I totally agree! I laughed right out loud at that comment! Thanks for showing us your frustrations and your fixes, Catherine. It's a pleasure spending time with and learning from you😊
I LOVE BOTH SWEATERS BUT THE PINK ONE IS TRULY ADORABLE!!! I would have never thought to needle felt the circles onto the pink sweater as a design element. It is brilliant Catherine. Thank you for teaching us another way to upcycle sweaters. I love thrifting and this technique is amazing.
YES! I love balloons! I just ordered the needless. (My 84 year old uncle was in the hospital and he wasn’t coming home. I bought him 5 helium balloons. He was yelling at people in the hall,and he was a quiet man, to come look at his balloons! No one had ever given him balloons! Of course not, at that age. People should give people surprises and make them smile!) Catherine, you make us smile!
I've lost 10stone in the last 8 months and really need to pluck up courage to alter more of my clothes. Thank you for this tutorial specifically, it will be a real help.
Watching you sew with knitted items got me motivated to finally start and finish a tote bag that incorporated my friend's abandoned crochet project. She had kept the beginnings of a zig-zag crochet afghan for decades and when I saw it I knew it had to see the light of day. I bought fabric for the tote at least two years ago and then it sat until you inspired me to get on with it. Everything worked out. Thanks so much for teaching us not to fear a project.
With the green yarn the circles are magically transformed Vinci balloons. I mean How fun is that? Kudos to you & your artsy side. I agree w/you, it looks so cute!!!!
I got my Brother serger at Walmart for under $200 USD. I love it. Its opened up so many possibilities for me. I like this project Catherine. I'm intrigued at the idea of modifying some outdated sweaters.
"Lives are not at stake here . . . " Truer words, my friend! I can't count the times I say to myself 'this has no eternal significance.' Perspective! think the pink raglan is indeed the cutest thing you've done in awhile. Now I want to try it!
I LOVE your inspiration. I had a couple sweaters I was going to donate but, instead, I did a little cutting and sewing and now I love them. Thank you for what you do!
On my machine I can only move my needle to the left, but maybe you’re right; I should play around with using the midline as a guide with the needle on the left. Thanks for giving me something to think about!
So cute, and amazingly logical alterations. Not at all as difficult as I imagined. Catherine, I also love listening to you narrate the process. Your communication style makes the whole process so enjoyable: love your quietly enthusiastic and encouraging perspective. So worth learning to reinvent a garment's design to suit one's taste, remodel size simply for a perfect fit and, even, reuse leftover materials in creative ways that give the new design a uniquely stylish finish.
Catherine, I find myself watching you on my 65" tv and your instruction and videos are so informative. What I especially like is how you actually show how you style your upcycled pieces. I am very much into denim, I'm sure it's because of my age(lol) but none of my jeans fit my butt, they all gap. I can't seam to get the seam closed down the butt. I've recently lost a lot of weight so nothing fits. Help me if you can.
Makes me sorry I work in a senior community where the heat is at full blast! I'll never be able to wear any winter clothes there. But the ideas are still inspiring 😊
Thank you for teaching how to make nice ends from serger. You are making me go through my donate bag that lives in my closet. Thank you? I'm trying to purge, not add. Love your videos.
Most of my machine knit books are from the 80’s when the sweaters were oversize and we seem to be back there again but it’s not my thing either. Love the way you just dive in and cut to the way you want, brilliant. I made a sweater and it was far too big(user error on my knitting machine) so as I made it I knew I could undo my sleeve seam and serge it to size. Love it now. Love your videos, thank you ❤
I love all your upcycles, so creative and stops clothes going to landfill. You are fortunate that you can find clothes that are too big for you to play around with. I am at the other end of sizing so can never find anything that is too big! Also, we don't have the big thrift stores that you have in North America, we have small charity shops in the UK. I have bought a felting needle though, as I love the idea of needle felting things onto sweaters and particularly loved the big white flower from a few weeks ago. Such fun!!
