Wardrobe Refashion – The Sari-Scarf and Coop Cables
Posted on | March 2, 2008 | 13 Comments
Finally, my first REAL refashioning (that is – not mending or maintenance)! I took a knitted item and re-used old items from my wardrobe and sewing box to complete it – and it was a lot of fun (despite my somewhat lukewarm feelings about the result)!
The knitting on the sari-scarf was completed weeks ago, but even after a wash, I found it to be a bit scratchy on my neck, so I tabled it for a bit to brainstorm a solution. The idea came on a sort & purge of my closets a few weeks ago – I have a couple of old fine gauge merino knits that have been hanging around awaiting frogging, and as it happens, the sleeves of one that had already been separated into pieces were about the right size to create a lining for the scarf. They weren’t quite long enough on their own, so I pieced them both together and trimmed them to a rectangular shape.
I had a day off this week for appointments and errands and such and took that opportunity to break out my little sewing machine for the first time in over a year, an event accompanied by a modicum of foul language as I’ve now forgotten how to thread it, wind a bobbin, etc. You would never know I was a budding seamstress as a teenager. One day I’ll show you pictures to prove it – because truly those days are long past and now, this is all I’m capable of! It’s not by coincidence that there aren’t any detail shots of my stitch-wizardry. I used bias tape to seam the lining to the scarf, overlapping the edge for a bit of contrast. I’ve also forgotten how to make neat corners and was too impatient to look it up, so they are far from perfect, but they will suffice. Impatience was always my downfall when it came to sewing, why this is different for me with knitting, I’ve no idea.
The closure is also a re-use – a surprise find in my (grandmother’s) sewing box, added by me a few years ago from a velvet jacket that has long since gone to goodwill. I loved that jacket. It had these lovely frog closures on it, and this one was a spare.
So, the end result of this knitting/refashion? I admit that I fancied it a bit more gypsy-chic and a little less clown-ruff… A little more Tudora and a little less muppet barf. But it is cozy and warm and bright and happy – and doesn’t shed as much due to the lining. It may grow on me. Or I may have to yank that pretty closure for another purpose! I’m very happy with this project in intent & practice (recycled yarn, recycled lining and closure), I’m lukewarm on the end result though.
Pattern: Improvised
Needles: US9
Yarn: Recycled Sari-Silk from the Wool Peddler @ 2 skeins
Construction: Knit a rectangle – picked up stitches and increased rapidly along two edges to create the ruffle.
Now, this next one, I am very happy with!
Coop Cables has remained one of my favorite FOs to date – it was completed in November 2006 – prior to the death of the old blog which means it’s undocumented except for some mediocre pictures. But it saw a ton of wear in it’s first winter – It’s warm, a flattering color and shape, understated and suitable for work wear. The unfortunate result of the regular wear was some extreme and un-flattering pilling of the Baby Alpaca Grande (deliciously soft, terribly pilly!), not to mention a fair amount of stretching in the shoulder seams due to the weight of the sweater. Relegated to the knit shelf, it was when I reviewed those previous knits that I resolved to remedy the situation and make it wear-worthy once more.
With the help of some twill tape, I reinforced the shoulders of the sweater to help it keep it’s shape and give it some more structure, keeping the armhole seams where they belong. Then, I took a shaver to it – I’d been warned against it, but the sweater stone that I tried didn’t seem to do the trick, and in fact made it worse (was I doing something wrong?), so I proceeded with caution and I won’t bore you with the details of what a slow process that was and how many times I had to empty the little lint trap. But it was very worth it.
Hurray! No more fuzzies and one of my wardrobe staples is back in regular rotation (at least for the few weeks before the temperature climbs)! I don’t know if you can see the difference in the cables from the before shots above – they are so much crisper and cleaner now, the pills are all gone, and the shoulder seams actually stay put!
I’d love to hear about some of your favorite FOs and how they have held up over time. What if any maintenance (other than washing) have you had to do to keep them looking lovely?
Tad has also jumped feet first into the refashioning effort – he’s been very into the whole thing and even made his own very detailed re-fashioning post here! And folks, I didn’t help him one bit, he figured it out all on his own. I’m so proud!
