DIY BLANKET JUMPER

Sewing your own clothes can be really fun and rewarding, but it can also be expensive. Good fabric can be pricey and unless you use no-waste patterns (huge fan!) there can be a lot of waste. To combat this, there’s a growing trend to use pre-loved bedding and blankets for sewing projects.

Now that it’s starting to get cold, I wanted to make myself a new jumper, so I headed out to the Rezza op-shops for inspiration. It took a few visits before I hit the jackpot at the Vintage Op-Shop on Boldrewood Parade. Would you LOOK at these blankets! Stunning colours, made in Australia, super warm for the upcoming winter, and just $8 each. Obsessed.

By Anna Scovelle

Rather than purchasing patterns, I like to use things I already have in my wardrobe as a template. I started doing this when I had worn-out several of my favourite pieces of clothing and I wanted to replicate them. I cut open the seams and used the individual pieces as pattern pieces, with the addition of a 1cm seam allowance. In this instance the jumper I wanted to replicate was still on high rotation in my wardrobe, so rather than cutting it up I positioned it on the fabric so that I could cut around each piece. A little less precise, but it works.

I wanted to use a combination of both blankets to make a fun pattern on the bottom of the jumper. To do this, I cut the desired shape into the bottom of the main body piece. I then placed the body piece on top of the other blanket and cut the same shape into the other blanket (like a jigsaw), then I cut the sides and bottom to complete the piece. Now, it was time to sew!

I started by sewing the different colour body pieces together. For this design, I placed both pieces right-side facing up and sewed one piece over another. I then trimmed the overhanging fabric.

The next step was to sew the shoulders and right-sides of the fabric together. Then I sewed in the arm pieces. My preferred approach for sewing in arm pieces is to sew the shoulder piece to the body piece first, then sew the arm piece together continuing down the side of the jumper. Repeat on the other side.

This jumper has a mock turtleneck, so the next step was to fold over the neckpiece (wrong-sides together) and attach to the body piece. If your jumper doesn’t have a turtleneck or mock turtleneck, you’ll need to find a different way to finish the neckline (facing, binding, etc.). Regardless of what you are using, you will sew the neck piece (or alternative) to the body piece, right-sides together. If using facing or binding, you will need to sew another row to secure it in place, wrong-sides together.

To complete the jumper, I hemmed the sleeves and the bottom of the jumper to the desired length. Voila!!