Felted Sweater Jacket - Just in Time for Fall!

For those of you who’ve read my blog before, you probably know I have a penchant for making cool, new things out of upcycled, felted wool sweaters.  As a back-to-school gift to my daughter, I made her this fun felted jacket out of pieces left over from several felted sweater projects.  Of course, its just my luck that we’ve been enjoying 80 degree weather for the past few weeks, but I’m sure she’ll get a chance to wear it sometime before Thanksgiving!  I’ll admit, I did pack her into it one morning  on the way to bus, only to have her come home with it stuffed into the bottom of backpack, pink and sweating from another sweltering day.

Unfortunately, I didn’t put together a complete tutorial for this project, but I can give some pointers in case you are interested in trying something similar.  Here we go:

• Decide what sweater to use for the bodice AFTER you felt it.  I felted about a dozen sweaters to use for various projects.  As luck would have it, a women’ size L yellow sweater felted perfectly to fit a 6 year-old girl.    Since you never know how a sweater is going to felt, it is much easier to make ‘wardrobing’ decisions after they have been felted.
• Seams were sewn holding the pieces edge-to-edge and stitched with a zig-zag stitch.  Since the felted material doesn’t fray, there is no need to place the pieces wrong side together and make a folded seam.
• The flare around the bottom and the cuffs were made by cutting long, semi-circles of felted fabric.  Think of a really fat letter “C”.   When the center of the “C” is stitched to the bottom of the sweater, the outside of the “C” falls to form ruffled flare.
• This project works up fairly quickly, especially since felted material doesn’t fray, you don’t have to hem anything.
• The tulips are simply semi-circles of felted material with a long strip for a stem.  The button were hand-stitched on afterwards.
• The button loops are just small strips of felted sweater, fold in half, and machine stitched onto the front of the jacket.
• Don’t forget to take advantage of existing features of your sweater.  For example, the collar and front pocket were part of the original sweater.

Pieces from the sweater used in this jacket have also gone to make:

• 1 full size blanket (If I can take some pics, I’ll do a post!)
• 1 woman’s sweater tunic
• 1 woman’s bolero/shrug
• 6 small stuffed kitties (I hope to post a tutorial for these soon!)
• many, many hair accessories and brooches

Close-up of the Tulip Detail

Another View of my Upcycled Sweater Jacket

If you are looking for more upcycled sweater inspiration, check out Sweater Surgery by Stephanie Girard.  I love some of the ideas the book has to offer!

Upcycled Cashmere Sweater

This adorable bolero-style felted shrug began its life as one of my husband’s cashmere-wool sweaters.  After an unfortunate run-in with a naughty moth, it ended up in my recycle pile.  Since the moth holes were mostly in the body of the sweater, I though I could leave most of the upper section in tact and make a shrug.  I added a flower using a leftover piece of the sweater and scraps from two other sweaters.

Upcycled Fashion

Here’s what you need to to to make your own:

Materials

• Recycled wool sweater
• Wool yarn
• Large Needle
• Toggle Button
• Small Button (for flower center)
• Felt Scraps (for flower)

Directions

• Felt the wool sweater by putting through a cycle in the washing machine on hot.  Dry it in the dryer
• Turn the sweater inside out and try it on (this is so all your markings will be on the inside of the sweater and won’t be visible when you wear your finished shrug)
• Determine how long you want your shrug to be and mark the length
• Following the cutting lines in Figure 1, cut the sweater to the desired length and then cut straight up the middle (Use a ruler to make an even line before cutting)
• Draw a curve on one inner front of the sweater.  Cut one side.  Use a piece of paper to trace the curve.  Now copy the curve onto the other side.  This ensures that you have matching curves on both sides.  See Figure 2
• Using the blanket stitch, decoratively stitch around the raw edges of your sweater.  Threads magazine has good instructions on how to do a blanket stitch.
• You can now attach a toggle button and loop, if you’d like.  I think it would look nice without a button, too.
• Using the flower design in Figure 3 as a sample, cut out 3 different size 4 petal flowers out of felt scraps.  Set them on top of each other  with the largest on the bottom; stitch through all 3 layers; stitch on a decorative button and sew onto sweater.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Enjoy!

