Has anyone tried to make a quilt from sweaters. i have a customer that wants me to make one out of sweaters. i thought i might try to use my serger instead of sewing the pieces together on the sewing machine to cut down on the stretch. any one have any ideas???

I would investigate felting, assuming that non-wool sweaters can be felted also. I really know nothing about it except that regular stitching won't work because a sweater's weave is too far apart. Serger for sure, but maybe one step further. I'm sure there is a tutorial on this board and scads of them online.

I did one starting with my serger--- i came up with some interesting techniques while I played. first, I serged around all the edges of the sweater pieces I cut ---same width per row, but different lengthwise size for more interest.

Then I used my sewing machine to sew the serged pieces to the backing. Last, I used 2" W pieces of fabric with edges ironed in 1/2 inch on each side, stitched them down on each side for sashing.....and to cover the seams.

Did another with bias hem tape in my stash--that worked too!

And a third with hem lace sitting unused in my cabinet......

Have fun!

I would like to hear more about this too!! I find sweaters alot out here for little cost :D:D:D

Well this is certainly an interesting idea.

After thinking for a few minutes I had several thoughts. First I would wash and dry all the sweaters so that shrinkage as taken place. I would then plan on a backing fabric for each square or shape and have them cut 1 inch larger. I would use a 1/2 inch seam allowance instead of 1/4 inch for this quilt.

If using a sweater you need to cut it apart. But before cutting it apart I would sew a stay stitching line to make sure that the sweater does not fray or raffel.

Then take your fabric piece and sew it to the back of the sweater piece. After sewing then you can cut out the piece through the sweater and the fabric. I would then serge or zig-zag all the edges. If the sweater has a pattern you may be able to use that but you should make sure that the sweater is secured to the fabric in stead of the x through the middle.

If you have cut and sewn squares, I would simply straight stitch from corner to corner both ways in the square, similiar to how we sew squares for rag quilts. I would be sure to have the seam allowances covered with a separate backing fabric after having completed the top.

This certainly would make for a very warm quilt. You may or may not need batting with this quilt especially if using flannels and/or fleece fabrics.

I'm thinking men's sweater would make a really great looking quilt top, then add with flannel and fleece would be a nice warm quilt.

I'm interested to see other postings on this subject.

Pam M

Pam M
I found out the hard way that it is MUCH easier to cut out the sweater pieces, then serge them. I tried it the other way and had too many puckers/wrinkles. A HUGE mess!
I cut the sleeves out of the sweaters, then the shoulder seams and underarm seams, laid them flat and cut them out....
Had NO problems with the sweater squares and rectangles I cut without any stay stitching. I did handle them very carefully. If you had a REALLY loose knit, I could see a problem, but I did not use any of those.

I still have two totes full of rectangles/squares that are cut out and serged.

Best to use 4 threads to serge the edges....

I did not use any batting--those sweater pieces are warm and HEAVY!