royal vintage mustard

I have a soft spot for cardigans. To put it plainly I love them! Always have, I often overheat so it's nice to be able to unbutton them to cool down a bit in Winter, and I also love the "layered" look. So I'm always on the look out for good quality vintage knits in the local thrift stores. I often leave empty handed and disappointed though, but I had some luck the other week. A pretty royal blue cardigan in perfect condition! In my size too! (Also NZ made, I LOVE that!) I've been busy transforming lots of knits lately (more about that in another post) and I thought I might just transform this lucky find too!

I've sat down one night and crocheted lots of little flowers and circles, using my imagination for the designs. The next night I sat down and stitched them all on, trying hard to make a random application, to help with that I added some little french knots.I stitched them over one shoulder and down the back, hoping that the asymmetrical look would help "randomness". For the crochet flowers I used some silk/merino yarn, hand dyed by Jessicah of Spinning a yarn, it's lovely and soft and the colour really seems to work with the blue don't you think? Now I am eyeing up lots of other plain knits in my wardrobe for a similar makeover! I think it will be hard to stop at one.......

Quick restyle

To say that I'm a little anxious about packing for this weekend is a slight understatement! I hate the change of seasons (although I'm totally pleased to be heading into the cooler months), it's like I forgot what I wore last year at the same time. Did I wear this top with those pants? OR this top with a skirt? Add to the mix the yoyo nature of my waistline and it's panic stations! I'm only taking a few things away with me so I hope I get the mix right! 

This week I finally got around to restyling a merino jumper that was given to me (by a generous friend's mum) over Summer, with the aim to take it with me this weekend. It fitted nicely and I loved the inky grey colour, but I tend to overheat rather than being too cool so I prefer cardigans for letting in a bit of cool air. In a few easy steps I restyled the jumper into a great layering cardi and used up a favourite thrift store find - beautiful vintage trim. 

That's the before pic, v neck 100% merino knit jumper - pullover.

You'll have to excuse the beautiful Autumn light streaming through my workroom bedroom window. I turned the jumper inside out and ironed on a piece of visoflex along the middle of the jumper. Visolfex sticks to fabric with an iron, with a paper backing that you peel off, you know the stuff?

With the paper backing still on, I cut up the middle.

I peeled the paper backing off and ironed each side over onto itself creating a nice ironed seam, that won't unravel. It also creates a edge that won't stretch too much as you sew it.

I pinned the trim around the ironed seam. The neckline had a finished edge so I didn't put visoflex around that. I stitched the trim on, trying not to stretch the knit as I went. I know that I wouldn't be able to get the trim fitting nice and flat around the neck, so I pulled the knit as I stitched, creating a ruffle effect which I love I'm learning to live with!

That's it! I'm looking for a closure for the front, just to stop it flapping in the wind on a windy day, but otherwise it's good to go! (special thanks to miss E who took the after pic for me!)

It's got me looking at some other jumpers I've got that I don't often wear due to that "heat" factor. They might be next in line for a make over? I think next time I'd like to try a crocheted edge. So are you a cardigan or a jumper/pullover girl?

five bucks

I've got quite a few clothes make overs I've got to complete this year (otherwise they are getting donated back to the thrift store!) and this was one that I started before all my "market crafting" I did before Christmas. It's one of a handful of tops that I bought for $5 each, all needing a couple of smallish changes.

The top was a cross between a top and a short dress. It fitted quite well, but the sleeves were too short and too tight,  but with plenty of length to play with  for some new sleeves. I unpicked the sleeves and cut bigger, longer ones. I cut the arm holes larger and set in the sleeves. It had a pocket in the side seam that was in a funny place once the length was shorter, so I took that out and hemmed the bottom. I wasn't so taken with the original colours, and with a wash the purple had bled into the cream parts, urgh. So I over dyed it blue, the original colours weren't really me to begin with. I'm pretty pleased with the transformation! Nice long loose sleeves to hide those fly away arms and of course keep the sun off them too. I've got a few more transformations to go before I reach the bottom of my basket, I hope I don't loose momentum!