Thursday, February 14, 2008

Vintage Sweaters ! Let's recycle eBettyDIY

Sweet Sweater Upcycle Repurpose

February 15th, 2008

O yeah, does the Planet Earth have sweaters…..o yeah we got sweaters. They multiply while in your dresser drawers and in your closets…..they multiply in the thrift stores and in the summer, they have sex ( I swear) at yard sales.

So what shall we do about this…..let them co-mingle I say. Let them share cell walls like Randy Ameobas……. this is being typed on Valentines Day 2008 (can you tell?)

So, here we have 2 sweaters freshly extracted from a local supply house (thrift store). One is male one is female, and I am not discriminating….these 2 just went together color-wise and washing-type-wise…you will want that ..so you can clean them together.

I want to sew them together and create a dress. First I measured from the shoulder seam about 16 inches and cut across. Then, I’ll sew them together. Placing right sides together…….




and stretch and pin so the waist seam of the lady sweater is matched up with the cut edge of the man sweater. Sew and stretch as you sew. I sewed a few times , round and round , so it will hold together as I put it on and as I wear the new dress.

After I sewed the waists together…. Look, the lady sweater is upside down!! I then cut the lady sleeves off. I just followed the seam lines of the sleeves to sweater body and cut. This left me with a weird lower area and that inspired me to keep cutting. So, I chose a place to chop off based on looks alone…..I want my dress to be balanced and I wasn’t too concerned about how long it was.So….. I took the piece of the man sweater and sewed it to the bottom edge and viola !!

Yup here’s the bottom of the dress ! Below is the top.

***** Dang…I’m a bit dizzy….Top is Bottom ******

I cut off the neck and wrist ribbings and ran a line of stitching about a 1/2″ from the raw edge. I’m leaving it raw but it can be turned under and sewn. If you have great skillz and confidence, you could add lace or ribbing or whatever strikes your fancy to finish your edges. You could certainly leave it be……I chose to chop…….

I took a small chunk of the lady sweater sleeves and stitched a pocket on the dress, then sewed a vintage button on for cuteness…you knew that was coming !

Here it is !! I think it turned out better than I had imagined !!

I encourage you to chop sweaters…….to combine more than 2 if you want…..Imagine…..all the sweaters…..living life in Piece…..

They say I’m a dreamer……But now I love sweaters again…..

And I hope you do too…..

Your eBettyDIY,

Tressie from

funkomavintage.com

No comments: