Pattern Review: Simplicity 8811 Sewing Pattern

This post contains affiliate links. I may earn a commission if you choose to buy something after clicking a product link in my blog. I include affiliate links because I like these companies and find these products useful. Read the full disclaimer here.

I recently bought 5 yards of this plaid brushed-waffle fabric on sale. I love plaid, but 5 yards in this color is like a lifetime supply for me and I’ve had to get creative planning projects with it.

Because I have so much fabric to work with, I don’t feel as intimidated as I usually do picking out a pattern and diving in. For my first project, I chose a pattern from my stash: Simplicity 8811. This is one of the first patterns I bought when I started getting interested in making my own clothes, so I was excited to finally use it.

About the Pattern

This is a pattern designed for sweater knit fabrics. You can choose between a short, medium, or long cardigan sweater with an open shawl collar. It also includes an infinity scarf and headband accessories.

It’s not immediately clear from the pattern envelope what the difference is between some of the views. However, the main difference is the length and sleeve style.

• View A is the longest version and has tapered sleeves (this is what I made).
• View B is the shortest and has the same tapered sleeves as View A.
• View C is a medium length and has straight rather than tapered sleeves.

The infinity scarf and headband are one-size-fits-all.

Simplicity 8811 Pattern Pros and Cons

Overall, this is a good cardigan sewing pattern and it would be pretty easy for beginners. With that being said, the ideal fabrics for this pattern can be extremely tricky to work with. The fabric I used was thick and very stretchy. These fabrics can be frustrating for beginners, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try!

My only “complaint” about this pattern is that the sleeve opening is very large. I don’t mind comfortably roomy sleeves, but these were excessively large in my opinion. I ended up cutting a section off at the underarm and re-sewing it after I had the rest of the sweater assembled. I much prefer the fit with more narrow sleeves (shown on the right).

Sewing Machine & Tool Requirements

I would not have attempted this pattern without a serger, and I also found my cover stitch machine to be very useful. I only used my regular sewing machine for about 6 inches of stitching. This was in step 11 where you stitch the bottom of the shawl collar to create a neat bottom hem.

I think you could successfully use a regular sewing machine but the ease of doing this would depend on your fabric. Because this pattern is designed for knit fabric, you would need to use a zig-zag stitch or some other kind of stretch stitch. On my machine, this is quite difficult with thick fabric.

Regardless of the machine you use, I would recommend using quilting clips instead of straight pins for this pattern. I use these quilting clips from Amazon every single time I sew – I love them! They’re really good for any type of fabric but especially fabric that likes to slide around or stretch.

Sewing Tips

This pattern is actually pretty straightforward and I followed the instructions as they were written. The main difficulty I had was choosing a size. The Finished Measurements section only lists the finished length of the sweater from the back of the neck to the bottom hem.

The pattern envelope does have a section for Body Measurements, which is somewhat helpful. However, I never know whether to trust these because it’s not always clear if the ease is included. To make sure I was making approximately the right size, I loosely cut out the pattern piece with the sweater back (piece 2) and laid it over a cardigan I have that fits me nicely. The intended Body Measurements listed on the pattern did in fact match up with my other sweater (bust measurement of 36-38 according to the envelope).

One thing to note is that the pattern pieces are pretty large. I had a lot of trouble fitting my fabric and the pattern pieces onto my cutting table (aka the kitchen table). It would be easier if you laid the pieces on the floor to cut. I was trying to match plaids – which takes forever – and didn’t want to kneel for that long.

Would I make this pattern again?

Yes, this is a nice basic cardigan sewing pattern that’s easy to follow. I would make it again with similar fabric in the future. However, I would alter the pattern to be smaller through the arms because they’re way too big in my opinion.