I owe a huge hug of gratitude to Kathleen at Grosgrain Fabulous. She posted 30 days of sweater embellishments on her blog. In those tutorials she took the most ho-hum sweaters from Goodwill and turned them into Cinderella-worthy tops.
Because of her inspiring transformations, I was able to re-vamp two sweaters for the Blissdom conference, saving my bank account some precious pennies. (I used the savings to buy two pairs of cute PJs. Apparently PJs are mandatory after conference hours.)
And now, on to the transformation!
I started by resizing the sweater per Kathleen’s tutorial HERE.
Put the sweater on inside out and pin excess starting under the arm and ending at the hip.
Carefully (very carefully unless you want to become a pin cushion) remove the sweater. Stitch along the pinned line.
Put the sweater back on to check the fit.
If it looks good, go ahead and trim off the excess. (This reminds me of a nip and tuck surgery. {Sigh} If only trimming fat was this easy.)
Next, grab some of those adorable felt roses we made the other day. (Rose tutorial HERE) Lay them onto the sweater and play with the placements.
When you are happy with the roses, pin them on with safety pins.
Sew on the roses with needle and thread.
And remove the safety pin once the rose is secure.
And remove the safety pin once the rose is secure.
That’s it. Beautiful new cardigan from a $3 Goodwill sweater!
I added a knit belt that I sewed some roses and a hook and eye clasp on.
Poor Buddy (aka Pretty Handy Dog), he’s not so sure about me leaving for Blissdom tomorrow.
Check out some more Goodwill and thrift store fashionista outfits at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.
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Looking great! I love those roses 🙂
That's gorgeous! You look so beautiful!
Darling! You look fabulous!! Amazing job!! Angie xo
I am new to your blog, (well, relatively new — I spent the holidays drooling over your amazing wrapping paper techniques!), and I just wanted to stop by and say 'Hi', and tell you how unbelievably impressed I am by this makeover! And you make it look so easy that even I (the totally sewing impaired) am tempted to try it. Keep up the great work! Caitlin
BEAUTIFUL!! I am so tempted to try this with some tshirts I have! Thanks for the inspiration!
Really great job! It looks tons better and your outfit turned out really cute. Have fun at Blissdom!
Impressive! I may be tempted to buy an aqua cashmere hoodie sweater I saw today. I don't like hoodies. If you are over 40 they add too much visual weight to the back of the neck. Have a great time at Blissdom. Ann
Looks so cute! Have fun on your trip 🙂
That is fantastic!!! You look amazing! Thank you so much fo sharing with all of us.
Oh my gosh, Brittany — is there anything you CAN'T do!? 🙂 I love what you did with that sweater — it's adorable! I can't wait to see pictures from your Blissdom conference! I hope you have an absolutely WONDERFUL time! xo
Wonderful makeover. Love the post with Buddy and his thoughts. Our pets know when we are leaving them behind.
You look beautiful. If you hadn't told us that it was a makeover, I would have thought you picked it up from the store. Enjoy Blissdom.
Monique
I'm a little late with this, but congratulations on adopting Buddy. All my pets are rescue as well. Thanks for encouraging people to check petfinder for their next companion!
Loooove it!
You look awesome in your new outfit. You did a great job. Best Wishes for a safe and wonderful trip.
What a super, super cute outfit! I love the flowers on that sweater!
You did an absolutely fantastic job! BEAUTIFUL!!!!! I am participating in the Frugal Fashionista Fashion show, too! http://budgetingmommy.blogspot.com/2011/01/joining-frugal-fashionista-fashion-show.html
YEA…so glad you joined in. This looks FABULOUS!! So fun to now have a real life friend to tie to the post. 🙂
Very cute! I haven't refashioned a sweater … yet, but seeing yours makes me want to!
Love your DIY transformation. I'm definately going to have to check out more of your projects!
LOVE the sweater!!!! So classy 🙂
That looks awesome! I just got my Frugal Fashionista post up today if you want to check it out.
http://grooviemom.blogspot.com/2011/01/frugal-fashion.html
Bravo! I love your sweater transformation, and your outfit at the bottom is so cute! You look great. 🙂
You look like such a hip mom in that last post. . .flowered sweater, a belt, a short skirt and boots. . .wow!!
awesome. going back to goodwill to get some wool sweaters.
I LOVE this idea! I really don't have spare money to expand my wardrobe, so I'm looking forward to sprucing up some of the things I already have!
Pretty Handy Girl….you amaze me… this time with you tremendous sense of humor. i needed this today. tax season in very ho humm….loved it
Pretty! I am needing some new sweaters. I am going to try this!
I LOVE this!!!!! You are so pretty!!! XOXO
Thank you Andrea! Glad you liked my sweater re-fashion. I keep thinking I need to go shopping at Goodwill again soon ;-D
So cute! I write a blog for Goodwill of Upstate/Midlands SC and I love to see things like this! You did a great job!
This is really neat! Thanks for sharing!
Looks great! Thanks for the idea!
Hello there and HELP! I crochet a cute sleeveless sweater and the arm hole part came out too big! The pattern was adjustable for different sizes, but it didn’t work out. It’s too big in the armpit. Can this be fixed and how? If it can’t what a wast. Thank you for your help.