My Lovely Shrug!

Cuddly Critter Ear Flap Hat

I designed this cuddly critter hat for a friend of mine who was having a baby earlier this spring.  It came out so cute that I wanted to share the pattern.  Although I made mine in 2 colors, it would also look cute in a solid color, or even stripes!  Right now, the pattern is only written for a size small (14″ circumference) which should fit a 3-6 month old.  I plan to revise the pattern at some point in the future with size medium (16″), large (18″), and x-large (20″).  Of course, you can vary the size by playing around with yarn gauge and needles size.

Materials:

• Worsted weight yarn (I used Debbie Stoller Stitch Nation Bamboo Ewe)
• Size 6 circular needles
• Size 6 dp needles
• Size G crochet hook (for ears)

Guage

• 5 stitches to the inch

First Earflap

• CO 5 stitches
• Row 1: K1, P1, K1, P1, K1
• Row 2: K1, K into F/B, K1, K into F/B, K1 (7 stitches)
• Row 3: K1, P1, K1, P1, K1, P1, K1
• Row 4: K1, K into F/B, K1, P1, K1, K into F/B, K1 (9 stitches)
• Row 5: (K1, P1) 4 times, K1
• Row 6: K1, K into F/B, K1, P1 (2 times) K1, K into F/B, K1 (11 stitches)
• Row 7: (K1, P1) 5 times, K1
• Row 8: K1, K into F/B, K1, P1 (3 times) K1, K into F/B, K1 (13 stitches)
• Row 9: (K1, P1) 6 times, K1
• Row 10: K1, K into F/B, K1, P1 (4 times) K1, K into F/B, K1 (15 stitches)
• Row 11: (K1, P1) 7 times, K1
• Repeat row 11 4 times; place onto stitch holder

Second Earflap

• Follow instructions for first earflap up through row 11.
• Repeat row 11 5 times (rather than 4)
• Leave second earflap on working needles

Body of Hat

• With second earflap on needles, CO 16 stitches (this will become the back of the hat)
• Knit first earflap off the stitch holder onto the working needles
• CO 24 stitches (this will become the front of the hat)
• Place marker and join in the round (70 stitches)
• Row 1: (K1, P1) 35 times
• Row 2 (P1, K1) 35 times (establish seed stitch pattern)
• Repeat rows 1 & 2 until hat measures 1 inch
• Switch color (optional)
• Continue in stockinette (knit all stitches) until hat measures 4 inches tall

Shape Crown

• Row 1: (K12, K2tog) 5 times
• Row 2: (K11, K2tog) 5 times
• Row 3: (K10, K2tog) 5 times
• Row 4: (K9, K2tog) 5 times
• Row 5: (K8, K2tog) 5 times
• Row 6: (K7, K2tog) 5 times
• Row 7: (K6, K2tog) 5 times
• Row 8: (K5, K2tog) 5 times
• Row 9: (K4, K2tog) 5 times
• Row 10: (K3, K2tog) 5 times
• Row 11: (K2, K2tog) 5 times
• Row 12: (K1, K2tog) 5 times (10 stitches remaining)
• Cut yarn and pull through remaining stitches

Critter Ears (optional)

• Using color A, make a ‘magic loop’
• Row 1: sc into loop 5 times, ch1, turn
• Row 2: skip 1^st stitch, 2sc into each stitch (8 stitches), ch1, turn
• Row 3:  skip 1^st stitch, 2sc into each stitch (14 stitches), ch1 turn
• Row 4:  skip 1^st stitch, (2sc, 1 sc) repeat 6 times, switch to color B, ch1, turn
• Row 5: sc into each stitch; tie off

Ties (each side)

• Pick up 4 stitches on bottom of first earflap (right side facing you)
• Work in I-cord until desired length is reached
• Bind off and tie a decorative knot at the end

If you decided to make your own, please post a link to a pic!

