Kathy's Cardi Conversions

Way back when, like last year, my sister gave me a bunch of sweaters to convert into cardigans.  She saw my post, Unbiased Cardi, and wanted some!  Well...let's just say I have been sitting on them...not making them into cardis.  Ugh, I know, I'm a procrastinator.

When my sister came down, one of the days we finally worked on those sweater conversions.  The first one was a polo-neck style:

Before

We cut this one up the middle, sewed the front band towards the inside and sewed a hem up each side.  Here is Kathy modeling:

After

Next, we took a cabled crew neck:

Before

We cut it up the front and cut the sleeves down a bit.  The sides were hemmed.  Here is her modeling that one too:

So, for the last one, we did something very different.  Well, not so different that we did not cut it up the front, but different enough.  Here is the before:

Before

This one was a cashmere turtleneck.  We cut it up the front, but at a slight angle, cutting right through the turtleneck.

Angle Cutting - In Action

Then, we took some yarn that I used for the Fuzzy Wuzzy hat and scarf set last Christmas and crocheted it on the edge.  Huh?  Yes, we did a mixed media project!!

Just Poke It Through

We took a steel crochet hook and poked it through, grabbed the yarn and pulled it through.  This part Kathy did, I was working on the other cardi conversions.  She did a single crochet around the whole edge, then crocheted double crochets for two rows.  Wait until you see it...pretty neat...

After

We looked through my button jar and found a nice Celtic silver button to cinch it closed.  I'm proud of her!  Here are a few more pics of it:

Close-Up

Ever After

I can say we had a good 'ole crafting time with her sweaters.  They all got a new lease on life when Old Man Winter hits Mass again this year.  Kind of funny to see her wearing a sweater next to a cactus in the month of June.

Let me know if anyone else has done their own "cardi conversions"!

Fix It - Jeans

I have been knitting so much that I have been neglecting my sewing machine.  I found time one recent Saturday and fixed Cindy's Miss Me jeans and I also fixed a few other things around the house: 2 Pairs of Vince's jeans, 1 pair of khaki cargos for me, and a pajama top.

1.  Vince's Broken Zipper

Jeans with a broken zipper are jeans ready for the trash.  But, Vince likes wearing jeans until they are completely full of holes or ragged in every sense of the word.  So, here I am enabling him by mending jeans I would like to never see again.  Oh well, it's what I do.  

A zipper tooth was missing near the base of the zipper, so the zipper got off track and only zipped up one side.  I took a pair of Vince's wire cutters and pulled off two more zipper teeth.

I was having fun!  I felt like a dentist, pulling "teeth" with these wire cutters.  I tried putting the zipper back on track, but I needed to pull one more out.  Plink!  So, a total of three teeth pulled out and the zipper finally played nice and caught the other side.

Now, I had to make a new zipper stop at the base so the zipper would always stay on track.  I used some Dual Duty jeans topstitching.

This is thick thread to ensure that it stays tough through washings and the wear and tear of the zipper hitting it.

2. Vince's Open Side-Seam
I'm not sure how this seam made it's way open, but none-the-less, there is the open hole:

This was simple.  I turned the leg inside out and sewed along the seam with the thread that was already on the machine.

3. My Khaki Cargo Loose Zipper 

The last few times I had worn these Cargos, when I use the zipper, the unbroken loose thread would catch the zipper head and get stuck.

See my finger through the detached zipper?  This was a simple one too.  Just sewed along the line where the thread once was.  Trimmed away that loose thread.

Yeah, not the neatest job, but it will get covered by the zipper panel.

4.  My Pajama Top Broken Straps

My pajama top's strap broke.  I only wear it sometimes and I was just going to toss it, but when I was gathering the other items above, I decide to just fix it.

 

One strap broke completely and the other one was hanging on by literally a thread.  I took the zipper foot on my sewing machine and went over it a few times.

It feels good to fix items that were one step from being thrown out.  I usually pride myself on being a fixer, but for some reason, lately, I am in a "clean sweep" mode and just want to get rid of anything that is not in good or better condition.

I want to start paring down my "stuff".  I want to buy a house this year and really have to get rid of junk.  Any pointers for where to even start?  I really want to live with less stuff but I can't shake the "I may need that someday" mentality.  How do I get rid of that kind of thinking??

Black Denim Dress & Bow Earrings

I have a par-tay that I will be attending soon, so I wanted to get something new for it.  I've recently lost a few pounds, so some of my cute clothes do not fit right anymore.  This is the perfect time to get something new or new-to-me.  Which in this case, it was new-to-me.  Don't knock Goodwill, it really has some great stuff!

Anyway, I bought this blackish/steel gray denim strappy dress that is a mix between casual and dressy.  I like the top: it is fitted to the waist with adjustable straps; then it is full in the skirt.  I don't mind the fullness, it is just too long.  I will be hemming this.

Bad hair morning...look at the dress not my hair!!

I'm simply going to cut about 6 inches off the bottom.  The rest fits fine.

Major chop-off

I calculated that the hem will be 1" so I will need a 3/4" fold and then another fold that is 1".  This is so the raw edge is folded away.  Subtract those lengths from 6", I will actually cut 4 1/4" off the bottom.  I used chalk to mark my cut line.

Time to fold and press

Once pressed and pinned, I sewed around the edge with black thread.  That's it for the dress.  I told you it was easy.

Now, I wanted to make matching earrings.  I found this pic in a magazine of bow earrings that I pinned to my Pintrest board so I could do a designer knockoff on it someday.

Source: rubymarrow.com via Nancy on Pinterest

These earrings are from Delfina Delettrez  and they retail for $1300 - way out of my price range (c'mon, $1300??) so I will have to improvise.  I gathered some jewelry supplies and I was off.

Black ribbon & pearls

I had thin black ribbon, a strand of pearls (that was me practicing my bending wire technique), a few flat-head pins and a pair of fishhooks.  My idea is to make bows with the ribbon and place them in line with pearls.

First, I had to learn how to tie a bow prettily.  Eh, just a minor obstacle.  I Googled "tying a bow" and I found a tutorial from It's in the Details blog from Lisa Pace that made it a snap.

Second, I tied four bows; I took a flat-head pin and placed a pearl on it and poked the other end through the bow from the bottom.

Nancy's way of beading

I'm sure there could've been a better way of doing this, but I don't know enough about beading to care.  After the bow was threaded on it, I trimmed the pin down and made a loop for the link.  This will be the bottom segment of the earring.  From the bottom, I linked one of the pearls, a link to thread another bow on, then another pearl.  I then finished it off with the fishhook.

Black bow earrings: Priceless!

I think they came out cute!  To make sure my bow stays tied, I dotted glue on the backs of each of the knots.  Vince then wielded his mini torch to sear the ribbon edges to prevent fraying.

Much better (dress, not the hair) lol

The dress does look much better as a short dress.  I have the earrings on too, but it's sort of hard to see in the pic.  I will post a pic or two when I'm at the party, so you can see the dress and earrings in action.

Have a great week!

UPDATE: Here is Vince and  I at the party on Friday night.  We were supposed to have our mean face on...oh well. 

Ribbons and pearls

You can see I am wearing the earrings and I added a necklace that I used the same black ribbon but I took a pearl bracelet and tied the ribbon at the ends so it hung in the middle.  Accessories made easy!