Let's Upcycle Sweaters!

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If you’ve read any of my sewing posts, you’ll know that I love to reuse material & repurpose clothing! I’ve made skirts out of polo shirts, sweatshirts, sweatpants & turtleneck sweaters. I’ve also upcycled sweaters into leg warmers, fingerless gloves, scarves & headbands. I’ll be talking about the sweater recycle/upcycle clothing in this post. I’ll include photos & instructions for each garment.

Supplies Needed

Sewing machine or serger
Thread, sewing pins, scissors
Cutting mat
Sweaters
Sweatshirt or sweatpants
For skirts: Waistband – either:
- 2″ wide elastic – enough for waistline + 2″
- Waistband from sweatpants
- Ribbing from the waistband of a sweatshirt

Fingerless Gloves

Instructions for Fingerless Gloves

Cut off the wrist piece from 2 sleeves – these will be your palm & wrist pieces
Cut 4 strips of sweater 3″ wide & the circumfrance of the largest part of your arm, usually 7″ to 8″ – these will become the arm piece
- The width of the strips and how many you use depends on the look you like & how long you want the gloves to be
Serge the raw edge of one of the wrist pieces to make the top of the palm piece
As you come to the end of your serging, leave a ‘tail’ of serged thread so you can weave that piece back through the stitching to prevent it from fraying. You can also cut it off and add a drop of Fray Check
Turn the palm piece that has been serged inside out and insert it into the 2nd wrist piece so they are wrong sides together
Serge these two pieces together, leaving a space of about 1″ between the beginning and end of your stitching – this will be the hole for the thumb
Weave both end pieces of serged thread back through the stitching to secure the thread
Pull the palm piece out of the wrist piece
To make the arm section
- Sew together the short ends on each strip of sweater material to make a circle
- One at a time, sew each circle together with wrong sides together, securing the end of the serged thread as described above
- Serge the raw edge of the last circle that will be closest to the elbow to prevent fraying. You could always use another sweater sleeve wrist section for this piece
- Attach the arm piece to the hand piece – your glove is complete!
Follow instructions for the 2nd glove

Patchwork Skirt

Instructions for Patchwork Sweater Skirt

Cut strips of various sweaters 3″ – 4″ wide and of various lengths
Serge or zigzag the strips short sides together in a patchwork pattern until you have two separate pieces the width of your hips
Serge or zigzag the strips long sides together until you have the length you desire
Using an existing skirt or skirt pattern, cut the patchwork pieces into the shape you want
Stitch the back of the skirt to the front at the side seams
Serge or zigzag the bottom of the skirt to create the hem
To create the waistband, you have two options
Option 1:
- Cut a 5″ wide section of one of the sweaters from side to side including both the front and back of the sweater
- Measure waist and alter the width of the strip to fit then sew at that point to make it smaller as needed, leaving an opening for the elastic
- Fold strip and stitch the two raw sides together, this will create a casing for your elastic
- Stitch the sewn side to the top of the skirt
- Thread elastic through the opening and stitch the ends of the elastic together
- Stitch the opening closed
Option 2:
- Use the ribbing at the bottom of a sweater & alter it to fit your waistline, leaving an opening to thread elastic
- Thread elastic through the ribbing
- Attach waistband to the top of the skirt
Option 3 – fastest
- Using a pair of sweatpants in your size
- Cut the waistband off, leaving a seam allowance of about 1/2″
- Attach the waistband to the top of the skirt

Sweater Skirt

Instructions for Sweater Skirt

The first step is to turn the turtleneck inside out
Cut off each sleeve at the seam & set aside
Next, you’ll cut right below the seam where the turtleneck meets the body of the sweater – just cut straight across from the top of one arm hole to the top of the other. Set aside the turtleneck
What you have left is what will be your skirt
Pin the front to the back along the armhole edges
Stitch each side beginning at the top of the arm hole and easing into the part of the skirt that is already seamed
To make the waistband: turn over the top edge, pin, and stitch to the body of the skirt, stretching the fabric a bit as you zig zag. I like to use wide elastic an 1 or 1 1/2 for comfort but you can make it any size you want. Leave an opening to thread the elastic and once it has been installed, sew ends of elastic together and sew the opening closed
The hem will be done as it is the hem of the turtleneck
Turn the skirt right side out and enjoy!
You can make leg warmers from the sleeves by cutting off the curve at the top and running a zig zag stitch to prevent raveling and to give them a fancy, curly edge

The first step is to turn the turtleneck inside out

Turn over the top edge and pin then stitch with zig zag, stretching as you go. Leave opening for elastic

Leg Warmers

Instructions for Leg Warmers

Cut off the top of the sleeves
Turn over raw edge and stitch – you can use a straight or zig-zag.
The one on the left is a straight stitch and the right is zig-zag. See how the right is curlier – your choice which stitch to use
I chose to leave the sleeves the same length so I had room to make a cuff. If you do not want a cuff, cut from the top to shorten because the bottom of the leg warmer is pre-hemmed from the sleeve edge

Sweater Headband

Instructions for Headband

Cut off turtleneck
With wrong sides together, zig-zag stitch raw edges
Flatten headband with seam centered and pin
With a damp lint-free cloth and hot iron, press headband flat
At the seam and opposite of the seam, do a quick zig zag to hold the headband flat
To make a flower, cut a strip from one of the sleeve tops (I cut 3″ wide, then trimmed it to 2″)
Zig-zag one edge while stretching to get it to ruffle
Stitch ends together
Hand baste raw edges and gather
Cut to leaf shapes from the other sleeve top
Zig-zag along long edges
Hand stitch leaves to the headband, then the flower between them
Attach decorative button in the center of the flower