Your right! You never know how a store bought sweater is seamed. Some manufacturers treat these knits as fabric. Some are traditional where each piece is knit and all the edges are knit/cast off. And you'll see everything in between. 💖🌞🌵😷
Those sweaters are so lovely. The dots are a very clever idea and add so much. My sewing machine is supposed to be able to needle felt so it would be a great project to try.
Never thought of this great idea. How nice to know this. I never knew I could fix the sweaters. I have one I love and Im getting ready to see how it comes out. Thank so much for sharing what you know.
Hi! This video inspired two ideas for me. The first is for myself. I plan to use this method to cover up a hole that I will mend in a favorite sweater of my own -thank you! I don't know if you check older posted videos, so I’m also posting here an idea that may (or may not) be helpful for you and your “barbie” dress, where the dying was imperfect. Here’s what I'm doing to rescue a coat. I brushed against a painting at an art center. of course, it was oil paint. I use this for riding my electric bicycle from fall to winter, love its removable quilted lining and its ability to repel rain. My idea is to use iron-on cricut vinyl (in my case, light-reflective for extra safety when bicycling). I cut some retro flowers by hand, but I'm hoping to take a class soon to learn to use (and to make use of) a cricut machine. I did a few test flowers, and they really look pretty good! Much better than smeared paint streaks, anyway. I don't know much about cricut materials, but maybe you could find a matching or a range of tonal matches that you could layer in a pleasing way to cover dye streaks while keeping the "barbie" spirit? Just an idea….. thank you, Catherine!
I love your “new” sweaters. You inspire me so much. I have a problem with inches, we all use centimetres in Europe, but you explain it so clearly and I took a bold step and subscribe. I just started sewing when I retired in oktober three years ago and follow you longer than a year, but first thought I will never do whatever you do. But I am getting more experienced now in sewing and I think I will follow your example and be bold with an old sweater and just try to upcycle it. What is the worst that will happen? I just mess up or it will be wearable again. Thanks for all the inspiration.
Iron on interfacing? I’d iron strips along the seamlines. That way you would have something to sew together. Probably knit/tricot stretch interfacing would be more comfortable. And you could copy the outfit and make her a new one once it wears out or she outgrows it. My daughter wore every Halloween costume I made her completely out! That bring back memories 😊
I love both recreations. Fingers crossed that the needle felting stays when the pink sweater is laundered. I will be interested in hearing how you make out with it.
What an adorable up cycle - you look great in the sweaters and the pattern you created on the pink one is delightful! What a great example of what can be done when we let our own creativity have a chance to come out! Cheers !
I also struggle with making things look random and not all uniform, so I usually try to find a reference image for something similar that I can copy the "randomness" of.
Wondering if rhe "wiggle " will come to life once you wash it... Honest question from someone who is not brave to cut and treat knit as a fabric as you do. You are so brave and creative!
AAAAAMAZING work. Now I know what I can do with some knits from my late Mum. The items are too small but you're giving me ideas. Thanks a million. What a talent you are. Bless your creativity 🎉
I love both these sweaters. Great inspiration! The one thing I look for in knits if I want to take them apart is that chain stitch. If the garmet has that along the seams then generally you can take it apart without the pieces unraveling because each piece is knit individually and then sewn together. If you see a regular seam - as you did here - it means the garmet is made from a large piece of knit fabric that is cut into pieces and sewn together. If you take the seams apart they can unravel. Just good to know if working with knits. I always wondered how the garmet manufacturers could cut the knit apart for construction without it unraveling on those big machines?!
Great projects! I love them both. I understand why you serge the sleeves to the body with the sleeve on top. But this seam goes horizontal on the sleeve and vertical on the body. Since knits are much stretchier in the horizontal direction than in the vertical and the presser foot adds some stretch to the upper layer while the feed dogs make the differential gathering on the lower layer I always put the body on top of the sleeve and just feel with my fingertips that everything is flat.
