Refashionista // Sweater into cropped cardigan

When you look through my refashionista archives you'll probably notice that I love making over sweaters. Whether into skirts or socks, or cardigans. Knits of all kinds are my favorite material to work with, and although I know that most of you don't have a serger/overlocker nor a cover-stitch machine, I still recommend giving knits a try. There are ways to work with knits on a regular sewing machine (a post about that coming soon), so don't shy away from them even if seems intimidating.

My number one favorite thing about knits besides the comfort factor is how easy they are to fit. Woven fabrics can be temperamental when it comes to getting a good fit. So, I would pick a knit over a woven any day. But, enough of the praise, let's talk about today's refashion, shall we?

This loose-fitting cropped cardigan is an iteration of this sweater into cardigan refashion I did over a year ago. While my first version was super simple and quick to make, this one has more bells and whistles and therefor takes a little more time as well.

The style was inspired by the cardigan in my spring sewing inspiration post. As soon as I saw it, I knew the sweater in my stash would be perfect for recreating the look. 

Although I love the outcome, I do have a few regrets. First, I wish I would have measured the width better. It came out a tad too loose, and the front overlap is also too big. I should have just taken it in more at the back seam. The shoulders a little bit wide as well. I was going for a droopy shoulder, but the fit didn't turn out to be perfect. I have a feeling I should have sewn the shoulder seams slightly curved. I just thought I'd share the messy behind the scenes details as well. Not every refashion I make turns out exactly the way I envision.

Here's how I did it:

1) First, I removed the sleeves. You can do this either with scissors or a seam-ripper. 

2) Second, cut off the upper part of the sweater, just below the neckline. Sew a straight seam at the dotted line. This will become the center back seam. So, moving forward, the width of the sweater becomes the height of the cardigan and vice versa.

3) Cut the sides of the sweater straight, eliminating the armpit curve. 

Measure your back width (from shoulder tip to shoulder tip). You can add a few centimeters to that measurement if you want your cardigan to be more loose-fitting. Mark the sides of the soon to be cardigan using this measurement, so that the center back seam (the only seam there is at this point) is in the center of the marks.

4) Fold the sides of the long sweater panel towards the center, so that the side mark is on the fold. The folded part will become the front of the cardigan.

Next, mark the shoulder seams. I wanted my finished collar to be 5 cm high, and my shoulder width was 10cm, which meant I needed to mark a 10x10 square (since the collar will be on the fold later) to the upper corner of both sides. Your measurements might differ a little. 

5) Cut and sew according to the lines. You should have a sort of bottle-like shape to your cardigan at this point. 

I will move on to the sleeves now, and come back to the cardigan after that. I straightened the sleeves and cut them to elbow-length, but you might not need to make these steps. 

Back to the cardigan:

1) Place the sleeve to the side of the cardigan and mark how big of a hole you'll have to cut to fit the sleeve in. Cut both armholes. Sew sleeves to the cardigan.

2) Since my cardigan was already pretty short, I decided to make a faux hem for it. I used the cut-off side strips of the sweater to piece together a long band for the hem. Then I sewed it to the bottom of the cardigan. If your cardigan is long enough to fold and sew the hem as is, you don't have to do this step on your version.

3) Now is a good time to give the garment a good press all around. To stretch out the ribbed part in the front, just stretch and pin it to the ironing board and steam well. Let cool before removing pins. With some fibers, you'll need to do that after every wash, but some fibers will also stretch out completely and stay that way even after washing. 

Also, fold and press the hem and sleeve-hems. And, Fold the collar in half (along with the whole top hem) and press well. 

4) Finally, sew the top and bottom hem, and the sleeve ends.

Quick tips for sewing all of this with a regular sewing machine:

1. Use a narrow zig-zag stitch or the knit stitch (that looks like a lightning bolt) to sew the center back seam, and the shoulder and sleeve seams. 

2. Use a wider zig-zag stitch to cover raw edges.

3. Use a twin-needle for the hems.

I'll go more in depth on this topic in an upcoming post.

I feel I'm gravitating more towards boxy cuts these days, which is something new for me. I love that I can wear this cardigan wrapped and sealed with a pin, which is a more sophisticated and feminine look, or leave the front open for a more modern and edgy look. I also love that the sweater is made of cotton, which makes this the perfect spring/summer cardigan. I know I'll get lots of wear out of this in the coming months. 

I hope you got some inspiration to take on a sweater refashion yourself, and a good idea of the process behind making this one. If you have any questions about this tutorial, or requests for upcoming posts (what would you like to learn?), let me know in the comments.

Happy sewing!

xo. Hanna

P.S! Don't forget there's still time to crab something from the shop half off with the code ENDSALE! 

