Sweatshirt makeovers are difficult for me. I love sweatshirts. They’re soft and warm and I really don’t want them to be anything other than something comfy to throw on over my top on a day turned chilly, but then I don’t want them to look like most sweatshirts tend to look, boring and/or frumpy.
Somehow or other this white Olympic style sweatshirt turned up in my clothing stash.
I really don’t know where it came from. I know the progeny of each piece of clothing in my closet and refashioning stash came from but this one is a puzzle. I know I wouldn’t have bought it new and it turned up way before I started doing any garage sale trolling for my refashioning bug. Anyway, I never wore it but I kept it because I love how if fits and adore the sleeve detail.
First step was to bind the top of where I wanted the zipper to end up on the new top.
Step 1: Open the zipper. Stitch a bar tack by hand or machine over the teeth on both sides of the zipper, each side separately. In other words don’t stitch the zipper closed.
Hint: if you have a heavy gauge thread, use that and you’ll spend a lot less time working the bar tack.
Step 2: Cut off the excess zipper just above the bar tack, in between two of the zipper teeth.
Then I used a seam ripper to take the zipper out down to the top of the cumberbund-like waist and right at the point where I had bound the zipper. Spread fray check on the zipper bar tack and the zipper tape to prevent fraying.
I folded the front to the inside to create a deep v-neck. Since I wanted to be able to wear it open I finished the inside of the v-neck by folding it under once and then again and top-stitching it all down – AND DONE.
This is so cute! I’m trying to figure out how I can also add that seam detail at the waist that your shirt already had. Thanks for sharing!
Yes, I was lucky to have that already part of the sweatshirt, but actually it wouldn’t be that difficult to add. Just cut the sweatshirt off at your waist adding 5/8″ for a seam allowance. Then size the bottom portion that you cut away to be a little more fitted than the sweatshirt and sew it into a tube. Gather the sweatshirt to fit the tube and sew the two pieces together.
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