Poncho!

I made this little girl's poncho for no one in particular.  I might list it on Etsy.  The shape of the sweater it was previously just seemed so perfect for a poncho (I really need to start taking before pictures!), so I just cut the top off in a circular pattern.  I stitched the bottom with a zigzag just to be safe since the sweater was a wool blend.  I made the little flowers out of scraps from other sweater projects and buttons that were in an old box of buttons I got from my mom years ago!

Today, I had a few moments to pop in to the Goodwill, and I found another sweater like this one but yellow.  Looks like I'll be making another poncho soon!  I also picked up some things to make a dress for my daughter for a Christmas party.  Look for it soon!

Olivia's dress

I decided that this year I want to be as green as I can for the holidays, and one way is to give up cycled gifts. I decided to make a sweater dress and hat for my niece. I used a large, loose-knit woman's sweater in colors that were just obnoxious for adult attire, but perfect for a 5-year old!

I first cut off the sleeves - and later used one to make a hat - and then stitched down each side seam to make it slimmer. I cut the sleeves off of a junior's wool sweater. I also cut the neckband off to attach to the dress in order to decrease the size of the neck.

In order to make the dress flare at the bottom, I cut out irregular triangles from the rest of the wool sleeves. After making a slit in the hemline, I stitched the triangles to the dress. For an extra touch, I made flowers out of the leftover pink wool, added a pearl button I already had to each flower, and attached them to the front of the dress and the hat.

The hat was simply the sleeve of the large sweater. The shoulder end became the bottom of the hat. I stitched a diagonal line across the sleeve and cut off the extra. This gave it an elfin look, but I tacked the point down with the wool flower.

I was really happy with how it turned out.  I hope she likes it as much as I do!

IPad bag

I found this great wool sweater at a thrift store for $2.50. I loved the bright colors and stripes, so I knew it would make a fun purse. The first thing that I did was wash it in HOT water in the washing machine, along with several other bargain sweaters I had just found. Then it was into the dryer for more felting. This had the "Jenny Craig" effect on the sweater, as it dropped several sizes, which was exactly what I wanted. Now I had a thick, heavy wool that could withstand weight as a purse. I decided it would be a satchel-type with a flap. I used scraps from another felted wool sweater to make solid color sides. I cut the bottom black and red stripes off of the striped sweater, cut the piece in half, and sewed the two pieces together to make the strap. I stitched wih the smaller red stripes together to look like one larger red strip. After finishing this, I realized it is the perfect size for my iPad. Since it is felted wool, it is water repellant and nicely padded to protect my precious "best friend.". Upcycling old sweaters is truly an emergent process, as I never know where a sweater will take me!