Wednesday’s Project: Eggplant Knit Jersey Shrug

I recently bought two similar ombré dip-dyed sundresses that blend from turquoise to navy blue to purple. I love these dresses. However, they both have spaghetti straps and I prefer not to expose that much skin. None of my cardigans or shrugs match these dresses, so I browsed Fabric.com until I found a dark purple rayon jersey knit that looked like it might coordinate. I bought 1.5 yards, along with some buttons that shimmer between purple and blue. Once it arrived, I was delighted to find that both the fabric and the buttons match the dresses.

Fabric & Buttons

After looking through my patterns, I chose Vogue 8489, a knit dress with an empire waistband, a low V-neckline, and short puffed sleeves. My plan was to use the bodice to make a pullover shrug with non-functional buttons at the center front.

Design Sketch

My plans changed with the mockup, however. Instead of being quick and easy, the pattern proved to be complicated. And despite using stretchy knit fabric, it needed adjustments for fit. If I had plenty of time and patience, I could have turned it into an adorable shrug, but I wanted to wear one of these dresses on an upcoming trip, so I needed to make a shrug quickly and without a lot of fuss.

Plan B
I considered having my mother crochet me a shrug to go with the dresses, and I even found a pattern on Craftsy that I loved. But again, I needed something quickly and I feared it would take too long for her to make a shrug that fit me. I searched online for free sewing patterns and eventually found “The Perfect Shrug?” at Burdastyle. It looked simple enough—just a T-shaped pattern that you fold and stitch—so I decided to give it a try.

Shrug Pattern

Foolishly, I didn’t make a mockup. I took my measurements and cut out the appropriate pattern size, assured by the directions that it would fit perfectly. But when I pinned it together and tried it on, I found it too small across the back and in the sleeves. Thankfully, I had just enough leftover knit jersey to cut another one.

It was also too small, despite the fact that I’d added a full inch to every edge of the pattern.

I nearly gave up with frustration, but I decided to experiment a little. I found a way to widen the sleeves, which eased the fit considerably. It’s still a little snug across the back, but it’s tolerable now. However, it’s very loose across the front. I don’t know how much of that is simply the design of the shrug and how much is the extra ease I added to the pattern.

Finished Shrug

I considered taking some pleats at the front edges, or adding elastic to pull the edges in, but in the end, I decided to leave it alone. I’ve been assured by family that it looks fine and I simply don’t have the energy to try and fix it.

I bought more purple knit jersey, with the idea of making a new shrug, but the color didn’t match (not even close), so I was forced to concede defeat.

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Have you ever had a project that defeated you, no matter how hard you tried to get it right?