I like to find old junk and make it into something useful. That's what I imagine God likes to do with us people sometimes. Anyhow, the other day I was in Goodwill and came across an adorable sweater. I had to buy it, though it was not my style or size. Besides it was all wool, too scratchy to wear. The print drew me in. I knew it would be good for a project.
I washed it in the washing machine with hot water to agitate at least ten minutes, then into the dryer for a little while (not all the way dry) to shrink it down and get it a bit felted so it can be cut without fraying. I went to bed still pondering what to make precious into. Ahah! It hit me at about midnight. I decided precious would make some great coasters to give as a hostess or holiday gift. The coasters are easy to make. Here's what to do.
Cut the sweater apart along the seams. Lay it flat. You need to use a wool sweater so you can felt it first. Get a glass to trace around it. I used a martini glass about 4 and 1/2 inches wide. I traced this out, and got sixteen using just the body of the sweater. Cut out the circles inside of the marker. Now, you just stitch along the outside edge using a blanket stitch. For this I used DMC embroidery floss, all six strands.
First, anchor the thread by weaving it into the knit on the wrong side. Now make even stitches as evenly spaced as you can all long the perimeter of the coaster. For blanket stitch, you want to pass the needle straight down on the right side, then pull it toward you at a ninety degree angle from the edge with the needle on top of the thread loop. Once you have six or eight coasters, you can wrap them with a pretty ribbon, and your gift is ready to bring joy to some lucky friend.
No comments:
Post a Comment