What to do with a Stretchy Sweater

This sweater is at least 11 years old, and used to be about half this size. It continues to expand sideways. And I decided midway through last year, that my body was going to go the other direction! I was ready to donate the sweater to the Goodwill, when I had an idea to transform it into a skirt.

Here’s the sweater. First, I cut off the arms and cowl neck part. Then I straightened the edges into sort of an a-line. I don’t own a serger, so my plan was to zigzag the seam edges first with my sewing machine from the 1950’s. The edges came out ruffled. I was cranky for a few seconds, then decided I would have the seams be on the outside, and be a design element. For the waist, I simply folded the sweater over, and stitched the edge to form a tube for an elastic waistband. The hem of the skirt was the bottom hem of the sweater. To make it more ruffled, I zigzagged that edge while slightly stretching the fabric.

I am darn pleased with my new skirt. I’ll wear it with tights and some boots. Now to alter some sweaters for tops!

I have a huge girl crush on Natalie Chanin, author of the Alabama Stitch Book. She did a great post recently showing and talking about using what you have. Read it here.

And for a hilarious read of what to do with ugly sweaters, visit A Girl Named Timi’s blog, and read about her Ugly Christmas Sweater holiday party.