Jumper to cardi

I’ve finally done it!

It’s been on my list for ages, and I even had a jumper ear-marked for it, and now I have finally done a jumper to cardi transformation 🙂
And here’s a how-to if you want to have a go too!

What you need:

• Old woolly jumper-ideally a large jumper at least 80% wool-this way you can felt it (shrink it) and it should still fit!
  Have a root around the charity shops, and look for ones that are at least 80% wool, and say hand wash only. If you get one that is machine washable, it will never felt!
• Scissors
• Side plate
• Bias binding-you can use ready made or make your own. I made my own, and would make it a bit wider if I did it again-it was pretty fiddly!
• Pins
• Sewing machine and thread

What you do:

• Felt your jumper-wash on a hot wash, with a pair of jeans to rattle around with it, and then leave to dry naturally. This step isn’t compulsory, but by felting it you can be pretty sure it won’t all unravel when you cut into it. Having said that, for some reason my jumper didn’t really felt at all, and I had no issues with it when I cut into it
• Fold your jumper in half down the middle and mark the top and bottom of the midpoint at the front using pins
  

• If your jumper is like mine, and is a v-neck, round off the top using a plate as a circular guide. If it’s already round necked, then just carefully cut away the ribbed bit
  
  

Then you need to pin your bias binding all the way around the raw edges. As I said, I would make my bias binding a but wider if I was doing this again-it was super fiddly. And I am not very patient…

• Pin carefully, or you end up with bits like this…
  

 

Once I’d re-sewn the bits I’d missed, I tried it on. And it was a bit weird. The edge had gone really wavy-not sure why-can anyone explain?!

Sorry about the rubbish photo quality!

So I decided to add a couple of buttons-I covered some metal button blanks (post to come!) and then sewed them on, so that the cardi is sewn shut at the top

I’m undecided as to whether I should leave it as it is, or to actually attempt buttonholes, so that I can have it open if I want to.
But given it’s too hot at the moment to wear it, I have some time to decide!