They are both so cute, love them. This vid is 2 weeks late. I had a big red sweater that I thrifted a long time ago and tried to make it smaller but failed. The shoulder seam was to low just like yours was but I didn't know how to fix it. I sent it back to the thrift store.
These sweaters are such a good find, the colourways are so good together you'd swear they were from the same line. Both of the end products are fantastic but I think the second one is possibly my favourite of your creations. Just a thought, would you consider buying a needle felting holder. Its a gadget to hold 5/6 needles at once. I find the single needle is fine for detail work but on blocks they felt up much quicker with the holder. I find the repetitive motion tires my arm easily.
Love this video both sweaters are great. But after watching this remember that I had a sweater that I tried to take in. The seams were wavy and almost gave up on it. Hit it with steam and I have my sweater back. Thank you.
I pulled out some sweaters a few weeks ago, that I just loved to wear back in the 80's, huge! And who do I turn to for inspiration? Your calm instruction gives me confidence to cut!
I think the circles with the green stems look like trees or topiaries. :-) Ooh, and I just found out that one of our biggest thrift stores is having a half off day coming up!
Wow what a transformation on both of them. I thrifted a huge men's sweater a few years ago with the plan to make it my size. After watching your video I think I will give it a go as it is not precious and I have nothing to lose. The needle felting is awesome but I would have to purchase needles to do that. After seeing how you transformed your project I may try to get some of those special needles.
35:19 can you move your needle to the right? My machine will do that so I still have the edge of the presser foot in the same place but the stitching is closer to the waist band. Do the sweaters need to be wool to do needle felting? Totally unique! Totally cute! So creative! Well done!
I think they DO need to be wool. And notice the striped sweater was a "tighter" knit so cutting it didn't unravel it. Also, wool will "catch" on itself to prevent unraveling. Don't know about any other fiber. . .. A finer knit IS easier to upcycle than a bulkier knit. . . (unless wool).
Love them both! You have been an inspiration to me. I've started altering my sweaters to fit better and... they're fine, definitely room for improvement! Lol. I shall continue😅
" Lives are not at stake here" words to remember when you are sewing!
I totally agree! I laughed right out loud at that comment! Thanks for showing us your frustrations and your fixes, Catherine. It's a pleasure spending time with and learning from you😊
I LOVE BOTH SWEATERS BUT THE PINK ONE IS TRULY ADORABLE!!! I would have never thought to needle felt the circles onto the pink sweater as a design element. It is brilliant Catherine. Thank you for teaching us another way to upcycle sweaters. I love thrifting and this technique is amazing.
YES! I love balloons! I just ordered the needless. (My 84 year old uncle was in the hospital and he wasn’t coming home. I bought him 5 helium balloons. He was yelling at people in the hall,and he was a quiet man, to come look at his balloons! No one had ever given him balloons! Of course not, at that age. People should give people surprises and make them smile!) Catherine, you make us smile!
I've lost 10stone in the last 8 months and really need to pluck up courage to alter more of my clothes. Thank you for this tutorial specifically, it will be a real help.
Well done 👍🧵
Watching you sew with knitted items got me motivated to finally start and finish a tote bag that incorporated my friend's abandoned crochet project. She had kept the beginnings of a zig-zag crochet afghan for decades and when I saw it I knew it had to see the light of day. I bought fabric for the tote at least two years ago and then it sat until you inspired me to get on with it. Everything worked out. Thanks so much for teaching us not to fear a project.
With the green yarn the circles are magically transformed Vinci balloons. I mean How fun is that? Kudos to you & your artsy side. I agree w/you, it looks so cute!!!!
I got my Brother serger at Walmart for under $200 USD. I love it. Its opened up so many possibilities for me.
I like this project Catherine. I'm intrigued at the idea of modifying some outdated sweaters.
"Lives are not at stake here . . . " Truer words, my friend! I can't count the times I say to myself 'this has no eternal significance.' Perspective! think the pink raglan is indeed the cutest thing you've done in awhile. Now I want to try it!
I’m very flattered that the creator of #FridaySews is commenting on my channel! Thanks for this and all you do!
