Recontructed Sweater to a Shrug Tutorial

I'm going to a wedding reception next week that is in the evening and outdoors. I bought a beautiful dress, which is sleeveless, so I know I'm going to be cold. I had to come up with something that I could wear over the dress to give me some warmth. I wanted to make a little shrug, nothing with sleeves and something I could easily remove. I really enjoyed the last sweater reconstructed project I did ( http://bonnindesigns.blogspot.com/2008/11/remake-of-boring-cardigan-sweater.html ) and I really wanted to try my hand at something else. So off to the thrift store I went.

I purchased a lambswool neutral zip cardigan for $6 and went to work. When I purchased it, I realized that someone probably accidently washed the sweater and shrunk it so it was pre-felted for me. Cool, less work. Using the seam ripper, I removed the zipper and found that there were 2 strips of sweater that covered the zipper which later became the ties for the shrug. To make the shrug, the top of the sweater will be the bottom of the shrug, and the bottom of the sweater will be folded over to make a wide neck for the shrug.

I continued with the seam ripper and on the inside of the sweater, removed the stitching that held the sleeves on. I removed the sleeves and ended up with some nice holes that I could easily crochet and edging through.

I had this lambswool sweater vest since high school and it had a stain, so I felted it in the washer to tighten the stitching and began cutting circles of graduating sizes for flowers and leaf shapes.

So turning the sweater upside down and folding over what was the bottom of the sweater, which is now the neckline, I positioned and pinned my graduating size circles to make flowers and my leaves.

I stitched the leaves on using a basting stitch which I pulled tight a little to give the leaves dimension.

Next, the flowers were stitched in place using a crystal bead and hot pink sewing thread doubled onto a beading needle.

I originally used a bulky yarn to do the edging on the sweater in single crochet. I liked the yarn because it had all of the colors of the dress in it, but when I completed it, the results were to bulky and too 'hippy braidy' looking so I decided instead to use a neutral thinner yarn somewhat matching the sweater. It turned out much better.

This is the end result - with a row of double crochet and then a shell edging only in the back. I wanted to increase the back length a bit.

The sleeve part was done in single crochet. the front edging done in double crochet. The ties are the extra sweater zip portion folded over and stitched on with double thickness leaves sewn on.

I promise to show a picture of the shrug with the dress, but I was so excited to finally finish the shrug, I wanted to share it.

Tutorial: The Remake of a Boring Cardigan Sweater

From this

To this

I got this Gap wool cardigan at the thrift store last year and never really liked the neckline or the fit. Since I’m not a sewer, I procrastinated on doing anything to it, and only wore it a couple of times. Finally, the other day some inspiration blew in with the northern winds and I thought to myself “what have I got to lose? The sweater cost me $5.” So I stuck the sweater in a couple of warm water washes to felt it and make it smaller. I pulled out my sewing machine and thought of a way I would minimally have to use that, and instead use mostly my needle and thread, my noggin, and my love of color and design. I also decided to enter this tutorial in the Birdie “Know-it-All Tutorial Contest to see what other's think.

I suck at drawing. No matter how many years I took art, I never achieved the ability to make anything symmetrical on paper so don’t laugh. Typically I don’t plan things out and just wing it, but this time I needed some sort of an action plan. As you will see though, my drawing isn’t exactly like my finished project but just an inspiration for it and I’ll explain why in a minute.
So I cut the sleeves ¾ length, the bottom band and around the neck and button band.
I used ½ of the bottom band for each sleeve to make them flare a bit. This is where my sewing machine came in. I zig zag stitched the sleeve edging on.

Next I started cutting out pieces for the flowers and leaves as well as the fastener bands.

Flowers:

I used the sleeve portions I cut off to make the flowers. I cut across the sleeve 1 ½ inch pieces and cut that circle to open that up. I twisted that piece and rolled it from the edge around my finger and secured it with a pin.

I later sewed the back of those to secure them so that they wouldn’t unravel and then hand sewed those on with needle and thread to the sweater.

Leaves:

I used parts of the neckband and cut pieces about 1-2 inches long. I cut a long oblong on the edge opposite the fold so when I cut the leaf, I could open it up and there would be a leaf with a crease in the middle.

I used an unraveled thinner strand of the colored yarn to baste stitch the leaves onto the sweater down the center of the leaf.

Fastener band:

I used 2 pieces that incorporated a buttonhole on each end.

The Edging:

I used a basic blanket stitch with colored yarn for edging the bottom and neckline.

I used a whip stitch to go around the fastener bands.

I put 4 buttons on the sweater to attach the fastener bands.

Here’s why I changed the original pattern. Once I put on the sweater I realized that it had shrunk a bit more than I realized especially since I had cut it apart. So the back gathering with a band idea wouldn’t work. Then just laying out the sweater, I thought it would be a bit much with flowers on both sides. The way the sweater fit, the fastener band could not be single and high, but would look more interesting lower and with 2.

It’s ok to use a pattern for inspiration. Once you get going on any project, things can change and so might your finished piece. And that’s ok. I can’t wait to hit the thrift for another sweater and another set of inspirations. I learned from the first one and have some ideas for another. I might even get a bit braver with my sewing machine. Maybe.