Sweater-Vest Necklace Tutorial

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