The first version of this cardi was oddly bewitching. See it here.
I wasn't sure whether short sleeves made any sense. The pockets were low, the cardi was ridiculous. But something about the flow was very interesting. A classic Japanese pattern result. I thought at some point it would be interesting to come back to it with the recommended fabric. I traced the pattern in size M and didn't, at the time, think that a smaller size would be better if I made it again.
That moment arrived not too long ago when a friend made a comment and suddenly all I wanted to do was revisit the Japanese pattern books. I dug through my knits and realised I had a beautiful coral linen knit that would be just the thing for this cardigan. I thought I could improve on it by shortening the length horizontally above the pockets - this is easy enough to do by cutting and overlapping the pattern. I also thought it could have something more in the way of sleeves with larger cuffs.
Sewing it together was no problem. It's an easy sew once you've done all the tracing work.
But to my dismay the adjustments I made to the pattern were really unnecessary. I don't think the extra sleeves are useful, they are loose and just hang in the way. The linen is quite heavy, even if it's not heavier than the rayon blend I used the first time, and I think the change in length is superfluous - I do see it's shorter in my photos, but it didn't really feel shorter while wearing it. My lesson here is that the Japanese pattern designers know best! It's really hard to actually improve on their designs. And I should probably try the smaller size if I make this again. I wonder how it would be in a more lightweight knit that doesn't pull it down as much.
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