Cardi with Yellow Roses

I found some stunning yellow lace at the fabric store, so soft -- none of that nasty scratchy stuff.  Seriously, this stuff was so pretty that the woman in front of me in the cutting line gasped and asked me what I was going to make with such beautiful lace. 

Because I am a huge fan of short cuts and not much of a seamstress, this is my first time doing a sweater refashion using fabric and not something with prefinished edges.  It helped a lot that I cheated by using an existing cardigan -- no slits up the middle this time.  I was very worried about leaving raw edges on a gift, so I decided to try manufactured bias tape (I've always made my own for my other sweater projects).  I can't count how many Pinterest tutorials and YouTube videos I viewed to try to figure out the best way to use the tape to finish the sleeves and hide the raw ends of the lace.  Suffice it to say, I dreamed about how it would work three-dimensionally for two nights before I tried my hand at it.

Ugh.

So I sliced the sleeves off and created a HUGE mess.  The finished ends were sooooo thick. 

After fighting with it all night, I remembered the sweater that I made for my Dear Mother-in-Law and the yo-yo rosettes.  Turns out, soft yellow lace makes very pretty, soft yellow rosettes.  I spent the rest of the wee hours hand turning tiny rosettes and tacking them over the monstrously thick hem.  I'm hoping they hid it okay, or at least made it look like I finished the sleeves like that on purpose.

I may have to give some stronger consideration for Dear Daughter #1's idea of calling my blog "Frequent Failures"... Because I'm a shortcut gal, I am doomed to learn by my mistakes!
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