One reason I began creating and designing my own clothing was because I had trouble with clothes fitting right off the rack. I was always tall for my age, and rail thin to boot (for the first half of my life anyway). The first pair of pants that I made with a 36 inch inseam were truly a revelation. With my new skills, all that torturous shirt tugging and the constantly cold ankles would be no more!
Standing very tall on my 10th birthday with my friends in our costumes
For this reason, I make everything perhaps a bit longer than other people would prefer. As it turns out, not everyone in the world is a giant like me. Who knew? I’ve had some requests recently for instructions on how to make my Delancey Cardigan pattern shorter. Due to the unusual construction, I do not include these directions in the pattern, but I will try to explain how to do it here.
Below is an excerpt from an email I sent to a very nice lady who wanted a shorter Delancey Cardigan. These directions should shorten the torso section by about 20%.
“These directions assume that you want to maintain the same number of stripes on the body. You should change the stripe pattern to begin on row 21 instead of 29, and have 18 rows of MC between each section instead of 24 rows. The first stripe won’t start right at the center front, but it will look pretty much the same overall.
Follow the directions from the pattern (except the stripe pattern directions) until you get to row #89 (83 for plus sizes), at which point you should skip ahead to row #109 (103 for plus sizes). This should eliminate 20 rows and shorten the cardigan sufficiently.
On the sleeves, start the stripe pattern at the same point it says on the pattern. Again, just do 18 rows in MC between the thin stripe sections.
Also, you’ll need to pick up less stitches for the button band section, but that should be pretty easy for you to figure out. The directions are pretty clear about picking up 4 sts per inch along the front edge.”
I hope this is helpful to all of you out there 
