I feel as though I might be one of the last people to sew the Blackwood Cardigan.  There are SO many great examples of this pattern on the internet and instagram!

This cardigan is described as follows: The Blackwood Cardigan is a cozy and versatile addition to your wardrobe. Designed with layering in mind, it has minimal excess fabric in the front and a close fit around the neck and shoulders. It’s fitted shape and extra long sleeves make it perfect for wearing under jackets and vests, while also looking stylish over tank tops and dresses. View B ends at the hips, while View A extends down to the mid-thigh and includes patch pockets at hand level. The Blackwood is intended to be worn open and is not designed to close at the front. Recommended Fabrics: Light to medium weight knit fabrics with at least 40% stretch widthwise and 20% stretch lengthwise. Try a cozy sweater knit or french terry for a warm layer or make it in jersey for a lightweight cover-up. This cardigan delivers everythng that it promises.  Firstly, there is no hemming involved.  Sleeves, front edges and the bottom hem are all finished with bands.  If you left off the pockets you could sew the entire garment on the overlocker and not even need to thread the regular sewing machine.  I find that bands give a really nice finish, as there is a double layer of fabric that provides stability and a tad of structure.

That said, I did thread up the machine because not only did I add the pockets, but I topstitched down the seam allowance of the front bands.  The topstitching decision really would depend on the type of fabric that I was using. In this example I was sewing in ponte from Eliza Fabrics.

Unfortunately I didn’t have any matching overlocker thread in my stash. My new Juki really doesn’t like the cheaper Birch thread that I tended to use in the old one when I needed ‘unusual’ colours. It wants quality cones of thread! I need to head into M. Recht and purchase some overlocker thread in a khaki green, because it’s not actually an unusual colour in my sewing! Some orange might be a good idea too. Anyway, in the end I used grey. It’s the only thing that I am disappointed with in regard to this cardigan – when it flaps open, you can see that the thread doesn’t match. Dammit.

Otherwise, this is a wonderful addition to my wardrobe! Size wise I think that I sewed size 14 in the B cup option. This pattern comes in a signifance range of sizes, from 0 to 30, with a B or D cup draft depending on which end of the size range it is. It’s a few months since I sewed this, but I also think that I shortened the sleeve length a couple of inches.

I’ll definitely sew this pattern again. I really like a long-line cardigan, and the slimmer sleeves of this one make it extremely wearable. No accidental dipping of sleeves into your food! I would also like to give the shorter cardigan a try. Some clothes combinations look better with a shorter overlayer rather than a longer one. And obviously I could try it in different knits rather than sticking to the ponte that has worked so well here.