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The
Value
of
Professional Sewing Machine
Repair
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To guide
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Sewing Machine
Repair TNT
reveals
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Repair Manual
Collection
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10
Things to Do With Old Sweaters
You likely have some sweaters thrown in the
back of your closet, damaged with a stain, moth
hole or two. Instead of tossing old and unused
sweaters, turn them into something new and
completely lovable. You can also look for
inexpensive sweaters at the thrift store.
Crafting with old sweaters saves money on craft
materials and helps to reduce your household
waste.
Yarn - If you knit, crochet
or even weave, salvage the yarn from an old
sweater to use in a new project. Find a seam in
the sweater and carefully snip one of the seam
stitches with a pair of very sharp scissors.
Use a blunt needle to lift out the seam
stitches, snipping the seam yarn for each. For
a knit sweater, you want to unravel the yarn
from the cast off edge, generally at the top of
the sweater since sweaters are made from the
bottom up. Start ripping from the last cast off
stitch and carefully wind the yarn into a ball
as you go. You should end up with four or more
balls of yarn from the different sweater
pieces.
Felt - Sweaters that are at
least 20% wool can be felted in your washing
machine. 100% wool sweaters will give a
sturdier felt for different crafts. Make sure
the sweater has not been treated to make it
washable, such as "superwash, " as these will
not felt. Throw the sweater into a zippered
delicates bag and wash on high heat. Dry on
high heat, cleaning the lint trap frequently.
Some sweaters require more than one wash and
dry to fully felt. The sweater will eventually
shrink dramatically and will be ready to cut
apart!
Pillows - Use a pillow form
to help you measure and mark the size for your
throw pillow on the old sweater. You need a
sewing machine for this project or a bit of
patience with hand sewing.
Potholders - Stitch several
layers of the old sweater together and add
binding or trim around the edges to create
potholders. You can also use thick quilt
batting to fill the inside of your upcycled
sweater potholder.
Plastic Bag Holder - Have a
dog you need to clean up after on walks? Use
the sleeve of an older sweater to create a
handy plastic bag holder to hang from a door.
The stretchy wrist end is perfect for the
bottom and you don't even need to stitch it
closed. Just cut the shoulder seam and sew a
neater edge. You can add embellishments such as
ric - rac at the edges or cut out "Dog Walk" in
fabric letters and appliqu to the sweater
sleeve. Loop a piece of elastic and sew to the
top to hang from a door.
Brooches - A brooch adds
instant style to any jacket, sweater or bag.
Either felt the sweater first to prevent
unraveling or double - stitch a flower shape
with your sewing machine. Use a fabric pencil
to mark a simple floral design and double
stitch over this design. Cut out the shape at
least 1 cm away from the stitch line. Stitch
and cut out another floral shape slightly
smaller than the first. Layer the two flowers
and sew together with an interesting
button.
Coffee Cup Sleeves or Water
Bottle Cozies - Cut a band in your old sweater
sleeve to make a coffee cup sleeve, or use a
larger piece of the sleeve for a water bottle
cozy. You can felt the sweater first to make a
more solid material fit for embroidery and
other embellishing.
Paper Craft - Cut out small
pieces of wool for embellishing scrapbook pages
or handmade cards. Cut out letters or even tiny
sweater or scarf shapes for autumn. Make a
wonderfully textured tree with an old fuzzy
angora sweater.
Blanket or Quilt - If you
have several old sweaters, turn them into
lovely blanket or quilt. You can cut the
sweaters into blocks or varying shapes, and
even use the ribbing for the edges of the
blanket. Some sweaters may be too thick for the
sewing machine, so you will have to pin and
hand - sew pieces together with right sides
facing and inch seam allowance. If seams do not
lay flat after steam - ironing, hand - stitch
seams to back of the blanket. Thinner sweaters
can be sewn with the sewing machine and can be
given a fabric backing.
Toys - Whether felted or not, old sweaters are
a great material for making toys or stuffed
animals. Create a puppet with the sleeve of a
sweater. Hem the cut edge to prevent fraying.
To make the head of the puppet, you can simply
sew the cuff together straight across or trim a
curved line and sew. For a puppet with hair,
gather a few inches of the cuff and weave the
thread back and forth. Pull tight and secure
the thread. Cut off some of the gathered cuff
to leave fuzzy hair.
Caley Walsh is an editor for
the crafting and DIY website http://www.FaveCrafts.com
FaveCrafts.com has 1000's of
free home decor ideas and craft projects in
every area of crafting, including patriotic
crafts for Memorial Day. We add new projects
and tips everyday. Some of our readers
favorites include Christmas Crafts, Free
Knitting Patterns, Free Crochet Patterns and
Crafting with Kids.
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