Faux bow sweater tutorial

As promised, here is the tutorial for what I have termed "The Faux Bow Sweater."

I began with a basic cardigan.

First, take the top button off the sweater if there is one located on the ribbed neckline.   

Then, take a 2 1/2 in strip of fabric and serge one edge (the edge that will be encased) and take the other edge and fold over twice and stitch.  Mine strip was from the bottom of a skirt that I had altered, so the edge that was folded over twice was already there.  

 Pin this strip to the outside of the ribbed collar of the sweater like this, with the serged edge running parallel to the ribbed neckline (the width of your strip may vary if the ribbed neckline on your sweater is a really thick or very skinny, because the goal is to completely hide the rib neckline)

Then sew it onto the sweater along the ribbed neckline where the neckband meets the rest of the sweater.  Next, fold the strip of teal fabric over the ribbed neckline, encasing the ribbing inside the teal  and stitched in the ditch on the outside to hide the stitiching.

Make sure that the fabric is pulled down far enough on the inside, or you will end up not catching all of the strip. When are finished, it should look like this on the inside:

After you finish sewing the strip around the ribbed neckline, fold in the raw edges by the button hole and stich them up by hand with an invisible stitch. 



At this point, stitch the button back on in the appropriate place and stitch a new buttonhole to match (I took this photo after I had finished, but you get the idea)

Now you are ready to make the bow.  Take 2 rectangular strips of fabric, about 19 inches long and finish the long edges by turning them twice and stitching to finish, or you can use this fabulous foot that will roll the edges twice for you.  Finish the two short ends, one by folding twice and stitching and the other with the serger.  Fold each strip in half with one end about 7 inches longer than the other one, forming a loop at one end.

Decide how long you want the loop to be and then make a few pleats at your folding line, or where the loop will attach to your sweater neckline.

 Then hand stitch the bow onto the sweater, right at the edge of the fabric covering the ribbed neckline.

  

 

This is what your bow should look like when it is sewn on. 

...and voila!  Finished sweater complete with matching skirt from J. Crew

For questions, or comments, feel free to email me or comment on the blog.  Please forgive any errors...  This is my first tutorial :)