Various attempts at crafting
sweaters
Abbey’s new green mohair grandpa sweater
Feeling guilty that we got the dogs clippered before the weather warmed up, I decided to sew up a dog cosy. I used remnants left over from an old-sweater-into-pillow project from four years ago. I didn’t measure anything, just cut pieces in the same shape but slightly bigger than the Korean “I want to see your mind” sweatshirt Sage doesn’t fit into anymore. Since Abbey is the only one who actually likes wearing sweaters, here she is modelling:
Never throw out a grey sweater
I figured out what to do with some 10-year-old wool sweaters that I still loved but didn’t wear anymore: repurpose them into a cozy blanket.
I followed a mixture of several of online tutorials, but here’s the gist:
- Disobey washing instructions and launder on hot, then machine dry to felt them.
- Cut the sweaters into squares and arrange into some kind of pattern.
- Sew the squares into strips, then sew the long strips together.
- Sew a backing to the underside to cover the seams.
I used three wool sweaters altogether, two I’m sentimental about and one more recent one from Goodwill which never really fit right. The cabled sweater felted the best. For the back I used some new dusty-mauve coloured fleece. The final thing is lap blanket sized.
While the end result is less pretty than most examples on real crafters’ blogs (smaller, equal-sized, bright squares look nicer), I didn’t have the patience or the colours to make anything more elaborate on my first attempt. However, it’s super warm and snuggly. And I have people who can vouch for that claim:
Sweater pillow
It survived a few years of usage through high-school and undergrad, and then more years of storage in the attic. Finally, I turned my grandfather’s green cardigan into a pillow cover.
