Giraffe 2 Piece

It's National Giraffe Day so let's look back at this giraffe outfit.  

What is better than one giraffe sweater? Two giraffe sweaters of course! What was I going to make with these 2 sweaters? A two piece dress!

 Before and after.

These 2 sweaters are exactly the same. They are the same size and the same maker. I really want to make one into a skirt to wear with the matching sweater. It will look like a dress.

I started by cutting the sleeves and neckline off the sweater. I was going to make a narrow pencil skirt with the body of the sweater. It is very stretchy material and that will help me get the new skirt to fit. I planned of adding an elastic waistband to finish the cut edge. 

I used my serger on the new side seams and along the top of the new skirt. 

This off-white elastic would match well to the sweater.

But when the whole outfit is together, you don't see the elastic anyway.

I thought this sweater would be good for warmth because it is cold outside! Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

*Year End Note From Chickie- This is like pajamas and the sweater feels like a robe. I love them.

Make a Winter Hat & More

 Hello Readers. I have had a very cold winter in my part of the world. It has been frigid and windy. Bundling up has been mandatory. I have several winter hats and my favorite hat of all was made from a cashmere sweater that I accidentally shrunk. It is super soft and because it is a type of wool. Let me show you how I made it.

I will be cozy warm. 

I measured my noggin to see how big I should make my hat. 

I cut out my hat pieces. Each piece is half of my head circumference wide, plus 1/4 inch seam allowance.

This is the basic shape of my hat. 

I sewed the hat together with right sides facing each other. Then I flipped it right-side out.

I had this pompom in a drawer of sewing notions. I added it for fun, it is just for decoration. 

 

My new hat was done and the hem of the sweater is the band at the bottom of the hat. It looks nicely finished with only a few minutes of sewing.
 

The sweater sleeves can make great mittens. I traced my hand with a chalk pencil. 

I cut out my mittens and made them extra long so they would cover my whole wrist. 

The mittens were soft and warm. But if you cut off the thumbs...

You can make little footie socks. (These are so soft! They are my new favorite thing.)

I hope you are safe and cozy where ever you are. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

The Changeable Sweater

 Hello Readers. I love green but this sweater has been sitting on a hanger waiting for me to fix it. It was just confusing because I wasn't sure how to wear it.

  Before and after.

This sweater was a bit weird. It had the biggest turtleneck in the world but no sleeves. That seemed strange to me.Was it even a Turtleneck? Was It supposed to be off-the-shoulder? I really did not know. I liked the color though. It was a bit large too. The armholes came down too low. They would show bits and pieces they shouldn't.

I decided to resize the sweater by taking in the sides. That would keep the armholes from showing stuff they shouldn't.

 

When I took the sides in, it made little cap sleeves at the armholes. The turtleneck was still very large.

 

The armholes were so much better. I could wear it as a big loose cowl neck or...

I could wear it around my arms. Maybe this is what it was supposed to look like? I'm still not positive either way.

I liked it under a sweater too. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

Weird White Sweater to Sweater Vest

 Hello Readers. I honestly have no idea where I got this cropped sweater. Maybe from my daughter. It was soft and fuzzy but the fit was wild. I decided it would make a fun sweater vest. Let me show you how I did it.

Before and after.

The sweater was obviously supposed to be cropped and it was meant for someone with longer arms. That's not me but let's look past that. This could be a really fun cropped sweater vest. 

The first thing I did was cut off the sleeves. I saved them for a later project. 

I knew from trying on the sweater that it was too big in the chest so I cut the sweater a little on each side. (About 2 inches on each side.) Cut a sweater? I know that sounds crazy but it can be done. I pinned the front and back together so it would lay flat and not shift around while I was cutting it. I want each side to be the same size so if the sweater isn't cut evenly, it would not work out well when I tried to wear it. 

 

 Those pins also mark where I wanted my armholes to be. I marked that when I tried the sweater on too. I tried to be accurate but sweaters can stretch and adjust to fit. This sweater was very stretchy, that will make it easier to get a comfortable fit.

 I knew I needed to sew new side seams quick because sweaters will unravel. I went straight to my serger. I re-folded the sweater with the front and back facing each other. I sewed my new side seams on the lower half of each side of the sweater. I left the arm holes open for my arms. I used the serger all the way around the arm openings to keep the whole sweater in one piece. 

 

I broke a needle? How? It is a soft sweater! Ugh, I changed the needles out and got back to work.
 

I turned the edge of the arm openings in and used a needle and thread to tack them down and hid the serger stitches. They would hols the sweater yarn together but they were not very pretty. That's OK. I hid them. No one will see them now. 

 

I love this fuzzy little sweater vest. It is fun and looks great now that the super long sleeves are gone. The fuzzy texture and soft knit makes this very comfortable and cozy. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

***Year End Update***- This vest worked out so well. It matches everything and I love the fuzzy texture.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mock Turtleneck to 1/2 Zip

 Hello Readers. I found this sweater while thrifting and of course I brought it home. But I did not realize the neck was SO tight. It really had to be changed. I couldn't stand it. 

 Before and after.

I just couldn't take it. I was being attacked. The neckline was going to strangle me. 

I needed to open up that neckline. I thought I could put in a short zipper and it would be much more comfortable with the neck open. 

I cut the sweater and used the zipper as a guide for my cut. 

To attach the zipper I needed to sew it to the sweater right side to right side.

I sewed both sides of the zipper to the sweater like this. 

I turned the zipper under and stitched over it again. This is where thing went wrong. 

It was a mess inside. I couldn't wear this in public. There were loose threads all over. It felt securly attached but it was a hot mess. (It isn't that surprising, Sweaters are not really meant to be sewn with sewing machines. I decided to cover the inside with this bias tape. I folded the ends of the bias tape under so no cut edges of the bias tape showed.

I sewed the piece of bias tape to the sweater along the edges. I sewed the bias tape but made sure that the stitches didn't go through the front sweater. The sweater was thick enough to sew without sewing through the front. 

I wanted to reinforce the bottom of the zipper. The zigzag stitches looked messy here too. I folded up and stitched a little piece of bias tape to cover these stitches as well. 

 

I actually really liked the added color to the neckline. It turned out great. And considering what it looked like before I was really happy. The lesson? When you mes-up, try to hide it. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

***Year End Update***- I love this sweater and the touch of pink brightens up the tan. The sweater is so soft, it is worn a lot.
 

Save That Sweater #3

 Hello Readers. Sometimes clothes start to look dull and washed out after being washed over and over and over. That happens to all of us and it definitely happened to this sweater. I wanted to give it a new wash of color. I couldn't find the mauve/pinkish brown that I really wanted. I knew you could mix dyes to get a new color but I had never tried it.

Before and after.

This butterfly sweater was getting old and really washed out. I love the sequins and the color of those sparkly butterflies inspired the color I choose for the dye.

I used this boxed dye from Rit. I thought if I mixed the brown and the pink together it would give me a nice color to freshen up the sweater.

I mixed the dyes into the water in my washer and then added the sweater. I let the washer do all the work after that.

 

When the washer was done I opened it and I was thrilled with the color.
 

I thought the color was a great with the color of the butterflies. My sweater looked so much better and it was so easy. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

***Year End Update- This sweater was exactly what I hoped it would be. I love it so much. I wear it as much as I can.