Saturday, January 14, 2012

Take that, J. Crew!

If you know me, you know I'm frugal to a fault.  Most things I will not consider purchasing if they're not on sale.  Even if they are on sale, I need to feel like I'm getting an excellent deal.  Unless it's something I absolutely need, of course.

This sweater from J. Crew is not something I need.

I especially don't need it for the $88 they're asking for it.  It's sold out, anyhow.

This is one of those things that I saw and immediately thought, "I could make that!"  So that's exactly what I did.  For $1.25, I made my version of this sweater.

I started with this sweater.

I bought it at a thrift store for $1.25.  

Then I used one of my husband's old t-shirts to cut out a heart.


I pinned the heart to the front of the sweater and sewed around the edges.  The whole process took about 15 minutes.



That was it!  Once again, really simple and totally worth the effort.  

You should try!





Tuesday, January 10, 2012

As promised

The remainder of the better sweater.

Everything is pretty straightforward and simple.  For the boot socks (really, leg warmers) I just measured my leg and cut two pieces from the sweater.

Then I sewed the individual pieces lengthwise and did a zig zag stitch along the bottom so it doesn't fray.

I finally had an opportunity to wear them on Sunday.  It wasn't necessarily cold, but it was cooler AND it was windy so that drops the temperature a little.  Either way, I just needed an excuse to wear these things.  Before we left for church, my husband said "Aren't your legs hot?  Are you itchy?"  Absolutely not!  


As evidenced by these pictures, I was perfectly comfortable and happy to be wearing my new boot socks.

On to the next!



The mittens were quite simple as well.  I used a folded piece of fabric and cut along the side of it so that part of the work was already done.  I just cut around my hand, leaving room to sew.

Then, like the others, I sewed along the seam and turned them right side out.

I'm not sure how one displays mittens for a picture.  I tried a couple of awkward poses and landed on this picture of my mittened hand against the wall.

Now, mittens are not terribly functional, so I imagine myself wearing them for about five minutes and taking them off in frustration because I can't scratch my nose/ open a door/ eat a sandwich.  They're still fun to have though. And it probably took about 10 minutes to make them so, why not!?  

I hope you all have enjoyed learning how to make awesome stuff out of a sweater.  Now go do it!





Saturday, January 7, 2012

Things don't always go as planned

A friend gave me a bag of clothes quite a few months back.  When I saw this sweater, I knew something cool would come out of it, but I wasn't quite sure what that would be.

It was obviously much too large to stay a sweater so I started trying different things.  I imagined making a skirt but my hips chose otherwise.  I wish I'd remembered that when I decided to make it into a dress/ jumper.

It was quite possibly the most unflattering piece of clothing I've ever made for myself.
On to plan B...

How about a nice, knit hat!?
I started by using another knit hat that fits my head well.  I cut around the hat, leaving room for the seam.

Good thing I had my furry helper to supervise.

Then I sewed the two pieces together with the right sides facing one another.  I turned it right-side-out and removed the three flowers from the sweater; adding them to the hat.

These results were way, way better.  I love this new hat and can't wait for an opportunity to wear it outside.  Unfortunately, the daytime temperature hasn't been below 70 degrees in about three weeks!  What month is it, for goodness sake!?



I also made some mittens and boot socks from this lovely sweater-dress gone wrong.  I'll be sure to post again soon to show you those cozy things.