want a better sweater?

I've had this boring, white cardigan sweater for about two years that I got it on clearance at Wal-Mart for super cheap! But... I have only worn it once...and that's saying something because I'm definitely a sweater person... Sweaters are probably my favorite article of clothing, and I think I have one in just about every color! Since I'm short, the white sweater was too long in the waist and the sleeves were also too long. I prefer bracelet or 3/4 length sleeves. So, in order to make my white sweater more appealing to me, I decided to spruce it up! Want to make one too? Here's what I did!

Grab a sweater that you don't wear very often. Maybe it doesn't fit right (like mine) or maybe it's just too boring for you (mine was boring too). Or, if you are just dying to try this project, but don't have a sweater, go thrifting...there's tons of great stuff out there! :)

For this project you won't need much. Just your..
Sweater
Fabric Scissors
Lace (or other fabric or trimmings that you want to use)
Thread to match
Buttons (if you want to change out the buttons)
Pins
Sewing Machine
* If you don't have a sewing machine, you would still be able to spruce up your sweater with embellishments using a fabric adhesive like Liquid Stitch.

If you aren't altering your sweater at all, feel free to skip down to step 5.

click on photo to enlarge

1. If you need to shorten your sweater or take up the sleeves, determine how much shorter you want it. My sweater had a ribbed hemline and ribbed sleeves, since I wanted to keep this ribbing, I cut above 1/2 inch above it. That 1/2 inch served as my seam allowance. Then, I cut out a strip of fabric to get rid of, both on the hem and sleeve. The width of the fabric strip you cut out will depend on how much you want to shorten the sweater and/or sleeves.

2. Pin ribbed hem edge to sweater, right sides together.

 3. Stitch as close the ribbing as possible, using a zig-zag stitch. The zig-zag stitch will allow the seam to stretch along with the sweater.

4. Press seam toward top of sweater. Repeat process with sleeves.

Ahh...it fits!

click to enlarge

5. Lay out your lace (or other trimmings) and determine what length it needs to be. I made mine long enough so that I could fold the end of the lace under the sweater hem and so that I could trim the top to fit my rounded neckline and fold under 1/4 inch. The I stitched the lace (with 1/4 inch folded under) to my sweater neckline using a zig-zag stitch.

click to enlarge

6. Stitch along the edge of the lace close to the button edge, using a zig-zag stitch. Then, because my lace was so wide and I didn't want it flopping about, I stitched another row of zig-zag stitches about 2 inches away. When you near the hem of the sweater, fold the extra lace to the wrong side and continue sewing to the hem of the sweater, tacking down the extra lace. (see photo 7, the lace is folded under the hem)

7. Repeat the process of the other side of the sweater, and again if you are using additional lace. Here I layered peach colored lace on top of my white lace.

8. Add new buttons if desired

You're done!