Answered Prayers

I know this isn't a dress, but regular readers will know of my preoccupation -- really, obsession -- with short-sleeved cardigan sweaters. I *love* them. There is no better A/C-fighter/shoulder-coverup in the summer than a short-sleeved cardigan. A cardigan, a nice tee, and a pretty skirt is perfect for nearly any occasion ... but it's been so hard to find decent short-sleeved cardigans! (Searches tend to turn up these horrors.)

And now, in answer to unarticulated prayers, it seems that J. Crew -- yes, that J. Crew -- has them. In TWELVE colors, including orange, kelly green, and TWO different yellows.

They're not cheap, unfortunately ($65) but they're not insanely unreasonable, and I've been satisfied with J. Crew quality in the past. But here's the most important part: I called to get the neck-hem measurement, and it's 21.5 inches in the medium. Yep -- if you're shortwaisted, as I am, that should hit you perfectly at the top of the hip, which is where sweaters should fall. (Honestly. They've done all sorts of calculations, and invoked the golden ratio, and everything. That's where they should be.)

Sadly, about half the colors (including the green, the orange, and one of the yellows) won't ship until 6/16. (I really want ALL OF THEM, but I'm going to limit myself to one or two and see how they work out. I'm even tempted by the bright purple, and I hate purple.)

Now if I could only find mesh polo shirts that measured 21 inches or less, shoulder to hem, in nice colors, WITHOUT some big honking logo, my (sartorial) life would be nearly perfect.

Comments

[Eirlys]

Cute. Very cute. J. Crew also score pretty highly for using Liberty fabric in their blouses.

[cpeep]

Of course, if you're NOT short waisted, it means you'll spend your whole day tugging the darn thing down to cover your midsection. Sigh.

[Theresa]

Cpeep - I'm with you. Hi, my name is Theresa and I am longwaisted.Erin - have you tried Lands End or Cutter and Buck for polos? Or even PinG(the golf people?)

[wundermary]

Egads! "Quacker Factory Short Sleeve Beaded Monkey Cardigan". Anyone at the company finding themselves saying that out loud should have thought 'that just isn't right' and put a stop to it. I have been a tremendous vintage and thrift store shopper my whole life and I am taller than the average bear. I have found that it is easy to stretch a sweater. All you need to do is give it a hand wash (I like shampoo) and drain the sink. Give it a squeeze to get the water out of it (don't wring!) and with the soap still in it, stretch it and place it on a clothes dryer to half dry. Once your half dry, put it back in the sink and rinse it out. Squeeze it a bit, stretch it and lay it on a large towel. roll it up, walk on it, then unroll and lay back on the dryer to dry. This works very well, but I'd never attempt it for some sweaters with design considerations like stitched on elements.

[sixties sewer]

I too love short sleeved cardis, as here in northern California it is never really warm on the coast. And if it is we complain.Erin, look at the article on Pattern Review called Refashioning Sweaters. It is very clever and I am going to try it on a cashmere sweater I got at a thrift store for $1.50. I am going to cut it with short sleeves and band the edges with fabric.

[Jen]

Here here! I second the comment that these are absolutely essential to life. Actually, any cardigan and matching tank or sleeveless crew or short-sleeved crew or turtleneck or WHATEVER in every color in the rainbow is preferable. But all of these in at least white, black, blue, red, pink, yellow, and green are ESSENTIAL.We should erect a memorial to the inventor of these genius apparel items.

[sdn]

the boden cardigans i like have mid-length sleeves. short sleeves are great, but i like to be able to tie something around my waist.

[Gretchen]

Target of all places has some decent, cheap short sleeved cardigans- the Merona Cable Knit Cardigan. Twenty bucks, several colors. I have yet to find the perfect one for my, ahem, shape- or lack thereof. So I'm going to knit one. If I manage to do it, I'm going to make a dress or skirt to go with it. Mighty big goals I'm setting for myself.

[ceciiiiii]

horrors indeed :[

[kagitsune]

Hmmm... could you sew those perfect polo shirts? It might be a little hard to find the right fabric, but you could make it the exact right length for you. ^^I actually don't *know* if I'm short-waisted or not... I guess that's because I tend to make empire waist dresses where that measurement is less critical... >>;;But yeah, I need more of those short-sleevies. >.<

[Anonymous]

J. Crew ROCKS. Whoever's in charge there now deserves a medal.The colors are great, clothes are flattering, interesting, well-cut and well made. Heck, I was in there yesterday and even tried on a pair of trousers. Now, let me get this straight: A. I don't wear pants, B. I don't like pants, C. I was not in the market for a pair of pants (I was really just trying on the jacket but for some reasons brought these in with me too) but holy crap, they fit really, really well. I almost bought them except for reasons A, B & C above. Maybe when they're on sale...

[Anonymous]

$65 for a short sleeved little cardigan sweater is INSANELY expensive in my world. That's a completely crazy price for what that sweater looks like. I can't imagine with gas and food prices like they are who would pay that for that for any summer sweater, let alone a little nothing like the one pictured. Makes me think this entire blog must be bs. Don't think I'll be coming here again. Seems like the goal is to get people to spend money.

