Fun and Easy Way to Refashion a Sweater

Tools and materials:

• Oversized sweater
• Pins
• Sewing machine
• Scissors
• Tailor’s chalk
• Measuring tape

Cut the sweater 

Cut the sweater to your desired cardigan length - adding an inch for seam allowance. Next, put the sweater on and pinch the excess fabric in the front. Pin the area and mark where you will cut. Cuff the sleeves to the length you want them to be and mark them again. Now lay the sweater on its side, mark the pinned area (and with the sweater folded) cut where you marked. 

Finish the cardigan 

Fold the raw edges of where you cut the middle of your cardigan inwards. Pin to secure and sew the fold down to hem it. Be careful not to pull the fabric as you sew. Next, sew around the beginning of your cuff (as pictured above). And finally, finish the cardigan by hemming the bottom with a double fold, cutting the excess fabric from the sleeve, and finishing the edge with an overlock stitch. 

Create the tank 

To make the bottom portion of the sweater into a tank top, put the sweater on like a tube top and mark where it needs to be taken in. Sew along the line you marked. Next, cut off the excess fabric and finish the raw edge with a zigzag stitch. Hem the edge with a double fold. 

Make the straps 

With the rest of the fabric, cut two shoulder straps. Mark four equal rectangles out of the fabric and then use some scissors to cut them out. Separate them into two straps and sew the pieces together, leaving one short edge open. Next, pull the shoulder straps right side out through the open edge, fold in the open edge, and topstitch around the entire strap. 

Finish the tank top 

To finish the tank top, pin the shoulder straps onto the top and sew them on. 

This basic sweater refashion is anything but boring. It takes an old, oversized men’s sweater that I would have never worn, and turns it into something I can’t wait to show off! This project is one of the many reasons I love thrift flips!