Small and Savvy

Hello Fellow Refashioners and Refashionistas!

For this post I made a small, but awesome change to a garment, yielding the finished piece much more useful in the end!

I started with this lovely, yellow, cotton sweater. It's lightweight, soft and fit, so it came home with me from the Salvation Army Thrift Store.

Sorry for the awkward pose, but as you can see, the sleeves leave much to be desired, and an exposed wrist!

I immediately knew how I would fix the problem. I was quite nervous when I started, though, as I've never done a sweater refashion. All those loops! I was afraid it would get away from me. 

Moving on:

First I carefully folded the thing in half so the sleeves matched. Then I cut them about half way up, saving the discarded bits. 

Then I cut the cuffs off, leaving a few centimeters that would make my next seam. I turned those right sides together, combined my seams, and pinned them in place, stretching the cuff to fit.

Then I noticed the tag still in the garment- it had to go!

Ah, much better- comfortable too...

Now I bravely manned my sewing machine and set it to zig zag. Being careful to stay close to the edge so it all would line up. 

Then I just stretched and sewed until it all lined up. Voila! 

With very little left over!