Sweater dress (refashion edition)

I don’t refashion much. Generally I’d rather send something to a thrift store than take it apart. I’m pretty happy about this exception, though.

I made this grey sweatshirt (scroll down, the post has a bunch of little projects in it) for my husband about two years ago. It was Kwik Sew 2133, a classic “vintage” sweatshirt of a style it can be hard to find in stores these days. And to his credit, he did wear it. For a while. Then he decided to wash it.

With bleach.

By some miracle the main fabric was untouched, but the bands were pretty much ruined.

The shirt lurked. I removed the bottom band and hemmed, since he apparently doesn’t like bottom bands anyway (I am completely confused about what he means when he tells me he wants a classic sweatshirt, now). But then it was really too short. And it lurked.

A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon the remnants of the original fabric in stash. There was about 40 cm left, not really enough for anything except a baby project—and I have no babies to sew for at the moment, thankfully—but it was just enough to turn a defunct sweater into a sweater dress.

I lapped the new piece on at my hem and attached with a zigzag. Then I started shaping. I cut the sleeves (with ruined cuff) to a 3/4 length, because that seemed fun, and narrowed, creating a side seam (the original sweater body was tube-knit). It’s fitted through the bust and then widens rapidly.

I considered shaping the hems, but went with a wide rib-knit band after I was able to find the same piece of grey ribbing.

In another miracle of hoarding, my new sleeve cuffs are a pair I had constructed for the sweatshirt back when I first made it, but they were deemed too tight by my husband, so I made another, wider set. This pair got tucked away in a drawer. It’s pretty miraculous that I was able to find them both last night as I puttered around.

I cut the neckline into a gentle scoop. At the moment it’s raw with some straight stitching for reinforcement, which I think is a fun, casual finish fog a sweater neck. We’ll see how I feel later on.

The only thing I’m thinking about now is adding pockets. EBoth my other grey sweater dresses have them, and I love the feature. As Syo pointed out, it would be easy enough to add some in the hip seam.

In the meantime, though, I’m just going to enjoy being warm and cozy.