Easy Diy Cardigan Sweater Revamp

Hi guys! As some of you already know, this month is sweater month here on the blog. Over the last couple of weeks, I have shared some fun ways to repurpose your old sweaters. Today is the last of my sweater DIY’s for sweater month. I am going to share with you how to easily update a simple boyfriend cardigan. I am a big fan of cardigans and own a ton of them. All it takes is some simple stitching and a few vintage buttons to breathe a little whimsy into a plain cardi!

Here’s What You Need:

*Boyfriend Cardigan

*Vintage Buttons (measure your original buttons to get the correct size)

*Embroidery Floss

*Embroidery Needle

*Scissors

*Marking pen or chalk

Instructions:

The first thing you need to do is remove the old buttons you have on your cardigan. Carefully snip the thread and remove the button. Make sure you mark where the buttons were with your marking pen or chalk.

Here is how I sew my buttons: Cut a length of embroidery floss and knot the end of the thread. Push your threaded needle up from the wrong side of your fabric through and out the top of the fabric. Thread your button onto your needle and slide the button down the thread to the sweater. Then, push your needle through the other hole in your button down and back through from the top to the underside. Go back up through the first hole, and then back down through the other side. Do this a few times.

Next, push your needle up through the bottom of the fabric, but do not go through the button-hole. Instead pull the needle and thread through the fabric and then wrap the thread around the underside of the button several times. Push the needle through the wrapped area. Then push the needle back down through to the underside of the fabric. then to finish the button, thread the needle through the threads on the underside of the fabric, loop the needle back through and form a knot. Snip the excess thread.

To make the design on the pockets, free hand the letters on the fabric with your fabric pen or chalk. Embroider your design. I used a simple back-stitch. You can see a diagram for a back-stitch here. You push your needle through from the bottom and then a tiny bit away back down through the top forming a stitch. On the underside, when you bring your needle back through, bring it beyond the first stitch and about the width of another stitch further, and then bring the needle back up through the fabric. Bring the needle back to the first stitch and then push the needle back through. Once you finish stitching, clip the excess threads, and you are finished.

I loved my cardigan before, but now I totally adore it! The vintage buttons and the stitching make me sooo happy! The greatest thing about this update is that it only takes a few supplies, and you can make over your sweater in under an hour. I hope some of you guys will give this easy upcycle a try, you’ll love it! I’ll be back next week with some projects to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Yay! Until then…

Happy Crafting!