I LOVE your inspiration. I had a couple sweaters I was going to donate but, instead, I did a little cutting and sewing and now I love them. Thank you for what you do!
That is so great to hear! Well done!
34:56 after choosing your guideline like you did... then move you need position (right or left) to get the desired distance from the ditch. 💖🌞🌵😷
On my machine I can only move my needle to the left, but maybe you’re right; I should play around with using the midline as a guide with the needle on the left. Thanks for giving me something to think about!
So cute, and amazingly logical alterations. Not at all as difficult as I imagined. Catherine, I also love listening to you narrate the process. Your communication style makes the whole process so enjoyable: love your quietly enthusiastic and encouraging perspective. So worth learning to reinvent a garment's design to suit one's taste, remodel size simply for a perfect fit and, even, reuse leftover materials in creative ways that give the new design a
uniquely stylish finish.
Those would easily be my favorite sweaters. The felting was genius!
Catherine, I find myself watching you on my 65" tv and your instruction and videos are so informative. What I especially like is how you actually show how you style your upcycled pieces. I am very much into denim, I'm sure it's because of my age(lol) but none of my jeans fit my butt, they all gap. I can't seam to get the seam closed down the butt. I've recently lost a lot of weight so nothing fits. Help me if you can.
Cool trick finishing off the bottom of the band by flipping back the other way on the overlocker! I great tip! Thanks so much for sharing that.
Makes me sorry I work in a senior community where the heat is at full blast! I'll never be able to wear any winter clothes there. But the ideas are still inspiring 😊
Oh my gosh, right!? I have to plan ahead when I visit my mum and make sure I’m wearing layers I can peel off!
That needle punching might be a fun project for the older people. I’m pretty sure they do wear sweaters in there😊.
Great sweaters, love the felting, your tutorials are great, I love that you show your mistakes and how you correct them..
I can’t say which one I like better - they are both so adorable! And totally you! ❤️ You look amazing in them both!
Love what you created❤ You are one talented lady! You’ve even got me thinking outside the box. Less buying, more trying.
Thank you for teaching how to make nice ends from serger. You are making me go through my donate bag that lives in my closet. Thank you? I'm trying to purge, not add. Love your videos.
Most of my machine knit books are from the 80’s when the sweaters were oversize and we seem to be back there again but it’s not my thing either. Love the way you just dive in and cut to the way you want, brilliant. I made a sweater and it was far too big(user error on my knitting machine) so as I made it I knew I could undo my sleeve seam and serge it to size. Love it now. Love your videos, thank you ❤
I loved the colors and up cycle on both sweaters😊
I love all your upcycles, so creative and stops clothes going to landfill. You are fortunate that you can find clothes that are too big for you to play around with. I am at the other end of sizing so can never find anything that is too big! Also, we don't have the big thrift stores that you have in North America, we have small charity shops in the UK. I have bought a felting needle though, as I love the idea of needle felting things onto sweaters and particularly loved the big white flower from a few weeks ago. Such fun!!
Love them. I was surprised you didn’t have to iron on a fusible to the back to hold the needle punch. Just beautiful
LOVE LOVE both sweaters. I’m a new sewer and I’m learning so much from your channel thank you so much❤
Your right! You never know how a store bought sweater is seamed. Some manufacturers treat these knits as fabric. Some are traditional where each piece is knit and all the edges are knit/cast off. And you'll see everything in between. 💖🌞🌵😷
Catherine, I neeeeed that pink sweater! Don't you feel like just sending it right over to me? 😂 Adorable!
You are absolutely the best teacher !!!! You make these projects so easy to follow. Thank you so very much ❤
Those sweaters are so lovely. The dots are a very clever idea and add so much. My sewing machine is supposed to be able to needle felt so it would be a great project to try.
I love both jumpers! You're so stylish. The colours suit you perfectly. Thanks for the inspiration, I'm going to shop my wardrobe now. 😂
I love needlefelting! The circles and the green yarn look like balloons. I love both of these sweaters.
