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Saturday, April 13, 2013

Sweatshirt Redone

There are generic brand sweatshirts at discount stores, like Walmart or Target, or there are designer brands with some trendy details...Just redo a sweatshirt to update it with lower necklines, updated high low crop version, and add some design details like below...
I first started with reversing the right side, and now the wrong fuzzy side is going to be the right side of the fabric. Then remove the bottom ribbing. Save it.Half of it will be used for the new neckline trim, and the rest will be the smaller version on the bottom.
Next, decide if you want a u neck, v neck or a off the shoulder slouchy version. The best way to decide is to go into our existing closet and decide which neckline is the most flattering. Use this neckline as the pattern. A simple way to draft the new cut opening is to place the sweatshirt on the hanger, place the "pattern favorite" shirt on top of the sweatshirt, and the hanger is underneath the two. Make sure the top shoulder seams are all touching, the openings are center, and front and back of the necklines are centered. Use pins to mark the sweatshirt every few inches. Then disassemble the entire thing, realign the sweatshirted pinned  and make sure right and left sides,front and back  are asymetrical. Then cut the new neckline hole.

For the bottom, now this is the raw edge , because you have cut away the bottom ribbing. Mark where you want the center front to hit. Use your belly button as a point, and decide. I cut mine 11/2 inches. then I layed the sweatshirt on a flat surface and lined up the center side seams{usually there is no actual center seam, just a trace of a fold line}. then use a slight angel cut to achieve the slight high low back effect. this will be more subtle than the dramatic high lows on skirts, but in theory its the same technique. Now on to the bottom ribbing. Cut the big circle on the fold, so you have two. One will go back on the bottom, refolded and twice as small as the origianal width. The other ribbing circle will be cut down in length to be placed back on our new neckline. The piece of ribbing should be 5/8th of the length of the fabric. Make a seam. Then fold right sides together and align correctly spaced on the new neckline.  If its any smaller, the ribbing  tends to pucker up.  Place the ribbing like anyother ribbing that you have done, check the sewing guide paper foldout with any project.
Because I use the wrong side of the fabric as the new right side, I had a printed label right on the fabric. so I used a piece of fabric, cut as a triangle to cover up the label. See first picture. Now topstich, I used the zigzag stitch on my machine,  the ribbing down on the new neckline and the new high low bottom edge on the fabric side. This is very important, to keep the ribbing laying flat. Wow!...Your done...

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Knitted e-reader bag

My Knitted E-reader Bag
This project goes over a leather kindle touch case.
In my stash of yarn, I have a lot of blues and greens. Of course, I like the color blue..
I am trying to design a project that would use up some extra yarn. The project turned up beautiful. I used two strands of yarn,cast on 22 stitches and mixed in various colors of yarn, switching them out every 4th row...I used size 8 needles. {But please check your gauge, as results could vary }Then I used a knit/purl for the base, then used a seed stitch for the top flap.

The project has a nice feel for it, and I used a unique button from my stash..