Not that this is my 1st sweater RE-creation, but I envision more in my upcoming creative sewing projects, (and blogging), thus my titling this 'Sweater Re-Creation #1. Expect numerous more to come. This creation is available HERE. for just $69, and would be PeRFECT for Valentine's Day!
I picked up this red acrylic sweater at a thrift store, and thought I might add it to my own wardrobe, but upon trying it on, found it to be WAY to long. I also was not fond of the high neckline. My feline 'helper', Musty, helps show off this sweater. In this picture, you can see how very long it was - to start with. Definitely, NOT the current style (late 2024). During the initial fitting, I decided on a finished length and marked that with a large safety pin, as you can see in the photo.
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My 'vision' for this project was to add to it substantially with several men's ties creating 'godets' at each side seam, but for some reason, I just did not go that direction. Earlier this season, I'd seen ribbon pulled through cables on a sweater in a Ross Store, and I had copied that idea on done several cable front sweaters.
Below, see the ties I pulled from my 'red/blue stash. I'm pointing to a striped tie, showing that the BACKSIDE of the striped tie (to the left), was a nicer color range with the other ties than the bold white and yellow stripes of the front of the tie.
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FIVE - a good odd number of cables are found on the front of this sweater - so that embellishment is the direction I decided to take. At the bottom of the photo below, you can also see that at this point, I had cut the lower ribbing off of the sweater, allowing for about an 1.5" hemline.
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The 1st picture below shows how I cut the tie (which is bias, by it's nature) into 1.75" wide strips, each 24" long. Doing this used pretty much ALL of the tie. The lining on each tie end had to be removed before I stitched them into strips. Next, I stitched each strip, right sides together, lengthwise with a 1/4 (.25") seam.
I also cut off the high, tight neckline of the sweater. Putting it on my dress form, I decided to cut it down a bit more - which I did on the cutting table, folding it in half at center front and center back to cut it down (remembering to allow for a seam allowance.
NEW NECKLINE USING THE LOWER RIBBING THAT I'D CUT OFF THE BOTTOM
I knew I wanted to use it as the neckline finish - somehow.
See below how I then played with it on my dress form. Honestly, I had thought Id use it 'rolled' as in the center photo below. However, there being a red elastic thread at the very bottom of the ribbing, it didn't work very well.
Therefore, I used the retention factor of that elastic at the very bottom edge, to its advantage as it 'pulled' in at the uppermost neck edge as you can see below in 1st and 3rd photos.
TUBES FROM MEN'S TIES AS CABLE FRONT 'WEAVING' EMBELLISHMENT
Neckline decided, it was time to go ahead and trim up those front cables using silk ties that I had torn apart and washed/dried. I cut them into 1.75" strips as you can see below. Then, I stitched right sides together with a 1/4" seam allowance.
To turn the tubes right side out, I used a cheap tool called a Loop Turner. See the pic at the right above to see how the hook at the end has to grab into the tie to grab and turn it right side out. I have multiple Loop Turners here in my Sunroom Sewing Studio. The product offering 2 of them at Amazon is a good deal: https://shorturl.at/MXu20
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Using a large darning needle a (big, blunt tip) as shown below, I pulled the tubes through the cables. I chose to start at the bottom, and feed up to the top edge, and did so loosely, NOT pulling the tubes tight. I let them twist as they seemed to 'want to'.
Note in the picture below that I selected the most contrasting tie (as show above), for the one center row because I knew that it would 'pull the eye' the most. On either side of the center, are strips made of the striped tie (where I used the tie's 'wrong' side as the right side. Then the outermost rows are both of the darkest tie I had selected for this project.
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At the neckline, the seam line that attaches that lower ribbing to the neckline 'secures' the upper end of the tie tubes.
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At the hemline, I tacked each tie with clear monofilament thread in the needle. I also then actually machine-stitched in the hem allowance (which I had serged, with differential feed fully engaged - set at '2'). I did 'skip' over the tie tubes, as I didn't want a horizontal stitching line on them.
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SLEEVE FINISH
I took remaining strips of the men's ties to bind the cuff edges - just because I felt that repeating the 'darkness' of the ties, would be a visually pleasant addition.
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