Friday 4 January 2013

Handmade How-to; Make a cardigan from an old jumper

So, as you will know, I am coveting 'new' woollens at the moment.  I am rather particular these days- I don't like anything that doesn't have a high wool content- lambswool, angora (although can be a bit fluffy-in-my-mouthy) and cashmere...... ooooh cashmere (makes Homer Simpson type gargly-drooling sound).

You can find excellent cashmere and woolly jumpers in charity shops at a snip of the price of those on the high-street, which can be alarmingly expensive, even the ones that are 120% acrylic are like £45!!!  What's that about??

Anyhoo, today I took a look at some of my pre-worn woollies to see if I could revamp them at all and I found this old lovely:



My Granny bought me this inky cashmere dress for my 30th birthday.  As is the way with cashmere and sloppy housekeeping, it has shrunk a little over the years and is just a tad too tight.  So I thought I would re-purpose it as a new bolero cardigan, like this!  


This is what I used to create my new cardi:
  • Old jumper
  • Sharp scissors
  • Tailors' chalk
  • Pins
  • Un-picker



This is what I did:

1)  I used another bolero cardigan for the pattern- laying it on top of my jumper dress and lining up the necklines/shoulders.


2)  I then popped a pin in the jumper to mark the bottom of the bolero:


3) I marked a line with tailors' chalk, about 2 inches below this line, as I wanted my bolero to be a little bit longer and I cut the bottom of the jumper dress off (which will be used for another project).



4)  I removed the little buttons with my un-picker, I cut down the centre line, then marked with more chalk so I could cut the jumper open completely:


5) I opened the cardigan out and using the other bolero as a pattern, marked and then cut the curved edges on both sides:




6)  Ta da!!  Here is my 'new' cashmere cardigan!!





And here it is accessorised with a skinny belt:



And here it is accessorised with a naughty cocker spaniel:



What do you think Dear Readers?  Do you have some old jumpers you could up-cycle like this?  





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