Purple Belle assembled!

Ta da! *^v^*
I finished her last night!

Frankly speaking, sewing it together wasn't as difficult as I thought, when I got to know the technique, mattress stitch became my best friend! I put some links at the end of this post that show stitching methods.

I knitted the collar a bit wider than the patterns says, about 8 cm, because it didn't work well when it was thiner. I also recommend very loose bind-off of the collar.

I'm very happy with the length of the cardigan, although as you can see, I had to knit quite a long part of the single cable in the upper part of the peplum (and my torso is normal length) - I have no idea how the model in the photo can have such short peplum, she must be a child, not a grown up woman.

I'm glad I added some rows to the sleeves, because they fit just fine, if I sticked to the recommended length they'd be 3/4 which is no good in the sweater.
On the other hand, I wanted the sweater to be snug around the bust, which resulted in the ugly front part of the button band, opening itself. I definitely must change it, I've been thinking about two solutions: 1. several clasps or press-studs instead of 2 buttons, or 2. turning the cardi into a pullover, sewing it up at the front. I'll check if I can buy some nice clasps and then decided what to do.

Details:
pattern: Vogue Knitting Anniversary edition - online free pattern
yarn: "Zorza" by Anilux, wool/acrylic blend
needles: 4 mm circulars, 60 cm long
started: 3rd August
finished: 7th September

I absolutely was able to knit this quicker, I just got distracted by other things, well... But it turned out that knitting a sweater doesn't take as long as I thought (= ages!...). And it wasn't some stockinette mindless job, it was looking-at-the-charts-all-the-time project, but it was relatively easy and intuitive.
My Belle is not perfect but I love her anyway! *^v^*

Here is me wearing my Belle this morning:

Here are the sewing techniques:
mattress stitch
several techniques (grafting, mattress, ect)
mattress stitch on stockinette pieces and garter pieces by Theresa from Bagatell::Knitting in Norway