Sweater Dress for Dressember

 Hello Readers. I am still refashioning and wearing dresses all month in honor of Dressember. What is Dressember? They are an organization that works to fight human trafficking and forced labor. Just $15 can provide internet access so that a victim can receive after-care counseling where ever they are. 

Let's talk about one of the dresses I refashioned and I am wearing this month. It was a sweater dress made from a natural fiber I had never seen before.

 

Before and after.

 

This sweater is made from baby alpaca. (They just shave the wool off, no baby alpacas were harmed in the making of this sweater dress.) Alpaca wool is very good quality and warm as can be... like it's super warm... like too warm... I am too hot... I can't wear this dress. I start to over heat every time I put it on. I was going to pass out, but I had an idea.

I decided to open up this sweater. It is going to have a new life as a long cardigan. To start, I cut the sweater right up the middle.

It looked like this. Would that cut edge fray? I wasn't sure.

 

 It didn't seem to be fraying at all but I wanted to be sure it wouldn't fray over time. 

 

I used my serger on that edge. I started at the hem and went up one side of the opening and down the other. I used black thread so it would blend in.

 

When you use a serger it leaves threads hanging off the at the end of a seam. I used a needle to tuck those threads under the stitches inside the sweater. This will keep it all nice and neat.

 

Here is a look at my new cardigan. 

 

Does this still count as a dress? I love it either way. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

 

 ***Year End Update- I have worn this many times as a sweater to stay warm this month.