Never thought of this great idea. How nice to know this. I never knew I could fix the sweaters. I have one I love and Im getting ready to see how it comes out. Thank so much for sharing what you know.
Would love to see you colour block sweaters to create a larger garment.
Hi!
This video inspired two ideas for me. The first is for myself. I plan to use this method to cover up a hole that I will mend in a favorite sweater of my own -thank you! I don't know if you check older posted videos, so I’m also posting here an idea that may (or may not) be helpful for you and your “barbie” dress, where the dying was imperfect.
Here’s what I'm doing to rescue a coat. I brushed against a painting at an art center. of course, it was oil paint. I use this for riding my electric bicycle from fall to winter, love its removable quilted lining and its ability to repel rain. My idea is to use iron-on cricut vinyl (in my case, light-reflective for extra safety when bicycling). I cut some retro flowers by hand, but I'm hoping to take a class soon to learn to use (and to make use of) a cricut machine. I did a few test flowers, and they really look pretty good! Much better than smeared paint streaks, anyway. I don't know much about cricut materials, but maybe you could find a matching or a range of tonal matches that you could layer in a pleasing way to cover dye streaks while keeping the "barbie" spirit? Just an idea….. thank you, Catherine!
I love your “new” sweaters. You inspire me so much. I have a problem with inches, we all use centimetres in Europe, but you explain it so clearly and I took a bold step and subscribe. I just started sewing when I retired in oktober three years ago and follow you longer than a year, but first thought I will never do whatever you do. But I am getting more experienced now in sewing and I think I will follow your example and be bold with an old sweater and just try to upcycle it. What is the worst that will happen? I just mess up or it will be wearable again. Thanks for all the inspiration.
🙌 Clever ways to upcycle those two sweaters! Very cute after all your work. 🎉
Iron on interfacing? I’d iron strips along the seamlines. That way you would have something to sew together. Probably knit/tricot stretch interfacing would be more comfortable. And you could copy the outfit and make her a new one once it wears out or she outgrows it. My daughter wore every Halloween costume I made her completely out! That bring back memories 😊
I love both recreations. Fingers crossed that the needle felting stays when the pink sweater is laundered. I will be interested in hearing how you make out with it.
Love, love, love those polka dots!!
I love them both! And the pink one is definitely giving balloons! So much fun!
I love the needle felting … So cute
What an adorable up cycle - you look great in the sweaters and the pattern you created on the pink one is delightful! What a great example of what can be done when we let our own creativity have a chance to come out! Cheers !
I also struggle with making things look random and not all uniform, so I usually try to find a reference image for something similar that I can copy the "randomness" of.
Wondering if rhe "wiggle " will come to life once you wash it...
Honest question from someone who is not brave to cut and treat knit as a fabric as you do.
You are so brave and creative!
WOW, they're both perfection. Great transformations!
They are beautiful. You have a lot of patience.
You’ve given me so many ideas
I need to thrift up and make something
AAAAAMAZING work. Now I know what I can do with some knits from my late Mum. The items are too small but you're giving me ideas. Thanks a million. What a talent you are. Bless your creativity 🎉
You are a very smart, young lady. Such great ideas. Keep up the such lovely ideas.
I love both these sweaters. Great inspiration!
The one thing I look for in knits if I want to take them apart is that chain stitch. If the garmet has that along the seams then generally you can take it apart without the pieces unraveling because each piece is knit individually and then sewn together. If you see a regular seam - as you did here - it means the garmet is made from a large piece of knit fabric that is cut into pieces and sewn together. If you take the seams apart they can unravel. Just good to know if working with knits. I always wondered how the garmet manufacturers could cut the knit apart for construction without it unraveling on those big machines?!
Love them but the pink one is so individual, clever girl
You make everything look so easy
Great projects! I love them both.
I understand why you serge the sleeves to the body with the sleeve on top. But this seam goes horizontal on the sleeve and vertical on the body. Since knits are much stretchier in the horizontal direction than in the vertical and the presser foot adds some stretch to the upper layer while the feed dogs make the differential gathering on the lower layer I always put the body on top of the sleeve and just feel with my fingertips that everything is flat.
