Long Sweater to Tie Front Sweater

 Hello Readers. I have had this long sweater on my refashion rack for a while. I think it was my daughter's sweater and she gave it to me because there is a bleach stain on the back. I decided to turn it into a cropped sweater with a tie in the front. Let me show you more.

Before and after.

You can see the bleach spot on the back of the sweater. It was very noticeable and didn't look great. It needed to be cut off. I love cutting up clothes so I was excited to start. 

I was inspired by this denim shirt. I have wanted something like this for a couple months now. I like the cropped length and the tie in front. The sweater isn't the same fabric but I could try to make something with the same shape.

 

I put the sweater on my dress form and cut around the waist. I saved the long pieces I cut off for the next step. 

 

I cut 2 long strips from the long pieces I had cut off the sweater. I wanted to use them for a waistband/waist tie. I actually cut off a 3rd piece to make the waistband long enough. I connected all 3 pieces into a long narrow strip, almost like a belt. I made sure all the finished edges were matched up.

 

I used clips to connect the waistband to my sweater. I prefer clips because I always stab myself with pins. 

 

I tried it on the dress form to see how it looked. You can see the waistband was long enough to tie in front of the sweater. It was ready for the real sewing.

 

I used my serger since this was a knit. The serger is so great with knits, I don't know how I went with out it for so many years.

 

Here is a look at the back of the sweater when it was finished. The waistband has a nicely hemmed edge that was originally at the bottom of the long sweater.

 

My new cropped sweater was sort of like the denim inspiration. The color and shape were very close to my inspiration. The stretch and comfort of the knit fabric will make this easy to wear. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

 

***Year End Update- I still wear this sweater a lot. It is light and great to add on an outfit without getting to bulky.