Sweater Weather

 Hello Readers. It is Thanksgiving this week in the U.S. and that shakes up the schedule a little. I didn't have that much time to sew but I did finish 2 small projects that made these 2 sweaters wearable again. It is getting chilly out there. I need warmer clothes.

Today is 2 posts in 1.

The first project was this purple shirt. Well, I only had part of it. I used the bottom of the shirt to make a skirt back in April 2022. But I don't throw away scraps so...

I had this very short shirt. It was just the sleeves, shoulders and neckline. I saved it because I loved the fabric. I thought maybe I could use the sleeves for something. Then I had an idea!

 

I decided to use my serger on the cut edge and use the shirt under sweaters. It would be sort of a dickie but with sleeves. 

 

The serger would keep the cut edge from fraying in the wash. 

 

This was a great partner for this purple sleeveless sweater. Let's look at sweater #2. 

 

This green sweater is a little too small but I love that acid green color. 

 

I cut the sweater open on the sides and along the inside of the sleeves. I did this so I could sew some wide ribbon into the sweater to make it bigger. This is just one long cut and I can add one piece of ribbon on each side. This is my favorite way to make sweater larger. It only takes 2 cuts and 4 new seams. Easy as pie!

 

This is a weird pose but it shows where the ribbon is. The ribbon gave me just enough extra room to wear this sweater comfortably. That's all for today. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.
*Year End Note From Chickie- These are 2 great fixes to give me more work clothes. I forget to make basics so when I do make them, I love them and they get a lot of wear. 

 

 

 

 

 

Yellow Sweater

 Hello Readers. I am back again with a sweater that just does not fit anymore. What is the deal? Is it Covid snacking? Is it turning 50? Is it my love of chips? Something is making me bigger and I can tell when I get dressed. Some of my clothes are too tight. But I like some of them a lot and I want to save them. Like this sweater. The bright color... the fun stripes... I loved it!

Before and after.

This sweater was too tight. You can see that. I was going to give it away but...

 

It sounds a little crazy but I am a hardcore Crocs fan. I am almost obsessed. When I was yunger I worked in an office and wore high heels everyday. Now, I have old tired feet and when I wear Crocs my feet do not hurt at all. (This is not an ad. They do not know me. I just love them.) I found these fun yellow Corcs on clearance and bought them right away. When I wear them at work, my feet are happy. Do you see how the yellow color matches the sweater? I needed to save the sweater because I probably wouldn't be able to find anything else this shade of yellow ever.

 

I decided to enlarge this sweater. It is much faster to make the sweater larger than it is to make myself smaller.

Now that the sweater is open I can put some kind of fabric in the sides.

I searched around in my sewing stuff and decided to use this wide sheer ribbon. It would be almost clear and would not distract from the yellow stripes. I didn't have anything else that seemed to match. This is an unique color.

 

I used my serger to connect the ribbon and the side seams.

 

 You can see the side seams here.

 

I also used my serger to finish the the ribbon along the hemline and wrist cuffs.

I thought the fit was much better now that the sweater was a little bigger. This is an easy project that takes only a little while. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

*Year End Note From Chickie- This was a great summer sweater and I wore it to work a lot. It was light and fit so much better after adding the ribbon.