the blue blog archives: from sweater to dress

a favorite JCrew cashmere sweater of mine, which evidently was a favorite of the moths as well

When I pulled this sweater out of storage this Fall, I was horrified to find the holes! Whatever sort of nasties I had in the closet (we've since had a giant clean up!) had very particular tastes, since they ignored all the wool sweaters and feasted only on the cashmere. After grieving a little for my favorite sweater, it occurred to me that there was plenty of good fabric still left there which I might be able to turn into a dress for wee one. I'm in the process of felting the sweater down a bit and am looking for information and inspiration from the book, Sweater Renewal: Felting Knits into New Sweaters and Accessories. The book has some useful info about different felting methods and different fibers and then a ton of projects that you can make from old sweaters. I'm a little nervous about cutting up the sweater, but I've got nothing to lose, right?

posted by alison at 7:35 pm | in recycling

Comments

Delurking to say check out http://blog.betzwhite.com/ for more felting tips and ideas!

Posted by: Kate at November 20, 2008 10:12 PM

Aw... That's sad. But good that you will be able to make use of it for Wee One! ^_^

Posted by: Jolynn at November 20, 2008 10:59 PM

I make a lot of things out of felted sweaters and find that if you sew up the holes nicely before felting that sometimes you don't even notice them afterward!

Posted by: julie at November 20, 2008 11:53 PM

Heartbreaking! I had carpet beetles in my stored sweater box. Few of these were slated to be worn again but it did eat holes in the sweater I had knitted for my grandmother (the sweater she had worn almost daily for the last year of her life.) I felt kinda cheated by my house! But I got over it.

None found my yarn stash.

I am super vigilant now and I am wary of all bugs.

Sounds like you have a great idea to make lemonade out of lemons....!

Posted by: suzanne at November 21, 2008 7:13 AM

Aaaaah!

I'm not sure how well cashmere felts. I would think it must, but my husband's cashmere sweater has been through the wash several times (the first couple unintentionally) and has never felted. Perhaps it's just that particular sweater, though.

Posted by: Suzanne V. (Yarnhog) at November 21, 2008 9:34 AM

As I always say: waaaaaahhh!!! Hey, I just bought your book "Charmed Knits". It's a wonderful book and I just cast on for my own Molly's technicolor coat--GOT TO HAVE IT. I'm casting on the body in the brightest red you can imagine. It'll probably stop traffic here in conservative Kansas, heh....

Posted by: Bo at November 21, 2008 10:29 AM

Thanks for the tips Kate and Julie! Suzanne, the Sweater Renewal book says that cashmere should felt well (as long as there's at least 85% natural fibers in there). But if it doesn't, I can just sew up the dress with the fabric from the sweater as is. My only concern would be weather it would shrink up when I washed it, but if it didn't do that when I TRIED to felt it, I should be home safe.

Have fun knitting your Molly sweater Bo!! :)

Posted by: ALISON at November 21, 2008 3:52 PM

I too had a cashmere sweater eaten by moths. I wear it to bed on cold nights. I tried to mildly felt some cashmere gloves that were too big and had no success.

Posted by: Tamara at November 21, 2008 7:49 PM

Who wouldn't like cashmere!

Posted by: Debbie at November 23, 2008 9:06 AM

In my experience: if you mend the holes beforehand with a matching animal fiber yarn, the hole may well shrink down to where you can't even see it there. If you don't, it'll become more prominent, not less. Good luck!

My kids, when they were little, had a gorgeous, soft v-neck sweater they loved and handed down to each other. The tag claimed it was a women's European 42. My then-six-year-old, when I got it from a thrift store after someone apparently put it through a washer, could assure you it was not.

Posted by: AlisonH at November 28, 2008 8:50 PM