Love both but the pink one is my favorite.
They are both so cute, love them. This vid is 2 weeks late. I had a big red sweater that I thrifted a long time ago and tried to make it smaller but failed. The shoulder seam was to low just like yours was but I didn't know how to fix it. I sent it back to the thrift store.
Oh too bad!
Love your designs
They are both adorable.
You can also use your blind hem foot to keep your topstitching straight if you don’t have a topstitching foot.
Another great project! I love how you troubleshoot as you go along.
These are both so adorable! Definitely sweaters I’d wear!
Wow! Thank you so much for the inspiration!
These sweaters are such a good find, the colourways are so good together you'd swear they were from the same line. Both of the end products are fantastic but I think the second one is possibly my favourite of your creations.
Just a thought, would you consider buying a needle felting holder. Its a gadget to hold 5/6 needles at once. I find the single needle is fine for detail work but on blocks they felt up much quicker with the holder. I find the repetitive motion tires my arm easily.
Love these 2 recycles
Love this video both sweaters are great. But after watching this remember that I had a sweater that I tried to take in. The seams were wavy and almost gave up on it. Hit it with steam and I have my sweater back. Thank you.
Yes! Steam to the rescue!
I pulled out some sweaters a few weeks ago, that I just loved to wear back in the 80's, huge! And who do I turn to for inspiration? Your calm instruction gives me confidence to cut!
I had to pause the video and use your link to order a set of felting needles. Love the sweaters.
"lives are not at steak here" lol I've found my new motto when things go astray!!
I think the circles with the green stems look like trees or topiaries. :-)
Ooh, and I just found out that one of our biggest thrift stores is having a half off day coming up!
Wow what a transformation on both of them. I thrifted a huge men's sweater a few years ago with the plan to make it my size. After watching your video I think I will give it a go as it is not precious and I have nothing to lose. The needle felting is awesome but I would have to purchase needles to do that. After seeing how you transformed your project I may try to get some of those special needles.
I love how it turned out
Beautiful job!! Love both your sweaters. God bless and thanks for sharing your beautiful creations.
35:19 can you move your needle to the right? My machine will do that so I still have the edge of the presser foot in the same place but the stitching is closer to the waist band.
Do the sweaters need to be wool to do needle felting?
Totally unique! Totally cute! So creative! Well done!
I think they DO need to be wool. And notice the striped sweater was a "tighter" knit so cutting it didn't unravel it. Also, wool will "catch" on itself to prevent unraveling. Don't know about any other fiber. . .. A finer knit IS easier to upcycle than a bulkier knit. . . (unless wool).
I always heard: hot water and agitation for felting.... Let me know how the cold water worked. 💖🌞🌵😷
Love the transformation! Great job as always!!
❤🎉❤🎉 love these! I was wondering when my felting tools would come in handy 😊
Both are so cute now! The pink is my favorite. Great job.
Love how these turned out so cute 😊😊
Talented as always ❤
Those sweaters are great!!!
You inspire me
😮😮😮 they came out super cute😍😍😭
That is the cutest sweater I've ever seen! Love how it all evolved as you went along...true inspiration!
I love both!
Both are beautiful and fun.❤
Great job as usual! Love them both!
Truly adorable!
So cute!
Love it! You have inspired me again!
Both are stinkin cute 🥰
I was so grateful that you had showed this sweater tutorial upcycling thank you Catherine
You are very creative with all the clothes you recycle. These sweaters are very sweet.
So so CUTE 🥰
I'm obsessed with that pink sweater!
Super cute.
FABULOUS!!
Very cute!
Very cute.
Love the video. I learned techniques!!!
So cute! I love yout video's !!
These are brilliant.
Love both!
Love them both! You have been an inspiration to me. I've started altering my sweaters to fit better and... they're fine, definitely room for improvement! Lol. I shall continue😅