Re-con mission...

I bought a sweater a while back at a Superstore... for those of you not familiar with this place; it's a grocery/pharmacy/organic foods/clothing/toys all wrapped into one giant building... LOVE IT! The clothing department, Joe Fresh, carries great, simple, yet trendy fashions that are very easy on your wallet.

Anyway, the sweater... a nice, light, 100% cotton, cream knit sweater... $4 and change... a steal. Of course I was sucked in by the price mainly, and the softness of the knit, so therefore, failed to actually try it on. Got it home, tried it on and hated the fit. I deserved that for not trying it on in the store. It has sat in my dresser drawer since last fall. I originally wanted to cut it up and make a nice light scarf out of it... that never happened, and I can only assume that I never really, truly wanted a scarf made out of it.

I had a light bulb moment the other day... spring is finally here and time to pull out the lighter clothes... that sweater, looming in my drawer all nice and soft and airy, would make a pretty spring knit.

Last night after the kids were in bed, and daddy had been long gone for work, I decided it was time to pull out the Singer and see what I could do with this sweater...



First, I cut off half of the sleeves and the bottom band of the sweater...



Then, I removed the wrist cuffs from the parts of the sleeves that I cut off...



I took the sleeve parts, now without the cuffs, and cut along the seam to open up the sleeve and laid it flat, like this...



Next, I cut the sleeves into equal width strips, sewed them end to end with right sides out, zig-zagged all around the whole strip to finish the edges, then ruffled the strip making it long enough to go around the neckline and angle across the front of the sweater to create a faux wrap-look... sorry, I forgot to snap a photo of the ruffle being made, oops...



Finally, I attached the ruffle to the sweater and zig-zagged the sleeves and bottom edge...



Re-con (re-construct) mission, COMPLETE... I hope you get some inspiration for something you have that you love but never wear... I think I'm addicted to re-cons, they're sooo much fun. Try it, you'll love it too!



Tomorrow... sunhat weather is upon us... I have something special for my Hammy-girl to show you... have a great day ;)