How to Refashion a Sweater Vest into a Sweater

Today’s refashion is what I am going to call a Frankenfashion. Let me explain.

It all began with this men’s Izod sweater vest I thrifted for $1.

After a miserable year working in an awful shop that sold golf shirts in college, I know that Izod’s stuff is usually cut to be pretty roomy, as was the case with this vest.

Now for the second part.

I also had this sweater I had worn a few times, but which had a fatal flaw.

Here…come closer…

It might not be super-visible in this photo (squint a little), but when I thrifted this $1 ’80s sweater, I completely failed to notice a coffee-looking stain towards the bottom that I could NOT get out even after multiple washings and stain removers.

I mean, I still wore it. I just did that french tuck thing that everyone is doing (but which looks good on no one) to hide it.

In summary: I had a too-big-for-me men’s sweater vest that I didn’t like much and a sweater I did like, but was tired of the paranoia induced by hiding its stupid stain.

A Frankenfashion was born!

I decided I wanted my new refashion to have a slightly oversized/comfy shape. I decided I would take it in 1.5 inches on each side.

Then, I cut off the excess fabric.

I didn’t pin it first, as there are a couple of additions I needed to deal with first.

I cut the bottom band off my white sweater and then cut that into a front and a back piece. I serged the raw edge (as otherwise, I’d be entering Fray City).

If you don’t have a serging machine, don’t worry! Just run a zigzag stitch along the raw edge, and it’ll do nicely. 🙂

I chopped off some of the bottom of my sweater vest…

Then, I added the bottom pieces from the white sweater to it.

It was now time to close up those sides, which I did!

We’re not done yet, friends. While my sweater vest was now more fitted, shorter, and had a nice contrasting bottom band, I didn’t want a sweater vest!

Time to take this refashion home to sweater city!

To add the sleeves to the vest, I cut them off the original sweater carefully, making sure the curve aligned with the vest, with a little left over for a seam allowance.

Then, I tucked it inside, making sure the outward-facing fabrics were touching each other.

I pinned my new sleeves down…

And then stitched them into place!

And just like that, my sweater vest-to-sweater refashion is complete!

I wore my new sweater to lunch with Erin at Gourmet Shop!

We had to wait over half an hour to be seated, as everyone else in town had the same delicious lunch destination in mind as we did…

But then we discovered a wine tasting was being offered in the next room, so all was well!

This has nothing whatsoever to do with my refashion, but look at this awesome salad I had to compensate for three days of eating just about nothing but cheese:

So that’s it!

….OR IS IT?????

TO BE CONTINUED….