It's Going to Be Sweater Weather Soon

I don't currently have a lot of sweaters in my wardrobe because most of the ones that I own either aren't quite what I want to wear now, or don't fit right anymore. Therefore, the majority are in a "to get rid of" pile. But, with some inspiration from Emily, and a lot of inspiration from Amy, I pulled this one out of the pile:

The body was waaay too short on me, the sleeves were too long, and the whole thing was too tight over all. Didn't look so good on me.

The first thing that I did was cut it straight down the middle to make it more like a cardigan than a pull-over. Then I cut the wrists off. There was even a convenient cutting place, because it was ribbed for about two inches, and then went flat. That detail is hard to see in this photo, though. [And on a thrifty side-note, I even saved the wrist pieces and turned them into wrist warmer-type things. Photos to follow].

I already had these buttons at home. One of my favorite antique stores sells buttons in various ways - by the button, by the jar, and also in small packs. These four happened to be in a pack together, and I loved them so much they had to come home with me. But one of the things I loved the most was the combination of all of them together, so they have been waiting for the perfect project. I decided this was the one, and they got sewn on the sweater together.

I took some ribbon from my stash and sewed it on so that I could fasten the cardigan.

As a final step, I took out the old label and put in my own.

And voilà! A brand new sweater made entirely of things I already had at hand, put together in one evening. The sleeves are shorter, the length of the body looks good over a cami, and cutting it open loosened the whole thing up. Problems solved!

I think I may go pull a few more sweaters from that pile, and see what I can do...