A thrift store alteration for the Winter season!

Seems like every winter there is an influx of Nordic pattern sweaters. I see super cute ones at stores and on websites for way too much money. I mean, it’s a sweater that you can only really wear in the dead of winter. I’m not paying $200! But when I look at what the thrift stores have to offer the selection is um… horrible! After wadding through horrendous Christmas sweaters for a few weeks I found a pattern I actually liked! Yay! Too bad it was 8 sizes too big for me.

Enter basic sewing skills.

Before

After- Front

After- Back

First I had to sew up the three button opening in the front. Because it was a originally a button closure that meant there were four layers of knit all on top of each other. It was quite bulky so I had to cut away the extra fabric before sewing it shut. I also decided to turn the whole sweater backwards so the different pattern would be in the back.

Next I cut the opening for the neck to be more of a boat-neck shape. When working with knit you need to be very careful about cutting. The best method I found is to sew a line in the knit right about where you plan on cutting so that the knit doesn’t fall apart as soon as you cut it.

I then finished my neck line by sewing a zigzag stitch along the cut edge then folding that over once and sewing a straight line top stitch. I had to go back and do some hand stitching on the inside of the neck line so the edge didn’t flip out and show the ragged edge. I’m sure it would have been fine but I worry about things like that

Lastly I put the sweater on inside-out and used my favorite method of clothing alteration, the Pinch n’ Pin! Pinch the fabric to where you want it and pin it. No measuring required! This only really works with clothing that isn’t very structured. Once you get into dealing with darts on a structured piece, things get more complicated.

I am very happy with the results! Even though the shoulder seems are really low. But I don’t mind because all that pattern helps disguise it.