Saturday, February 22, 2014

Repurposing A Sweater And Cracking You Up

A while ago, someone gave this sweater to k-ster.

I can't stop laughing either.  K-ster is not a sweater wearer to begin with.  Picturing him in a body hugging, soft, fine knit striped sweater gives me fits of giggles for hours.  I don't know who gave it to him or what they were thinking.  It's way too small, but sadly, not long enough that I could make it into a dress, as I was thinking I could.

For someone who doesn't wear sweaters, k-ster has an awful lot.  And when he first started installing marine electronics, he used to wear sweaters all the time.  I know this because I washed them all the time.

Recently, he declared that he doesn't wear sweaters and we might as well get rid of them.  If he doesn't wear sweaters, how do they end up in the wash?

I've seen tons of things to do to repurpose sweaters, so I decided it was time.

First, I tried making some mittens but they were crap, so I gave up that dream.  I've tried making mittens from sweaters countless times and they are just not going to happen for me and I need to get over it.

Then, I decided legwarmers are the way to go.   Not for me, for my etsy.  I don't wear leg warmers, for lots of reasons:  I'm short.  I no longer dance.  My calves don't really get that cold.  I am not a fashionista.

However, the internet is FULL of legwarmers, so I decided this was the way to go.

It's such a soft knit and lightweight, so sewing it would be a breeze.

I think we all know that taking the sleeves and making them into legwarmers is basically a no brainer.  Plus, it's fun to sit on the floor and stick your legs into the sleeves to see if it will work and you look like a total dork wearing a sweater on your legs.

So, I cut off a sleeve and the bottom band of the sweater.  My plan was to sew the band onto the top of the sleeve, where I cut it off, so there would be a top and bottom to the legwarmer.

The top of the sleeve was bigger than the cuff I made from the band, so I gathered it a little.  It came together just like I wanted.

 I am a sewing genius.

And then, because I sew for your entertainment, I realized I had sewn the cuff to the WRONG SIDE of the sleeve.  That's the seam of the sleeve you see.  On the outside.....

I had to rip out the cuff, which was not easy given the fact that a) I used a nicely matching thread and b) it's a knit, so it was really hard to undo.

I eventually got it out and resewed it.  Then I panicked because I saw this really crooked, ugly blue line on the outside of the sleeve.  I was so upset, I forgot to take a picture.  I had no idea I sewed so crookedly!

It was the gathering thread.  DUH.  And easier to remove since the stitches were bigger.

Every task I do lately requires being redone about 5 times because I keep doing things backwards.  Measure twice, cut once, I know.  But lately, measure twice, cut once and sew like 4 times.

Voila.



Exactly as I imagined.    Please excuse what looks like elephant knees.  I have great legs, I am not afraid to sound conceited when I say it because I do.  But these pictures do NOT prove that.  Must be the lighting....

Legwarmers do nothing for me, as we can see, but on the right person, they are excellent.  Find them for sale on my etsy.

Linking here:
http://www.flamingotoes.com/2014/02/think-pink-sunday-153/
http://www.adornedfromabove.com/2014/02/wednesdays-adorned-from-above-link_25.html
http://www.cherishedhandmadetreasures.com/2014/02/creative-corner-hop102.html#more
http://www.skiptomylou.org
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2014/02/clever-chicks-blog-hop-75-featuring-hey.html
http://www.sewcando.com
http://www.gingersnapcrafts.com/2014/02/wow-me-wednesday-143-giveaway.html
http://www.lovebakesgoodcakes.com/2014/03/lets-get-social-sunday-march-2014.html
http://www.glitterglueandpaint.com/throwback-thursday-25/ 

2 comments:

  1. If you used neon pink thread for your gathering you wouldn't have that problem ;)

    When I first saw the pic of where you sewed it wrong side out I did a double take thinking I can't believe she sewed it that bunchy and is trying to sell it! Haha I was looking at the seam. The finished ones look great. I love legwarmers, but alas my calves are way to big and look terrible in them. I'm secretly hoping Bean has long skinny calves so I can adorn them and live vicariously.

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