Thrift Store Treasures #2

This find was found in Sogndals tiny thriftstore - a huge men's knit sweater. Unfortunately I have somehow lost all the before photos. You'll just have to believe me when I say it was HUGE! I wore it before I refashioned it because we went on an excursion to a cold and windy island on the coast. One of my classmates said: 'Nice potatosack'. I think I could actually fit in it twice. Normally I like it when things are so big, it gives you room to play with. But resizing a coarse knit? I am a bit scared of the effects a sewing machine can have on that. But, when I was knitting something else and finishing it with a matress sitch, I thought: why not use this on my sweater?

And it worked! Even on the sleeves - they were hanging halfway down my upper arms so I had to do something about that. I took off 20 cm in total on the sides and 10 cm on the sleeves. Next step was to secure the seams so I could chopp the excess knit off. I did not trust a plain zig zag to keep the knit from unraveling, so I took a strip of bias tape, cut it into narrow strips and sewed it onto the seam.

I also took off the weird little collar it had, and finished the edge with bias tape. And I added elbow patches just for fun, I really like that look you see everywhere this fall.

It's still a big sweater, but a tight fit would not match the coarseness of the knit. The new arm seams look a bit bulky, but considering how huge it was, I am fairly happy with the result. Although it's not the most neatly finished sweater you could imagine, I serves its purpose and it looks way better than it did before. Also considering the limited choice I have in this thrift shop. P.S. Braids are very common here in Norway, I think half the girls wear them. We internationals have adopted this, and it's nice to have a few more options when doing your hair!