DIY 10 Min Cardigan from Sweater

Are you a cardigan girl? I TOTALLY am.

Before we begin, be sure to check out what other clothing re-purposing I’ve done–like this T-Shirt grocery bag video tutorial for example.

Now back to the cardigan.

This tutorial on Pinterest inspired me and I promise you that soon I will have more cardigans than is healthy for a girl.

Here’s what you need to transform your tired sweater into a fresh new cardigan:

sweater

tailor’s chalk or other fabric marking tool

Heat’N Bond ultrahold iron-on adhesive (5/8″)

iron

standard sewing supplies (thread, scissors, machine, etc.)

1. Fold your sweater in half through the center front, making sure the collar, sleeves, and hem are all lined up and straight. Lay a rotary ruler on top of the sweater and run the tailor’s chalk along the fold to mark the center. Open it up and make sure it looks centered.

2. Cut all the way up through the front of the sweater only.

3. Open up the sweater and smooth out the cut edges – they will curl a bit.

4. Following the HeatnBond instructions, press the iron-on tape right up next to the cut edge on the wrong side of the sweater. Do on both left and right front pieces of the now cardigan.

5. Peel the paper backing off, turn the edge back on itself so it’s wrong sides together with the adhesive in between and press to create the finished center edge.

6. Sewing with the unfinished edge on top, stitch the two layers together. (I used the 5/8″ line on my sewing machine.) DON’T STITCH up through the collar part with your machine, tack it down by hand or there will be a very visible and ugly line there.

Finished! The whole thing took me about 10 minutes and I’m going to our local thrift store this afternoon to see what sweater treasures I can find to make MORE CARDIGANS!

Before I started I thought I might want to sew pearl buttons or something on to make it look more like a real cardigan, but nah. I love it just how it is!