As a mom, my Winter uniform is jeans, boots and some sort of sweater. I love sweatshirts, but I think it’s hard to find really cute ones! So one of my goals this year is to work on some sweatshirt refashions in a quest to come up with something that is comfy, flattering as well as quirky and fun. I think it’s possible to be comfortable and stylish, anyway that is my hope 🙂
So I took a basic heathered grey sweatshirt and experimented with it. This is what I came up with — kind of fun and quirky.
This is what I did:
I started with a basic, heathered grey sweatshirt I got on sale for $8.
I found an oversized heathered grey sweater at Forever 21 in the clearance department for $3.
I cut it up into 4 inch sections, using the largest part of the sweater so I could get as much out of it as I could. I figured that I needed 3 times the length of the zippered section of each side. I then sewed two sections together to make it long enough.
Once the section was long enough, I tapered the section from 4 inches at the bottom up to 2.5 inches at the very top. This part of the material will lay toward my neck and I wanted it to be a little less wide so it would lay better. Do this to both sections.
I used FrayStop on the edges of the material that would be exposed. This is something that you can find at your fabric store or online. It is great stuff. But if you have a serger, you could aslo serge the seams that are going to be exposed.
I sewed the other edge of the material with my machine, using a wide stitch. Then I took the end of the thread and gently pulled it so the material would bunch. I pulled the bunches down the length of the thread. This step takes a litle bit of time, but eventually I had a gathered piece of material. I then evened out the gathers so it was uniform.
Then I took the gathered material and placed it seam side toward the outside of my garmet, layed up as flat as possible against the zipper. I pinned it in place and then sewed it flat along the zipper and as close to the zipper as possible. Your machine may have an option where you can move the needle closer to the seam without moving the foot, this makes it even closer.
Once the first seam was sewn on both sides, I took the pins out and folded the gathered material over the seam, pointing toward the outside of the sweatshirt. Then I arranged the gathers flat straight out and pinned them. Then I sewed a second seam on top of the one I had just sewn, right up against the zipper.
Once that second seam was sewn, I sewed a third seam about half an inch away from the second seam. This makes the gathers lay flat against the sweatshirt and not flop everywhere when I wear it.
Then I was done.
I am hoping to do something colorful on my next sweatshirt redo. And now I’m off to start my Monday. What are you doing today? I am going with my mom to look for a sewing machine. If you have one, do you have any suggestions???
Have a Great Day!
XOXO
Found this on pinterest this a.m. and can’t wait to try it!
I can’t wait to try this – just have to find a super sale on the hoodie! I added this to my blog post about dressing cuter in 2013 with other DIY refashions 🙂
http://coconutxoxo.blogspot.com/2012/12/my-1-new-year-resolution-stop-dressing.html
That's great! I have a box of clothes I was getting ready to give away but I may have to dig through and re-purpose them!
Awesome Tees
Oh wow, this is sooooo cute. Dang, you would have looked just as cute without doing anything to it, but now you look even cuter. I LOVE your red hair. Also your cute jeans sure help make the outfit even cuter. I have some work to do, but this looks so worth it. Love your ideas, they are too good. !!!