The making of boot cuffs, an infinity scarf and more....

 This month (and some last month) we have been working to update and revamp our wardrobes without spending a lot of money. We went through 2013 buying basically no clothing (each older child did get one item, Ken bought a few things for himself and Megan and I bought nothing) and so though we still had plenty of clothing we were ready for some updates.  We have done a little bit of shopping but mostly we are trying to use what we have and freshen it up in some new way.

The other day we decided to take this old sweater (above) and turn it into something new for Mara. It was to small for her and rather pilly so it was ready for a new life.

First step was to make some boot cuffs. We cut off the sleeves for this purpose, made them a little narrower in the section that had been by the shoulder and underarm and would be by her ankles. I then hemmed that area and they were ready to wear. So easy!

 There was quite a bit left to the sweater and some of it was rather pretty looking so I cut of the scalloped part at the bottom of the sweater and hemmed up the raw edge and that became an infinity scarf.

I was feeling creative and like not wasting anything so I cut the part that was left into a rather hat shape, sewed a seam and presented a hat for her to wear. It worked and didn't look to bad but she thought one area was a little funny so I sewed on it a bit more and in the process I made it to small. Here is a photo of her in it just for fun but it did actually end up in the garbage.

 We liked the boot cuffs pretty well so we grabbed the sleeves off of another old sweater (one that was wool and had shrunk) and she hemmed those up for boot cuffs too. She is hoping I will make the rest of that sweater into new mittens for her.

  Those boots she is wearing.... Well we did some work on them too.

 Do you see how big they are on her here? In the time (a couple of years now) she has had them they had stretched a little and slouched a lot and they looked rather funny on her thin legs. We were going to go boot shopping but decided to try sewing a dart down the back (they were a suede fabric boot) and see if that might remedy the situation.

I did that and it worked! How nice. I had to make a little strap shorter too but it all worked out quite well and she says they are comfortable and she is pretty happy with them again and doesn't think she needs new ones yet.

Fixing things up is pretty fun to do! Do you like to fix up, alter or repurpose clothes? I would love to hear your thoughts.

I am linking up to the Homestead Barn Hop