Thursday, February 20, 2014

Update a Sweater with Bows!

Well, I bought this longsleeve shirt, then I got bored. I kept it for a while but then decided maybe its time to part with it. BUT WAIT, I saw a picture of a sweater with bows connecting it in the back and thought, I HAVE to have this, then I thought, I HAVE to make this. So I did...

Open Back Sweater Tutorial


Step 1.) Cut off the tag carefully.

Step 2.) Mark out the middle of the sweater with a washable marker.

Step 3.) Now cut along your dotted line and hem the edges.

Step 4.) Take material from another shirt and cute the pieces for the bows. 
One Bow:
2 Pieces 4in X 6in
1 Piece 2in X 4in

Step 5.) Now, with the right sides facing together, sew the edges of the large rectangle except for a small opening which you will use to turn the bow inside out. Also, fold the long rectangle in half and sew along edges except leaving one end unsewn. Turn both these rightside out.

Step 6.) Fold in the unsewn edge and then sew along the sides. 

 Step 7.) Fold the small rectangle in half and sew so it is about an inch. The turn this loop inside out.

Step 7.) Pull the large rectangle through the loop and adjust it so it looks like a nice bow.

 Step 8.) Hopefully yours now looks like this.

Step 9.) Now once you make all of your bows, pin onto the sweater, making sure that they are the same distance apart.

 Step 10.) Now keeping the bows pinned, sew the bow to the sweater along the sew line already on the bow. 

Step 11.) Hand sew the bow to the edges of the sweater. Try to just get the bottom layer of the bow so the stitches don't show on the other side.
Step 12.) Repeat steps 10 and 11 with all bows, remove pins and enjoy your new reconstructed sweater!





Notes: I could have made this a lot easier if I had made smaller bows and aligned the sew edge of the bow to the edge of the sweater and stitched it with the machine rather then going through hand stitching.