Side View of the Critter Hat

Pirate Girl

With Halloween only two days away, I thought I would post instructions for a super easy last minute Pirate costume.  My daughter and I made her version of the costume to wear to the Harbor Festival in Wickford Village earlier this fall.   This costume  involves no sewing and can be completed in less than 10 minutes, so it is great for a last minute costume party!

Materials Needed:

• 2 old t-shirts
• 36″ of ribbon
• scissors

Optional:

• Pirate Hat
• Old Skirt
• eye patch
• head scarf

Instructions

1. Cut t-shirts along green dotted lines as shown in the photo below.  The first t-shirt will be the “Pirate Vest”; the 2nd t-shirt will be the undergarment
2. Place vest over the undergarment
3. Lace ribbon through the holes in the vest as if you were lacing a shoe
4. You now have your complete pirate shirt!

Cut Along Green Dotted Lines

Closeup of Pirate Vest

Variations & Tips

1. This method can be used for either a child or adult; for adult, you may want longer ribbon for the ties
2. Use a white undergarment, black vest and red ribbon for a real “piratey” effect
3. Instead of a pirate hat, pair the costume with a headscarf and be a gypsy!
4. Cut a square neck on the vest for a different effect
5. Make more or fewer holes for the lacings for different effects
6. For a boy, use the same design, but do not cut holes for the lace up ribbon; leave the vest plain
7. I found that smaller size t-shirt work better since they stretch out when cut

And, since you are in the Pirate mood, here is some fun Rhode Island Pirate history for you.  Have fun dressing up!

A Very Cute Little Gypsy!

I have to admit, when I first saw the article about Polyvore in the New Yorker a few weeks ago, I thought “Are you kidding me?  Grown ups really spend their time doing this?”  But, as I read I on, I became more and more curious about this website.  Now, I’m totally hooked!

Homage to Betsey Johnson by iceblueberries featuring Betsey Johnson

Polyvore is a site for anyone who loves clothes, accessories and anything to do with fashion.  Here is the gist of it — you get to ’shop’ from an amazingly huge selection of fashion items by a myriad of designers (dresses, skirts, pants, shoes, jewelry, bags, etc) and add them to your on-line closet.  You can then arrange your favorite items into outfits, or ’sets’ and publish them to the site.  Once published, anyone else can look at your creation and comment on it.  Not only can you clip items that are already stored at the site, you can browse fashion sites on the web and use the clipper tool to drag in other items.  (It doesn’t work for all sites — sorry, you can’t clip things from Etsy).  Although, I’ve found that you can clip photos from the patterns at LionBrand.   If you’ve ever looked at a fashion magazine, and said “I would never have paired those boots with that skirt!” then, this is your chance to get it right.  It kind of reminds of “Fashion Plates” for grown-ups.  Remember when you were a kid, you loved those plastic clothing-shaped plates that you arranged over different textures, put a piece of paper on top, and then rubbed with a crayon to create an outfit?  This is like that, but with so many more possibilities.

Not only is it fun to create your own set, but its really cool to check out what everyone else has done.  The creations run the gamut from traditional fashion to completely surreal (think mix and match body party with wild accessories).  People can add custom background, photos of actual people, and fun text.  I’ve noticed that while working on sets, I tend to focus on items of clothing that I would either wear if I could actually afford it, like the Betsey Johnson ensemble, or items I would love to wear if I dared, like the can-can skirt.  It had definitely made me think twice about what I put on when I wake up in the morning.  Goodbye, sweats! (or as Jon calls them — daytime pajamas!).

Here are a few sets that I’ve put together, just for fun!

Can-Can by iceblueberries featuring Bird by Juicy Couture tops

Mad Style by