So my collection of sweaters that I’ve been hoarding from local thrift stores was getting a little bit out of hand, and with the confidence of my Quilted Sweater Baby Blanket under my belt, I decided to tackle something that I could wear.

I am extremely fortunate to have an overlock machine. I had to sew a lot of years before I felt I could justify this machine. Now that I have it, I absolutely love it. Doing this project without one of these is not impossible. You could use a straight stitch on a sewing machine and just do a double or triple row of stitches. In the  The photo on right on the bottom is what the top of an overlock stitch looks like — 3 rows of straight stitches. The top two rows of stitches in the photo on right show the underside of an overlock stitch looks like.

I don’t normally wear a ton of black or white, but I have been wearing a lot of grey lately. Mostly grey T-shirts, which makes me look a bit like a auto mechanic I suspect, but fashion and style have never been my strong suit. When I was going through the boxes of felted sweaters though, what was jumping out at me were all the black, grey and white sweaters, so that’s what I decided to go with. I had a beautiful cable-knit winter-white turtleneck sweater that had some moth holes in the sleeves. I decided this would be the “trunk” of the design. I really had no pre-conceived ideas about what this was going to end up looking like and took each section as it came. I will say that having this old dress form that was my sisters back when she was a sweater designed made it so much easier to work on.


First I removed the turtleneck. It is my personal opinion that nobody over the age of 40 should be wearing a turtleneck — too much risk for Muffin Top Chicken Neck. Nobody wants to see that, but that’s just my personal opinion.


I pieced a few pieces of turtlenecks and sweater pieces to combine this open collar.


I don’t know if this sweater would have fit me before I felted it, as I purchased it at the local Goodwill thrift store, but it certainly was a little snug after being felted in the washing machine. I decided the best way to expand it was to add panels under the arms.


Since I didn’t have one piece of sweater long enough to make it the final length that I wanted, I added an additional length of some white sweater from the original sweater, but I used some of the turtleneck rib on one side and the arm cable on the other side.


Then I had to piece together some sweaters to form some length on the bottom front. Rather than have straight up-and-down strips, I decided to add some pieces cut a bit on the diagonal for interest and to give it a slight flare.


Then I got to work on the sleeves. I had these soft beautiful black sleeves from a sweater, but usual, once they’d been felted they’d never fit over my arms, and were also too short. More inserts would be required to expand the sleeve.


Now that I knew generally what the sleeves were going to look like, I could finish up the back. I didn’t want to make it exactly like the front.


And then I’d needed to lengthen the sleeves. First I added some of the winter white ribbed sweater as a modified cuff, and then I added a slightly flared lower cuff from an old ski sweater of mine. I purposely made this cuff come to a slight point.


But I still didn’t think it was long enough, even though I planned on wearing it with boots and leggings. I added some more length with smaller, shorter sweater pieces.


While I was in Austin recently I found these great embroidery patterns by a local company called Sublime Stitching. When I got home I checked out their website, and ordered these adorable sewing labels. Check out their really unique embroidery patterns and other stuff. I thought this project deserved this special label.


I finished the bottom by finishing the bottom with my overlock machine, but you could use pinking shears or a zigzag stitch too. Then I pressed a 1-inch hem and used my regular sewing machine and a blind hem stitch. I was so thrilled with how it turned out that I wore it today when we packed all the kids in the car and headed up to Millbrook, New York for the day.

Finished Sweater Front

Finished Sweater Back

Canning Jar Sewing Kit

How cute are these little things. Sewing kits you make from canning jars! What a great idea as a little gift for someone going away to college, to live in their first apartment, or maybe for some freshly divorced guy who will have to sew his own buttons on his shirts? You could assembly line a dozen of these before the holidays and have them handy as hostess and last-minute gifts.

Another thing I saw on Pinterest, it originally came from Martha Stewart. I decided to dress mine up even more with the checked bias tape around the edge of the jar lid and the fancy dangly pom-pom’s. I found everything I needed to make them; fabric, trims, and basic sewing kit, all at Wal-Mart.