It's no secret that I love Anthropologie. Just walking through one of their stores can put me in a good mood. I love all of their home decor stuff but I'm also a big fan of their clothing. I always find such great, unique pieces there.
But I am the first one to admit that sometimes their prices are more than I can stomach. Case in point - I was at the store last week and spotted this adorable Kites & Constellations Cardigan. After my recent obsession with vintage star charts, I couldn't believe my eyes! A star chart cardigan! It's totally adorable. What's not adorable though is the $118 price tag.
Let's dissect what this is shall we? We're talking about a navy blue cardigan with some white embroidered lines, stars and a few seed beads. I took one look at it and immediately thought, "I can definitely make that!"
So off I went! A navy blue cardigan, some white embroidery floss, clear seed beads and a print out of the original cardigan from the Anthropologie site are all you need for this project.
I started by laying my cardigan flat so I could see my entire "canvas".
Using narrow strips of painter's tape, I started to loosely sketch out the design for myself on the sweater. You really don't have to be exact here, you're just looking to create a general guide for yourself .
Keep moving your way around the sweater, using the original as your guide. Here's the back.
The most interesting thing about the original I think is how the design wraps around the shoulders and makes its way down the sleeves.
When you're done you'll have something like this!
At this point I tried the sweater on to make sure I liked the placement of where the design was wrapping and hitting my body. When you take it off, the painter's tape will have stretched with the sweater and possibly even torn. DON'T WORRY. Again, the tape is just meant as an imperfect guide. Smooth it back down and forge ahead! I promise it won't matter.
The lines on the design are nothing more than a simple straight (or running) stitch. We're talking 7th grade Home Ec class! Don't stress about being too perfect with your stitches. Chalk it up to the "handmade charm" that apparently warrants a $118 price tag!
Work in sections following your tape as you go. Don't worry about the stars for now, just focus on getting all the straight lines done.
When you're done with all the lines, go back and start filling in your stars. On the original there is a mix of circles, star shapes and fuller circles with beads in the center.
The empty little circles are just split stitches. Here is a great tutorial on split stitches.
The filled in dots (the 3rd dot from the bottom in the image above) are satin stitched dots. Here is a tutorial on satin stitched dots.
The stars are just a series of stitches across each other...make an X then make an X on top of the first X, etc.
The larger loop circles (2nd from the bottom above) are just a series of loops done around a central point. Here I am making one.
These "stars" get seed beads in the center. String up 2-4 beads and sew them into the center of your looped circle.
Keep going until you've created all the little "stars" you want. Here's my finished cardigan!
Not bad for $3 and two naps worth of embroidery huh?
Here's where things get a little ridiculous. This actually should have been a $0 project because I had all the supplies on hand that I needed. I have a big stash of embroidery floss but halfway through embroidering, I ran out and realized I didn't have any more white in my sewing supplies. Before I headed out to purchase more I double checked the color on the label just to make sure it wasn't "ecru" or some non-white version of white and guess white...what I thought was white was actually...
Yup...GLOW IN THE DARK! Why on Earth do I even own glow in the dark embroidery floss?!?!?! I had already finished too much of the sweater to turn back, so off I went to purchase more glow in the dark embroidery floss.
So now, when the lights are off, my chic Anthropologie knock-off looks like something I could have picked up in a planetarium gift shop. Sorry for the horrible picture but you get the drift!
We're blowing town early to celebrate Thanksgiving with the family. Wishing you all a wonderful holiday full of football, pie and elastic waist pants!
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