Refashionista | Sparkly Blue Sweater

Awhile back I was going through my refashions box and found this lovely sweater which was way too small for me, but perfect for my little sister. I showed it to her and at first she hated it, but as the weather got colder she started to ask about the sweater and if I would be able to fix it for her to wear since she didn't have any 'winter' clothes. We're not used to this really cold weather lol. Anyway...

his refashion is super easy. I mostly just did a resize and then added some extra bits of the fabric that was left over into the V-neck so that it would be modest on her since she's so tiny and the V was really too low by itself.

For the fill in on the V-Neck I just cut strips of fabric that were leftover from the sides of the sweater after we fixed it's size.

 

What I Did

This refashion is super easy! I mostly just did a resize and then added some extra bits of the fabric that were left over into the V-neck so that it would be modest on her since she's so tiny and the V was really too low by itself.

Let's start with a before photo so you can see just how big it used to be on her:

I had her try it on so I could get the before photo and then I had her take it off, inside it out and put it back on. Now I'll walk you through what I did in case you have to resize a sweater. I will say that the pins kept falling out since the weave of the sweater was so big. I'd suggest using safety pins for better results...it'd be slower when you're sewing, but at least they wouldn't pop out while you're trying to pin it plus the pins won't stick you...or in this case, the other person wearing the sweater!

The Process

Pin the sweater close to the person's sides. Start near the bottom and then work on the arms. Work on the armpit area last so that you can make sure it will fit well, but not too tight or too big.

Here's the sweater as I'm sewing it. In this photo you really can't tell where the edge is, but it's on the left. :)

Here's what the sweater looked like after we were done sewing up the sides. I had her try it on again and I actually had to re-sew part of the left side (right on the photo) so that it would fit right cuz it was still a little big.

I did a zigzag stitch back and forth all the way around the hem so that the stitches would be secure and the sweater wouldn't unravel. This will be very important for you to do if you don't have a serger...or you're like me and don't have your serger working at the moment.

A close up of the stitching so you can see kind of what I did. As you can tell it's not pretty, but it works so that's all that really matters!

Once the stitching is secure and done grab the scissors and cut off the excess fabric. This shouldn't take too long and if you sweater really was too big you'll have some extra fabric to play with so you could add some embellishment or, like I'm getting ready to show you, you can fix it to make it more modest.

Here's what the sweater looks like now with all the excess fabric off of it. Obviously it's still inside out.

Out of the scraps from the left over pieces you cut off strips to layer in the v-neck area as you can see I have them here. I had four strips that I was able to get out of the leftovers. I would've liked at least one more, but all that was left were too small to use.

Sew together each piece. I didn't worry about pinning them since the pins don't really work on this stuff anyway as I said above...Make sure to do the zigzag along the seam so it will stick together and not unravel.

Pin the piece in where you want it to be. As you can tell I had to use a ton of pins for this tiny area just to keep them from falling out.

The uneven top is what you see now. I ended up folding it under and sewing the edge of it to the zigzagged part just below to create a nice finished edge.

Here's what the sweater looks like on the inside. You can see all the zigzagged edges to keep it from unraveling. You can also tell that the strips I sewed together weren't all the same size and they were kind of uneven but they looked just fine on the finished product.

Well, that's all I have for you! :) If you'd like to see more of my refashions check out the Refashions page on the left or click here to scroll through all the full posts.

This Post Was Shared!

• Adorned From Above Wednesday Link Party