sweaters | telling family tales

felted wool sweater blanket by yellow suitcase studio

Do you have old clothes that you just can’t seem to part with? They might be your own or those of a loved one, or your child’s, but there are memories attached to those clothes that you don’t want to forget. How about using them to make a memory clothes project? Give those clothes a second life will keeping those precious memories close. This year I’ll be sharing 50 ideas using old clothes that you can enjoy or share with family and friends. Here is today’s idea:

Wool Sweater Throw by Peggy on DIYcraftyProjects.com

Continuing our sweater theme for January, I thought some ideas for transforming old sweaters into a cozy blanket would be perfect for these cold winter days and nights. If the sweaters are wool they can be felted first but you can use them even if they can’t be felted. This one was made with a mixture of cotton, unfelted wool and felted wool. Some wool yarn has been treated to prevent felting.

upcycled warm wool lap quilt from fiberluscious.blogspot.com

There are several ways to handling the seams as you can see from the ideas above. Here is another variation on sewing felted seams that could be used on a sweater blanket.

felted seam technique from blog.betzwhite.com

Anxious for more memory clothes project ideas? Check out this Pinterest board.

sweater purse from sew-over-it.blogspot.com

details for sew-over-it’s sweater purse

I never thought of using a sweater to make a tote bag before. When I saw the above idea on Pinterest I loved it. when I searched deeper, I found lots of different variations of the basic idea of using a sweater to create a tote bag or purse. If the sweater is 100% wool you can even felt it first which has some advantages in making the “fabric” sturdier plus felting bonds the fibers together so it doesn’t unravel when cut. The images above and below don’t come with instructions but I found a few tutorials to help get you started on transforming a sweater into a tote bag.

If those tutorials don’t help with your project a google or Pinterest search for tote bag or purse patterns should head you in the right direction. What a fun way to give new life to a beloved sweater and keep memories close at the same time.