[karooble]

Wow, that anonymous comment is pretty harsh. $65 is expensive for a sweater for me, too (thrift-store shopping for these is definitely possible), but Erin often just links to things because she likes them -- and sometimes they really are insanely expensive, like the Ike dress a while back. If you think it's too expensive, don't buy it -- nobody's "making" you spend money.Thanks, Erin, for calling these deals out -- while I'm not going to buy it either, I like to expand my sartorial vision of things that can go with dresses. :)

[Jen O]

It's not hard at all to shorten a sweater sleeve, just cut out the sleeve, and re-cut with the sleeve cap closer to the cuff--of course the cuff needs to be wide enough to fit one's upper arm, and the new shoulder cut should fit into the existing armhole--it's a 15 min. job.re: expense of sweater from J.Crew:Historically, mankind (and womankind) have never spent as less as we are right now for apparel. Those lovelies we see on the vintage patterns would have paid considerably more of their income proportion than we will for a $65 Egyptian, long fiber, full-fashioned sweater (which is what this is).The current mind-set of our economic culture is to pay as little as possible for manufactured and hand produced goods, hence the sorrowful cycle of manufacturing doom we are currently inflicting on economies less powerful than ourselves.Shame on us for thinking we deserve the cheapest garment now being produced in the world, it comes with a heavy human price.

[Anonymous]

I'm obviously a different anonymous, because I linked to the sweater and then promptly bought it. I'd been looking for a moderately-priced kelly green cardigan to wear over a Target dress, and this is perfect. Thanks Erin!

[lorrwill]

I second the vote to make polos. After all they are just glorified t-shirts. Um (brain trying to work) Kwik Sew has a decent pattern as I recall. And I remember googling for rib trim and finding a place that had a bunch of different weights and colors. Just in case you need arm twisting er encouragement, ya know...

[Seattle Yogini]

Thank you so much for calling JCrew to ask about the shoulder to hem measurement...for us to use! I, too, am short waisted. Most shirts fall at an unflattering spot on my hourglass figure, making me look cylindrical. (Yes, I did read that fabulous comment a kind lady left awhile ago about how to dress for your figure, or to re-figure your figure, if desired. It was awesome!) Anyway, just wanted to say thanks, because I would have bypassed these helpful cuties altogether otherwise, assuming that they were the usual JCrew-made-for-gazelles kind of thing.

[Anonymous]

Jen O, clothes may have been more expensive at one time than they are now, but not that much more expensive. For example, the 65 cent "steel magnolia" pattern (if dating from 1965) cost about $4.50 in today's dollars.Something that cost about $10 in 1965 costs $65 in today's dollars. So the price of that J. Crew cardigan is comperable to a $10 sweater in 1965. According to this page, that's probably the price of a nice sweater at that time: http://www.gti.net/mocolib1/prices/1965.htmlIn 1965, minimum wage was $1.25/hr, so a person would work 8 hours to earn the sweater. Minimum wage is currently $5.85, which means a person would work 11 hours to earn the sweater.

[Anonymous]

Jen O, clothes may have been more expensive at one time than they are now, but not that much more expensive. For example, the 65 cent "steel magnolia" pattern (if dating from 1965) cost about $4.50 in today's dollars.Something that cost about $10 in 1965 costs $65 in today's dollars. So the price of that J. Crew cardigan is comperable to a $10 sweater in 1965. According to this page, that's probably the price of a nice sweater at that time: http://www.gti.net/mocolib1/prices/1965.htmlIn 1965, minimum wage was $1.25/hr, so a person would work 8 hours to earn the sweater. Minimum wage is currently $5.85, which means a person would work 11 hours to earn the sweater.

[Sara]

Erin, I know you don't need me to defend your post, but after that utter BARB from Anonymous, always remember that your blog is awesome. :-)I haven't decided whether s/s cardis are my style yet -- although I am a bit curious about the refashioning tutorial on PR...might have to check that out.

[moggy]

Oh dear, Anonymous @ 6:12:00 PM, how encouraging people to sew their own clothes translates to 'the goal is to get people to spend money' is a little beyond me.I agree wholeheartedly with the short sleeved cardigan thing, it lets you eke out your cotton summer frocks a little longer into Autumn (as we are in the midst of in Australia).

[lisa]

I'm a long sleever myself. (I was the kid with the blue lips at the pool), but I do have an overly strong attraction to cardigans and therefor a rather large collection of them. nothing shows off a dress while keeping you perfectly comfortable like a good cardigan.

[Anonymous]

The unkind annonymous poster probably has read very very little of the blog because a few posts in and it's obvious to anyone that Erin's a warm hearted encouraging person who's just blogging to share her passions

[Theresa]

Well the barb throwing anonymous did say she(he?) would not be coming back...so that's one less negative person to deal with here. It's anonymous' loss, not ours. And on the $65 sweater -- isn't it better to buy one at $65 that will last for years than many at $10 that will have to be replaced?I was always told to buy higher quality classic clothing items and less expensive trendy items. I'd rahter save my money for a really good sweater, jacket, pair of shoes, than keep buying stuff that doesn't hold up. Isn't that being more frugal? And some people live in places where the thrift stores aren't so good...and the "consignment" stores want to charge as much as brand new! I try to buy things off season on clearance...of course you run the risk of it not being in your size/color.

[kb]

I love that you posted about this--I bought the purple and it took a month to get here, but I have been wearing it nonstop. And I too gulped at $65 but price-per-wear isn't so bad...They also just came out with (double gulp) $98 Tana lawn blouses. Sigh.