Teal print cardigan - inspired by Pantone Living Coral

The Pattern Review 5th Annual Sewing Bee has started. I've not participated in this before but a few blogs I read took part in the last one and it looked like fun.

Round 1: Sew a Knit Cardigan inspired by the Pantone color of the year - Living Coral
This initially stumped me, as I've rationalised my fabric collection to my new Sophisticated palette and it doesn't include warm colours like coral.

 But then I thought of some fabric I had planned to use for my teal colourway for SWAP, the blues and turquoises reminded me of the sea, and the organic shapes in the print echoed the shapes of the different types of coral.

I bought the fabric for this on 25th October 2008 from Washable Fabrics on Preston market when four of us had a bit of a PR weekend away. It's moved house 4 times with me over those 10+ years but is finally getting made up!

I've used the Kinder cardigan in the mid length with full length sleeves. I've added in seam pockets, a belt and belt loops. I tried to place the print sensibly by cutting the pieces out single layer.

To emphasize the link with the coral I've done some simple beading and running stitches in shades of coral pink to outline the shapes of the print. I ironed some very lightweight interfacing on to the back of the upper front area to give a little more stability for the handwork without changing the drape of the fabric too much.

Here's a quick indoor shot on the dressmaker's dummy. The detail is more subtle in the context of the overall garment.

To demonstrate fit for the Bee I need to take some photos of me wearing it which might be tricky in this wintery weather. I have got out of the habit of taking photos of me wearing my new self-sewn garments, so need to work out a way to do that going forwards.