Top: Old worn sweatshirt Bottom: Reworked sweatshirt Photos by mayah (c)2012
Starting out with a very old, worn, and stained sweatshirt with a broken zipper, I took the whole thing apart along the seams—sleeves, hood, pockets, front panels, back panel, and even the ribbing on the cuffs and bottom. The inside of the sweatshirt was in good condition so I turned the whole thing inside-out, putting the fuzzy flannel-like fabric on the outside. Turned the ribbing inside out also as it was very worn and stained. Using a 25 year old sewing machine that can’t do much except straight lines and zig-zag, I added the cotton plaid from a remnant scrap to the front panels and sewed along the squares to make it look like quilting. Added the edging to the pockets using the same remnant material, and then re-sewed all of the parts back together and lastly added a new zipper.
I’m not much of a seamstress-- the first and last sewing class I ever had was in the 7th grade when girls were supposed to learn to cook and sew in order to be future homemakers; this was just before the Women’s Lib movement started in the 1970’s. A few years later, girls were able to take Wood Shop, a class previously reserved only for boys, and boys could take Home Ec. I never did learn to cook and still dislike it immensely. Enjoy sewing but can not do much but stitch straight lines and add a zig-zag now and then. Button holes? Forget it! So my sewing machine and I are very compatible, given our mutual limitations.
Anyway, I tried to match up the plaid stripes across the two front panels and did an OK job of it. If you look closely at the seam at the top where the hood is sewn on, you can see it is a bit “off”. Oh, well, not bad for a first attempt. In terms of cost, I bought the fabric remnant on sale for about $4.50, the zipper cost $3.00 and the thread cost $2.00 so all together with tax I spent about $10.00. For that amount of money I could have bought two sweatshirts at the local thrift shop and saved myself the effort! It was fun, though. Not sure if I’m going to do it again, however!