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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Sweater-Vest Necklace Tutorial

sweater_necklace.jpg
I'm a sucker for accessories. (What girl isn't, right?) But when I started getting my scarves out for the winter, I have to admit I was a little disappointed by the selection. The same scarves in the same colors year after year was getting a bit.......boring! So I decided to make one. Or so I tried...

 
I started with this lightweight sweater vest I found in a Goodwill-destined bag:
 

First, I cut off the top of the vest, underneath the arm holes:
 
 
Next, I cut off the bottom band:
 



Which left me with this:
 

I set aside the two smaller pieces and folded the larger piece in half:

 
 

Then I rotated it counter-clockwise, so the fold was facing me. I cut strips approx. 3/4 inch apart, trying to get close to the seam but leaving at least 1/8 inch of connecting fabric:
 


When I unfolded it, I could see that some of the cuts hadn't gotten close enough to the seam. I evened them out individually:

 
Almost done! Time to open it up along the seam. I found using your hand/arm as shown really helps:
 

Once I had finished opening it up, I gathered the material along the seam and laid it out as shown. The two seams are at the top and bottom in the picture below:


I used the bottom band of the sweater vest to cover up the seams. First I cut it into two equal sized pieces; then I cut one of the pieces in half:

 
I tied one piece around the seam material at the top and one around the seam material at the bottom.
 
I decided I liked it better with the seam knots on the side, so I rotated it like this:
 
 
Okay, so it turned out more like a necklace than a scarf...
 
...but I'm not complaining :)
 
  
I also tried the same technique with a few different types of shirts:
 

 
It's kinda fun that they all turn out with a slightly different look. And kinda nice that you can recycle your old sweaters or t-shirts into brand new accessories!
 
Hope you have fun making yours!!
 
 
 
Thanks for taking a peek inside my Lemon Tree Dwelling!
I hope you feel right at home :)
-Cathy





6 comments :

  1. These look very cool. It is great that you can repurpose things you don't use anymore. I like the fact that each one looks a little different depending on the fabric type and texture.

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    Replies
    1. It's fun to try different fabrics, and I'm hoping to try some different designs too! I'll let you know how they turn out!

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  2. What a lovely scarf and yay, instructions I can understand! Thank you! :)

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    Replies
    1. Thank YOU! Glad you like it and glad the instructions are clear. It really is VERY easy :)

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  3. What a fun idea for old clothes. Too bad I don't have any old sweater vests:(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No worries...t-shirts work great too! Especially ones with a tiny bit of spandex in them :)

      Delete

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