You know those kinda crazy, upcycled sweater coats that have been all the rage lately on Etsy? I’ve been eyeing them for a year now, but never seriously — they are expensive! But last week it turned chilly at just about the same time I decided I needed a new project to keep me from overworking. I poked around again, looking for a tutorial, and found an e-book for sale by the original sweater coat lady, Katwise. (Here’s a video you can watch if you’re curious about her coats.)You know I support books and authors, so I bought her e-book, read it through, and have decided — I’m making my very own sweater coat!! This will be my birthday present to myself, satisfying my yearly tradition.
That was Friday night. On Saturday afternoon, I went sweater shopping at our local Salvation Army. I decided I wanted only wool, which limited the selection, but resulted in some beautiful fibers. I bought way too many sweaters (16, I think — it came out to two gigantic bags full). I dumped them all into the washer, on hot water and with extra detergent — not once, but twice I washed them. Then dried them on extra heat. They shrunk quite a bit, but they also felted up a fair amount, too. Here’s some of the sweaters after washing them.
I LOVE these colors! But now I had to figure out how to turns these old sweaters into a coat that reflected my personality and tastes. I told Alexander about my idea for the sweater coat and he was skeptical — he didn’t think it was really my style. I explained that I rarely indulged my style as a busy mom and it was high time I did. But I still wanted him onboard with his crazy idea, if possible, so I asked if he wanted to figure out where to put the various sweater colors. I made swatches of each color in Adobe Illustrator, made a little drawing, and set him to work. This is what he came up with:
He did good and I approved his design! So this evening I set out to cut the bodice, waistband, and skirt panels. It didn’t take too long. I pinned the bodice and waistband together to see how they looked, and I’m very pleased:
I should note that I originally thought of going with a greenish color for the bodice, but it was a little too big and I was concerned it would just be too droopy after adding the skirt. Also, it was a little too muted. Plus I think the burgundy looked a little better on me. So burgundy it is!
Tomorrow night after Alexander goes to bed I’ll start serging the skirt panels together! Watch for more photos and posts.
The post Dreaming of a Sweater Coat for Autumn appeared first on JenuineMom.com.
