littlebitoheaven

Mudose8: I have typed up a tutorial for my sweatshirt jacket. Not sure how to get it on the Board. If you will PM me at [email protected], I will e-mail the directions to you. If you have any problems, please let me know and I will try to help you. Yolanda Wood River

Wanabee Quiltin

I made one as part of a quilt guild challenge. Afterwards, I really did not like the way it fit. Another woman helped me with it and she took off the sleeves. We cut off the ribbing and the neckline ribbing too. I quilted the sweatshirt and then sewed it back together. I do not think the sleeves fit as they did before, maybe I did not put it on correctly as the woman who took the sleeves off did not label them. The neckline was too big for me and even though it was a cardigan, it just never fit good. It is made in a very beautiful pattern, it just doesn't fit.

butterflywing

once you remove the ribbing at the neckline, the neck curve will be too big. sew, following the shoulder seam and increase the seam allowance as you approach the neck. then it's very important that you stabilize the neckline to keep it from stretching again. you MUST use a facing on the inside or a decorative facing on the outside. if you don't know how to do this, PM me. a bound neckline will not keep it from stretching, since the binding has to be cut on the bias. if you try to cut the binding on the straight grain, it won't lay flat. it will try to stand up and it will pull the knitted fabric with it, pulling it out of shape again. on the front, where you cut it open, you need to add enough fabric to have an overlap for buttons, or a facing for a zipper unless you don't plan to close it. if you plan to remove the bottom and cuff ribbing, you need facings here also. it's true that you can use binding, but in my experience, binding doesn't stabilize as well, and can roll because the knit wants to roll. the binding is also lumpy. since i personally use a fabric overlap for a closure, i just match a fabric edging on the sleeve cuff and on the bottom. before you begin, make sure that it will be long enough if you decide to remove the bottom ribbing.

mountain deb

I like how you done your sweatshirt/cardigans. I will have to play with that. Thanks!

gmcsewer

You can sew a facing on each side of front that overlaps the other side, so it will close nicely. Als I have sewn a cuff of fabric to the sleeves , even long enough to turn up. The class I took, we cut up the side and down the sleeve so the whole thing was flat. I used fabric glue to hold the fabric pieces down till I zigzagged them down. Added lace and various trimmings from my lace stash. They are so comfortable to wear on these chilly mornings.

Thumbilena

I have taught several classes on suitshirt jackets and we have done them with and without the ribbing. I always have them take the ribbing off at the very beginning and then when we are finished with the jacket they have the choice to rejoin it or not. You can take and bind the cuffs or serge them or use prarie points, whatever your heart desires. The ribbing that comes off of the bottom of the jacket can be used as the closure on the front if you desire. You can even keep (say blue) and put it on another color jacket. Mix and match. One thing that is really important is to purchase a shirt that is two times larger than what you would normally wear and I find that using men's shirts works out much better than the woman sizes. It gives you more room to work with and a longer jacket at the end. If you need any help, just let me know.

phylby

Very cool.

3incollege

I haven't done one for so long, think I'll follow this to get ideas.

kbatky

Here is another tutorial. Looks pretty easy!

Jothesewer

I made some in a class. We cut all of the ribbing off (neck, sleeves and bottom), cut it down the front, turned the cut front to the outside (right to right side) then sewed ribbon down the front over that turned back area, around the neck, around the cuffs and across the bottom. You need to stay stitch around the neck so it will not stretch. I used black shirt and black with real small white polka dot ribbon. We then sewed buttons down one side and strips from the neck ribbing to make a loop as button holes on the other side. They were very pretty when we finished.
Jo