So, what to do while listening to
conference on Saturday Morning and afternoon. Get rid of the pile of old sweaters sittings at the foot of my bed that I have been meaning to tear apart for awhile. So, as you now know, I had a bunch of old sweaters (cotton rayon blend); these all had some sort of embroidery. Not really my style any more, and most didn't fit well, either. So what to do with them?
- First, salvage all the buttons; lots of good MOP (mother of pearl) buttons on these sweaters to be saved, and a few cool beads. After you pillage the buttons and such, what next?
- Cut as many 9 1/2 inch squares as you can, save short sleeves (I have another project for them in mind) and the large scraps (same project).
- Cut white 100% cotton fabric squares, also 9 1/2 inches square. (I have not done this step, yet). I plan to back with cotton fabric to help prevent the wavy look I have seen on other such afghans. Don't know if this will work, but I will give it a try. I plan on using 1/2 inch seam allowance. Bigger than normal, but I am hoping this will help with some raveling that may happen.
- When all are sewn together with a bat and a back, I want to tie the front to the back with crow feet quilting. A sort of quick quilting-tie with an embroidery look.
- Bind edges; I am thinking old silk from same pile of clothes to get rid of, or old-fashioned satin blanket binding. There are also jeans in this stack to add to my jean braided rug.
I think it will be cute and if not, it will still useful.
Holy Moly what a super cool and big project. I can't wait to see how it turns out. I have so many little boy outfits that are either torn or too stained to give away that I was thinking of something similar. Good Luck!!! :-) Hettie (hmschott on Flickr)
ReplyDeleteI think it's going to be wonderful. It's a good repurposing idea and the result will be so cozy.
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who did a T-Shirt quilt. She said that the trick to making them easier to work with, lay better, and a little thicker/more durable, was to use Wonder Under on the backs of them. I'm not sure if it would help with your sweaters or not. I plan to try it out once I get a few more old shirts collected.
ReplyDeleteI too have a pile of sweaters -- those big knit 80's shaker style sweaters. I'm going to use flannel to back them with. I'll be watching your progress.
ReplyDeletegreat idea :-) I will have to try it.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I am LDS too :-)