I was lucky enough to once again test a pattern for Itch-to-Stitch. This time it’s the Paro Cardigan, and this one promises to become an absolute wardrobe staple. If you haven’t seen the Itch-to-Stitch designs, go and have a look – they are well drafted – just look at the way all those pleats align – and very reasonably priced (this one is currently $8.00), and you can use a print-shop version, or print it at home, where the layered PDF is offered so you don’t have a gazillion lines to navigate.
The first one I made was from some cheetah print mesh that I bought in Fiji when I was there a few years ago. This was my only fabric souvenir from Fiji and I’ve often done the whole “what was I thinking” when I’ve looked at it, but it proved to be perfect for a summer version of this cardigan.
The cardigan took about 4 hours from printing the pattern to taking the first lot of photos. However, when I took the first set of photos, I noticed that the bottom fronts looked strange, and upon closer examination, I discovered that I sewed them on incorrectly, so there was a lot of unpicking and resewing. More than 4 hours then…!
As is often the way with me, I love the back view, and seem to have more photos of the back than the front. Here are a couple:
You will note that the fabric has a cheetah print, which means that, yes, it’s eligible for Jungle January. Huzzah! To celebrate, I donned the pith helmet once again and explored the, er, Frangipani.
I chose a lovely vintage button for this cardigan, but wondered if it is a bit too small.
As is often the way with these things, one version was not enough. I immediately decided that I needed to try a second one. This time I went down a size, because I kept feeling that the mesh one was slightly too big, and I used some cotton knit that Mark bought me when he went to Hobart on his own.
This is another piece of fabric that I had no idea what to do with, but, once again, it’s perfect for this cardigan! The cat button is actually a button glued onto a magnet, which I find very useful for all sorts of things. I couldn’t decide on a button, so have left it off until I find the perfect one.
I seem to have a bit more pulling on the shoulders with this size, but it may be the way I’ve carelessly pulled it on . I am wondering whether a small shoulder pad would help pull those wrinkles out. Hmm. I will resolve the collar issue by rolling it down into a shawl collar, which also looks nice.
Since making this test version the pattern has altered slightly and the back neck now has a strip of interfacing to stop the collar rolling. This is quite necessary as I found that several of my photos had that little roll at the neck like in the photo above. I did add a line of coverstitching around the neck band to stop it flipping out when I had the cardigan open, and this did work well.
I was dogsitting Heidi and she was determined to photo bomb my shots, so I couldn’t resist sharing one (or two!). 
I am very much looking forward to making a winter version or two of this pattern. It’s that lovely cross between a jacket and a cardigan, and can be dressed up or down. I’m still undecided about the sizing, but think that the size of the cheetah version probably fits me better.