My Cable Knit Sweater

Winter is always the knitting season for me. As soon as the weather starts getting colder, I get the itch to pick up a knitting project. Although I haven't shared that many projects on the blog, I actually very much enjoy knitting. It's one of the most soothing activities I know. Some of my proudest projects have been knitted. On top of the list is a lace knit cardigan with beads I knitted for my Mom a few years ago, and an Icelandic sweater dress I made for myself. 

As with all crafts, some years are more productive than others. This winter has seen a new wave of knitting for me. The projects are not many, but they are big. First, the scrap yarn throw blanket. And now, a cable knit sweater. 

I usually make my own patterns for knitting since the few times I've followed a pattern resulted in disastrous failures. I don't know what I do wrong, but even after checking for gauge, all my projects turn out at least 3 sizes too big. My last very painful disaster was the sweater I knit for Rein last Christmas, that I ended up ruining trying to make it wearable, and that I wasted a lot of hours to make. Sigh..

That's the thing about knitting though, a project like a sweater has a lot of room for error, which can lead to moments of utter frustration. This one also had a couple of those. I tried to do a high-low hem ribbing, and mostly succeeded, although I should have started with more cast-ons, and then decreasing the number with the short rows (if that makes any sense to anyone else but me). That was a valuable lesson for me as I'd never done a high-low hem before on a sweater (or anything else for that matter). Also, I counted the stitches wrong when joining the sleeves, so I ended up having to unravel many rows of knitting. Not a fun moment.

I love seed stitch! Seriously, I use it in most of my projects. It's one of those easy stitches that looks very sophisticated. So, the body is in seed stitch apart from the cabled front part, and the sleeves are regular knit. I thought it would be a nice contrast between those two with the raglan sleeves. By the way, it was my first attempt at a self-drafted raglan sleeve. Success! 

A little word about the yarn I used as well. My Grandma gave me this yarn for Christmas too many years ago. I had a hard time deciding what to knit with it, and so it just sat in my yarn pile. Now, when I was back in Estonia for the holidays, I thought it'd be the perfect time to start this project. It took me about a month to finish this. Would have gone a lot faster, but I usually knit only when I'm watching a series or film in the evenings. We should watch more of those, I guess.

All in all, I'm super happy with my sweater. I had a couple of hiccups along the way, but that's a part of the process. Initially, I'd hope to share this pattern with you, but it came out much more difficult, and the work that would go into making this into an easy-to-follow pattern with different sizing would just be too much at this point. But, you can browse other knit projects I've made for some other ideas.

A little update! The yarn i used is Bergere de France Eclair (74% acrylic, 14% mohair, 9% worsted wool, 3% lurex). The color is Taffetas, which I can't seem to find anywhere for sale. There are other colors available, though. Like hot pink, deep purple, plum, beige, white, and lime green on Amazon, and this site also has a lot of variety, including the light pink I used for a hat I'm wearing here.

I'm already sketching out a new spring sweater design. I hope to make something simple, so I could share the pattern with you as well.

Have you knit anything recently? Is knitting a seasonal craft for you as well, or are you a year-round knitter?

Refashionista // Sweater into lined skirt with invisible waisband

Are you as excited as I am that Refashionista is finally back? After moving, I wasn't sure how often I would be able to do this feature, because I only brought a couple of to-be-refashioned items with me. I mean, there's not point taking a bunch of old clothing with me, right? (Actually, I would have loved to take ALL my junk, but sadly, there just wasn't enough room in the trunk of the car, nor in our small apartment.) I'd also heard, that there aren't many thrift or second-hand shops here in Germany - mostly high-end vintage boutique-type of stores with hefty price tags. But, luckily, we have two Humana second-hands here in Cologne. The first time I really felt I belonged here, was when I stepped into a Humana on sales day... Is that weird?

Anyway, I scored a lot of stuff for my shop, but also a little something for me and Rein. This gorgeous black and white striped sweater was one of those finds. Now, me turning a sweater into a skirt is nothing new, of course, but, I did want to show you how to add a lining and make an encased waistband that doesn't show (instead of a visible elastic one). When you're making the knit skirt out of a finer sweater, or you want to use a T-shirt for this project, you'll probably notice that every bump and seam-line will be visible through the skirt, and that's not flattering, now is it? So, you'd probably want to add more body to the skirt with a lining. Or, perhaps you'd like to make it warmer for the winter time.

