Sweater Swap

After checking out clothing ideas on www.etsy.com, where clothing and other items are 'upcycled' and reused, I decided to try my hand at altering 2 old sweaters that I was going to donate to a thrift store.

Interestingly enough, I'd bought both sweaters from Savers, a thrift store.

I bought the red one 2 years ago to go with my red boots. The black one was bought only for the cuffs. I'm weird that way. I never wore the black sweater and after putting it off for a while, I grabbed the scissors and went to work.

First I removed the parts of the black sweater that I wanted.

Then I cut the red sweater just below the bust line where I planned to insert the ribbing of the black sweater.

Next I sewed seams along the cut edges to prevent the yarn from running.

Then I sewed the black ribbing and the top part of the red sweater together.

After ironing the seams open, I sewed a seam on both sides (red & black) for 2 reasons: (1) to keep the seams open and (2) as a decorative edge.

I got to work on adding the cuffs and then had to take in the side seams by an inch each side because the black ribbing was wider than the red part of the sweater.

The final result. After 15 photos where I had to set the camera on timer and get into the right place against the wall, I forgot to adjust the sweater so it looks crumpled below the black ribbing. I just forgot to pull it down after running between the camera and the wall. If I had to do it again, I'd place the black ribbing lower than where it is but as my first attempt, I'm quite chuffed with the result.