Easy Cable Knit Skirt – a Wardrobe Refashion
Do you like cable knits? I do. I love the chunky texture of the cables, and the way they automatically evoke the feeling of ‘cozy’. I’m not a knitter but appreciate the skill involved in making all the patterns and designs, so sometimes I wonder why knitters spend so much effort making such labour intensive projects with less than pleasant yarns?
The sweater I’ve refashioned here was once a sad, shapeless and unloved acrylic sack, passed onto me by a family friend who no longer had a need for it. She knew that I like to felt knitwear, so thought it would be useful for one of my projects. Because acrylic doesn’t felt, it has sat around my sewing room waiting to be remade into something wearable.
Now that the weather is cooling down in Melbourne, it was the perfect opportunity to refashion the sweater into an Easy Cable Knit Skirt.Both easy to make and easy to wear, I’ll be making a few more before the season is up.
Read on for instructions…
You Will Need:
A cable knit jumper (sweater)
An old ribbed t-shirt/top or ribbed fabric
1″ wide elastic (length = waist measurement)
Overlocker/serger recommended (or sewing machine)
General sewing supplies (scissors, thread, pins)
Tip: I’ve actually used two unwanted garments in this refashion. I have a little pile of damaged clothing (not worthy of donating) that I set aside for things like trims and ribbing, that way I don’t need to go to the fabric store for a few inches of fabric.
How To:
Cutting
1. Cut the bottom half of the cable knit jumper off just under the arms. Be careful not to pull or stretch whilst handling as stitches may unravel.
2. For waist band I have used an unwanted woolen ribbed top. Cut the waist band off then cut a 4″ wide band from the body. (If you are using ribbed fabric, cut a long rectangle 4″ wide and the length slightly longer than your waist measurement. Sew ends together.)
3. Measure the elastic around your waist, and sew ends together.
Sewing
4. Fold the waistband fabric in half, sandwich the elastic in between the waistband, then with right side of cable knit facing out, slip waistband and elastic over so all the raw edges are aligned.
5. Pin in place.
6. Overlock/serge edge. Go slowly being careful to remove pins as you go, and feed the bulky knit through evenly. I recommend using 2 needles (4 threads) if you have it.
All done!
The serged seam has stretch and holds the knit stitches securely to prevent unraveling.
Tip: If you don’t have a serger, try a narrow, medium length zig zag stitch on your sewing machine.
This skirt is so comfy, I can see myself wearing it all winter over leggings and tights, and it totally solves my ‘what to throw on for school drop off’ dilema.See how happy I am that I am no longer tempted to wear leggings as pants, I’m jumping for joy! Yay!
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Nice-looking skirt!
Tip: To prevent the sweater's coming un-knitted, stretch it slightly and stitch just below where you plan to cut it off. Those stitches will hold the yarn in place.
If you want to be sure the knitted sweater’s cables stay perfectly in place, I’d suggest running a line of medium wide zigzag stitches (a somewhat loose zigzag ) around the sweater, under the arms, just below where you plan to cut the sweater off. You don’t want the stitches to be so tight they pull the sweater out of shape. But you want to be sure the cut off part which will be your skirt doesn’t begin to unravel while you’re attaching a waist band. Since you’ll be handling the skirt part quite a lot, this small extra step will help keep all the kitted stitches in place.