 Outfit details // Blouse: hand-me-down // Skirt: refashioned // Necklace: Pearls & Scissors // Belt: DIY // Shoes: thrifted

 Here's what you need:

• Old fine-knit sweater (The waist of the sweater has to fit your hips)
• T-shirt or jersey fabric
• 3cm-wide elastic the width of you waist measurement
• Sewing machine, matching thread, scissors and pins

  STEP 1  
You can refer back to my first tutorial on sweater skirts for this part, but here's the short and sweet.
Cut off the sleeves and the top part of the sweater as shown above. Sew a bell-shape curve on the sides for the hips and to even out the armpits (also shown above). I used my serger/over-locker for the side seams, but you can also use a narrow zig-zag stitch on a regular sewing machine, just make sure to lengthen the stitch and narrow it (the setting on my sewing machine would be 3.5 for the stitch-length and 1.5 for width). You should end up with an outer skirt like the one pictured below.

    STEP 2   
Next, cut out and sew your lining. Place the skirt you just made on the T-shirt or fabric and cut two layers. Sew the lining pieces together to form an identical inner skirt. You can hem the lining if you like, but since jersey fabric don't fray, you don't have to. 

   STEP 3   
Now, place one skirt inside the other, so that the wrong sides are facing out, and the right sides face each other. Make sure to match the side-seams. Sew them together from the waist as shown above with the orange dotted line. 

 Now you should have this tube :)

Place the lining inside the skirt, so that the right sides are facing out this time and the outer skirt is, well, out, and the lining is inside. Fold the waistline so that the seam is flat, but the lining doesn't show form the outside, and press.

   STEP 4   
Cut your elastic to the size of your waist. Just put it around your waist, pull as snug as you'd like it to be and cut (leaving a couple of cm for seam allowances). Place the ends of the elastic together, so they overlap by about 2cm, and sew the ends together.

Place the elastic band between the skirt layers, so that the lining goes through the elastic ring. Pull it all the way up the the waist-seam.

 Place the seam of the elastic in line with the side-seam of the lining. Carefully turn the outer skirt onto the elastic so that the upper edge of the elastic is flush with the waist-seam. Pin the side seams of all three layers together.

Turn the outer-skirt on right-side out ( the elastic stays between the layers). Start sewing the casing from the right side of the skirt. The seam should be just below the elastic (leave about 0.5cm below the elastic), and the elastic should be against the waistline. Just adjust the placement of the elastic gently as you go along making sure that it's against the waist-seam and that you're not sewing over the elastic. I sewed it with a narrow zig-zag on my regular machine.
Since your elastic is probably smaller that your skirt waist, you need to pull the fabric as you go to make sure the payers are flat when you sew over them. This is harder to explain than to do :). Since the elastic is only secured in one spot, it should be easy to move the skirt layers on the elastic so that you don't have to stretch the elastic while sewing.
Lastly, I sewed the elastic to the skirt layers at the side seam where I pinned it at first. Just so it doesn't move around or twist and turn inside the casing.
Whew! All done.

I'm usually pretty skeptical about wearing knit pencil skirts, since they do emphasize the thigh area, which is not something I'd like to emphasize much, if you know what I mean. But, I have started wearing more tight knits, and I'm getting over the whole knit-pencil-skirts-make-me-look-fat-thing. I think this one is a hot little number (and my hubby agrees). And, the lining makes it so much more comfortable, and umm, secure. Like, I know everyone's not going to see my panty-line. I also like, that this let's me wear it without tights in the summer-time.

That's it for today, folks! I have a plan for the sleeves as well, so I'm not done with this sweater yet...

xo. Hanna

Refashionista: Trendy open front sweater

I don't know about you, but it's officially winter around here. It's been snowing, and it's getting really chilly outside. Which is why this sweater refashion jumped into my mind a couple of weeks ago. An hour later I had a cozy sweater to keep me warm. Yes, it took me only an hour to finish! I love when the light bulb goes on in my head like that.

I know I say that a lot about my creations (such an egomaniac), but I totally love this sweater! I have to remind myself that there are other things in my closet besides this at the moment. That's how much I love wearing it.

You can find the complete tutorial with step by step instructions on Oh Everything Handmade.

Refashionista: Sweater makeover with dye

Most times, the quickest way to transform a garment, is to just dip it in dye. Once you've tried it a couple of times and mastered the little tricks of dyeing, it's so easy to give a piece of clothing a completely new look with a pack of dye.

I got this sweater from a friend of a friend who wanted to get rid of some of her old clothing. I loved the quirky cut of the sweater, but the color was not at all me. So, I decided right on to try and dye it. Not all dye jobs work out, so think twice before dipping your designer blouse into hot dye. But if it's a garment you know you won't wear because of its color, then I think it's worth experimenting.

I must say that this is the best dye job I have ever made, next to the tie-dye jersey tee and the ombre dress.  I love the burgundy color that  I got (I used a dark red dye) and how even the color is. There are definitely risks when it comes to dyeing garments at home, but in this case I'm so glad I took the risk.