petal sweater…

See this here gloomy sweater? Well, I finally decided to do something about that today!
I found this sweater at Goodwill on 99 cent sweater day…yeah, you just read that right. It’s a Banana Republic sweater in perfect condition (don’t worry, our ‘thrifty tips’ will get you rockin’ the same deal in no time).

It’s been sitting around for a while popping out it’s drab little face at me every time I open my sweater drawer so I finally took action today! And, oh…it felt so good to finish something!

I took two different colors of felted wool (no sewing required to finish the edges…perfect for a one day project!) and cut them into 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 inch squares and rounded the bottom two edges to create a petal shape.

I ended up using 9 darker colored petals and 6 lighter colored petals.

I found the middle of my sweater and started layering my petals…in alternating colors. The 1st layer has 3 petals – like so…
(I laid it all out first, starting with the neckline, so I would know exactly where my first layer needed to be pinned)

Then, on top of that, I pinned 5 petals…just like this: make sure they kind of flop (for lack of a better term) over the 1st layer so that your sewing will be covered up.

Then, I finished by pinning the top layer along the neckline seam, with 7 petals alternating in color. Then, I took it to the sewing machine and ran each layer through starting with the top layer…important: make sure to lift up the layer right next to the one you are sewing (the one that ‘flops’ over) – I let this slip at one point and got myself into trouble sewing together all kinds of things that weren’t supposed to be sewn together…sheesh!

Then, I cut a strip of felt 1/2 inch wide and as long as my neckline to finish it all off… Then pinned along the neckline seam and ran it through the machine.

Then, I decided it needed one more finishing touch so I cut three 1/2 inch strips about 2 inches long and folded them in half. I pinned them under that strip of felt on the neckline that I just sewed down and then made one more stitch to secure them in place. Like this:

Ta – dah! New sweater to wear while I teach tomorrow!

I didn’t time myself today so I’m going to file this little one away in my ‘crafty’ button so you can find it there later…
I hope you give it a try!