Sweater refashion

One of my second-hand finds was this cotton cable-knit sweater. Though very comfortable and warm, the shape is a bit strange. It’s about 3 inches longer in back than in front, and the sides are very wide. (Perhaps it was a man’s sweater? If it was, it was for a very short man!) I thought it was a good candidate for a refashion.

I was very nervous about cutting into knitted fabric, but finally decided it was ridiculous to be nervous about refashioning a sweater that I can’t wear, however pretty.

I turned the sweater inside out, and stitched a new line from the armpit to the bottom of the sweater on each side, and then tried on the sweater again to make sure of the fit. Then I restitched the same seam with a very small stitch size, so that the sweater won’t unravel.

The bottom of the sweater took a bit of thought. I considered adding 3 inches to the front of the sweater, or adding a fabric band to the bottom and to the cuffs, but figured I would have the devil of a time matching the color and texture. I finally decided to cut the extra fabric from the back, and then add cream-colored bias tape to keep the ends from unraveling. Voilà! A sweater I will wear!