With fall in the air, and winter right around the corner, you are dying to do some closet overhauling. So, before you get trigger-happy and take it out back and shoot that old but faithful sweater, rethink that notion. Here are 5 ways you can still enjoy its colour, fiber content, and warmth.
- Use it as a scarf. This works as a great warmer for the neck and shoulders without committing to a bulky jacket. Drape it around your neck (with the arms losely tied in front of your neck) . It adds colour and pizzaz, it keeps you warm, and it is there if the weather changes to a winter chill.
2. Cut out the shoulders and make it into a drop shoulder sweater. Wallah! Suddenly it moved from a back-up, go-to, trusty classic, to a sexy, all-occasion, drop-shoulder, trendy must-have. You can experiment with cutting it as a semi-circle, or using more angular edges (as in the photo).
3. If you are absolutely sure that you are done with it as a sweater, then cut the neck off and use it as a neck warmer during the winter. You will have to serge the edges, or do a blanket, over-edge, or zig-zag stitch if you do not have a serger machine so that it does not fray (depends on fiber content).
4. Cut the arm off and use the upper part as a leg warmer and the lower part as a sleeveless glove – a wonderful hand warmer. You are still coordinating with the colours you love so much and saving yourself some bucks at the store (upwards of $6.99 for the glove, and a stratospheric amount to get a new colour scheme ) .
5. Cut the waistband (if it has one) and make several head bands. For variety, decorate some with buttons, or bows, and leave some without. And now the big question: what to do with the remains of the sweater? I don’t know, toss it to Fifi, the cat to sleep on, clean your shoes with it, incorporate it in your quilt……..do I have to come up with all the ideas?! Okay (sigh!), just send me an email and maybe I’ll work on a post that addresses that issue.