Hello and Happy March!
It's pretty exciting that Spring is on the way. It may take a little longer, but I know it's coming and that helps immensely. I've been busy with school projects these last few days, but I managed to make myself a little something that I wanted to share with you. You see, I have no patience for knitting -- I really wish I did and maybe one day I will -- so the next best thing for me is sewing something that others would knit. I have several really soft cashmere sweaters I have either thrifted or been given over the years and some of them are no longer wearable due to little holes or issues with the fit (especially now that I'm pregnant and none of my clothes really fit). I can't bring myself to get rid of them, so I decided to start recycling them, and for starters, I decided to make myself a soft and very warm cowl. I thought I'd share the tutorial with you in case you have some old sweaters around too. Here you go.
Lay your sweater flat and inside out and cut straight across just below the arm holes.
You can now discard the top portion of the sweater, or if you want, you can make a tiny cowl out of the turtleneck for your little one. Yes, Junebug will have a soft cowl just like mama...don't worry we won't wear it at the same time.
Here is the part where you have a choice.
1. If you have a serger that is working properly (mine has issues right now), you can serge the cut edge in a snap and be done.or
2. You can fold it over, pin it securely, and hem it on the sewing machine.
I used a thread color that was close to the same color as my sweater, in the same family, if you will, but not exactly the same (hard to see this here). I like a little color contrast.
The hem is complete.
Now it's time to make your cowl fit properly. I tried mine on and roughly measured how much I needed to take it in. After you do that, pin the top and bottom edges securely. Remember: the top (the edge that was once the bottom of your sweater) should be a little smaller than the bottom. Essentially, you want to taper the line slightly from bottom to top (see sharpie).
(I should have used a different camera lens for this shot. Sorry.) Anywho, you can see that I stitched a line from top to bottom. I used the serger stitch on my sewing machine, but you certainly do not have to do that.
Lastly, cut the excess off and turn your cowl right side out.
There you have it. A soft and cozy cowl from an old cashmere sweater. This should get me through to Spring. No knitting skills required.
Cheers,
Leya