Now that we are home and have all of our crafting tools at our disposal, the sewing machine has come out and the knitting needles have slowed (not stopped, just slowed). Of course there are tons of clothing items that one can make with re-purposed wool and wool sweaters, some of which I’ve shared in the form of fingerless mittens, cowl, and felt-decorated sweaters. Last week I came home from a school event and shared with Chloe the idea of a snappy wool skirt a student was wearing over leggings – cool boots too, of course. As I worked my way through the crowd and closer to the skirt (the student I mean), I realized that it was actually the bottom of a felted sweater inverted so that the hem or lower cuff of the sweater had become the waist band of the skirt.
The next morning Chloe comes down wearing one of two skirts that used to be wool sweaters hanging out in the crafting pile ready and waiting to become something. The second was prepped for a short spin under the sewing machine.
Directions for How to Make a Skirt from a Wool Sweater
Felt the sweater so that the fibers connect and the ends don’t fray by washing in hot and rinsing in cold water. Stop the washing machine occasionally and check to be sure that you aren’t felting it more than you want. The fabric will just become thicker and thicker with changes in temperature and agitation so slower is better. When the fabric of the wool is the thickness that you’d like, spin it to wring out most of the moisture and then hang or lay flat to dry. Sometime I’ll roll an item between two bath towels and then press or even step on the roll to squeeze out any excess moisture.
To determine the length of the skirt, measure vertically from where it will ride – waist, belly button or below belly button – to where you’d like for it to end – knee, thigh, mid-thigh. There is no hemming necessary with this project, so therefore no need to adjust the measurement for hemline material.
When dry, lay the sweater out on a cutting board. With a yard stick or measuring tape, measure from the bottom of the sweater (waist of the skirt) to the hem of the skirt. Make a horizontal, straight cut across. Note: If the wool is the washable sort, then a quick zigzag stitch along the hemline takes care of any unraveling that might occur. It also can add a design element if you use a contrasting thread color.
Annie
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