I love sweaters and jackets, and I always buy a ton of them right before winter hits. However, sweaters don’t keep their shape long, and it seems like a single wash makes them pill and look worn out. Jackets and hoodies fade and quickly become dated due to more stylish versions emerging every year. But before you go out buying new sweaters and jackets to replace the pilled and stretched out sweaters or the blah jackets you already have, learn how you can liven up those old sweaters and jackets, and really spruce them up for this season!
Short-sleeved sweaters are all the rage this year, so if you have a sweater with sleeves that are stretched out and dirty on the cuffs, simply cut the sleeves off. You can make either a short-sleeved sweater or a sleeveless sweater vest, all with a quick snip of your scissors! Perfect for those sweaters you kept tugging on last year to cover your cold hands because you forgot your gloves. Bulky sweaters in particular make awesome short-sleeved sweaters, and are adorable over a long-sleeved T-shirt! All you have to do for looser knits is knot off the ends so they don’t fray after cutting.
Plain jackets that have no embellishments of any sort can be made into short-sleeved jackets that are new again! Perfect for wearing a long-sleeved T-shirt underneath, and you can keep the hood on the jacket if there is one. Sew a pin onto your jacket where a pocket would be if you want to add some color to your jacket, or sew a designed lining on the inside of your hood. Cutting sleeves off jackets is a great way to make them look new, particularly if the cuffs are stained or torn. If you don’t want to cut the sleeves off, at least put a pin on your old jacket, so you can make it look great again!
Have a sweater that shrunk in the wash but you are really hoping it will fit you again this year? Close-fitting sweaters can be spruced up and re-worn this year without making you look like a sausage in a casing. All you do is cut off the bottom part of the sweater, turning the sweater into a half-shirt. To know how short to hem the sweater at, put the sweater on or hold it up to your body, and mark the sweater for cutting at the bottom or middle of your ribs. Cut clean across, leaving the sleeves long (or cut them to short sleeves) and wear over a formfitting T-shirt tucked into stylish jeans.
note: too afraid to hem it? Then simply safety pin it on the sides after cuffing it (like you would with pants). You can see how the sweater will look on you hemmed, and if you don’t want to commit to cutting the sweater, then just take the safety pins out at the end of the day and you have your regular sweater back!
Another option for that too-small sweater is to turn it into a mini jacket. Simply Cut the bottom part of the sweater off (the part that is admittedly too small) and then cut the sweater clean up the middle to the neck, making it a half-jacket. Add a button if you’d like to still close the half jacket sweater in the middle for a stylish add-on.
If you have a great jacket or hoodie that has a stain on it from wearing it all the time, then you can take an iron-on patch and cover that stain anywhere, and add a few more patches to really spruce up that old hoodie! If the hoodie has strings on it and they’re all frayed, cut them off and you’ll see the real difference just snipping off those old parts can make! Add iron-on patches to the hood part too, on the inside- it gives great color and definition to your old hoodie!
If you don’t have any old sweaters or jackets for sprucing up, then visit your local thrift store to pick up sweaters and jackets in varying shapes and sizes and colors that you can spruce up to your liking! Short sleeved and mini sweaters are all the rage for bundling this season, and if you cut off the sleeves, you can scrunch them and wear them as cuffs with short-sleeved shirts! And you can revamp your old jackets and hoodies so you can have your casualwear and look great at the same time! The possibilities are endless, and you can use your imagination to turn last years’ blah worn out sweaters into this years’ trendy ones!
Source:
What I do with my own sweaters and jackets