttons used to
be. Then glue the trim piece on top of one side, and hand-sew your snaps on
top of everything. This means your cardigan will not get any larger -
whereas in this tutorial we’re adding two pieces of fabric to the center
front to make a new closure…which means the cardigan will get about 1.5″
wider overall due to the addition. If you’re worried about the tweed
fraying (which it tends to do), apply* Fray-Stop* to the edges to make sure
your piece will last through multiple wearings!

Please check out my blog *Chic Steals* for
hundreds more tutorials and styling ideas to recreate the designer
look-for-less on a budget and with a hefty dose of creativity!