In other news, I’ll have a write up soon on the P.S. Mitts (now available through the Sanguine Gryphon!), and Chrysalis II is steadily moving toward completion at the rate of a pattern repeat or two per day – so, my WIP list is steadily shrinking, which is good as new ideas are percolating!
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Now playing: The Weepies – Stars
via FoxyTunes
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13 Responses to “Wardrobe Refashion – The Sari-Scarf and Coop Cables”
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mel
I knit, I spin, I hike, I love,
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March 2nd, 2008 @ 11:34 pm
Great job on that sweater. I love making things wearable. I find that I have quite a few FOs that need reworking…several sewing projects – definitely not as correctable as knitting ones – and some knits as well. I made myself a shrug (maybe a mini-sweater?) from Malabrigo worsted, without using a pattern, and it’s all fine except for the back which I didn’t shape at all. I didn’t realize that on a short sweater, you have to add short rows or decreases below the shoulder blades to account for the slope of the back, which you don’t need on a long sweater. But that one I knit all in one piece, from cuff to cuff, which was very clever but means fixing it basically means frogging 2/3 of it.
(Maybe I should just do a blog post on this, instead of monopolising your comments?)
: )
March 2nd, 2008 @ 11:37 pm
I think the scarf looks great! But I will have to use the phrase “muppet barf” someday (with proper attribution of course).
March 3rd, 2008 @ 1:20 am
I love The Weepies! (and the colors in this scarf, and the gorgeous cables in this sweater…) Hope your week starts off well.
March 3rd, 2008 @ 8:53 am
Nice work on the refashioning. The sweater looks great! It is a beauty, I’m glad you were able to fix it’s minor flaws.
My DH and I have been doing a major closet clean out. I’ve got a few things in the pile for refashioning myself. It may be awhile before I get to them though.
March 3rd, 2008 @ 9:11 am
Lovely work on Coop Cables! I don’t have any knitwear that currently needs fixing, but I did recently spend 5 minutes sewing up a hem hole on a skirt that had been in my mending pile for more than 2 years.
March 3rd, 2008 @ 2:15 pm
Kudos to you and Tad for your re-fashioning efforts. All look great! And personally, I don’t think the scarf looks like Muppet Barf (though I guess technically I’ve never seen that)…I really think it looks great.
March 4th, 2008 @ 5:27 am
ah, the results are beautiful!
I really love the colorful elisabethanian scarflet you made up! ^-^
I’m a bit confused about the shaver-thing… you did WHAT? I need to know if I can use the hubbys electronic shaver-thingie for this, if I have a pilling-sweater-emergency…!
ps: I think you need a lot more patience for knitting than for sewing! ;)
March 5th, 2008 @ 10:03 am
Mmmm… merino and sari silk- so luxurious.
The pictures you took look really high fashion- it made me smile.
The FO that’s lasted the longest is the blanket [!] that I knit for my husband our first Christmas we were dating. I hadn’t quite moved past garter stitch yet, and wanted something quick and big, so I used the fattest yarn I could find. He still has it and it is falling apart! I’m going to have to sneakily make one and replace it. As for keeping it pretty- we just try to keep people from pulling on the loops that are sticking out.
March 5th, 2008 @ 10:21 am
The sweater is great, but I love the scarf. I think you need to put it on against a strong clear color like, sapphire or cranberry to really appreciate it. That’s where it will play up the lovely color combinations.
March 5th, 2008 @ 12:05 pm
I too love the scarf – I don’t see any clown barf at all!
I would NEVER have thought to use “tape” to stabilize a knit – I have a few (gazillion) that could use a little structural help.
Very impressive – can I send my mending/repurpose pile down for you to go all creative over??
March 6th, 2008 @ 1:59 pm
Amazing difference in the sweater! And I love the colors in the sari silk, I’m glad you’re able to wear it now (at least, for a little while).
March 7th, 2008 @ 10:14 am
Twill tape on the shoulders is an excellent idea! I would have never thought of doing that.
My mother used to put a decorative knit or crocheted cord (I don’t know which) along the top of sweater shoulder seams to reinforce them. I thought that this was very clever of her–but last year I discovered that Meg Swanson describes a similar technique in one of her books.
April 6th, 2008 @ 3:42 pm
great job with both projects!!
I love the sentence “muppet barf”. I’ll see when and if I can use it ( translated into German it might be not as funny…)