SPLIT IN TWO: GUEST BLOG part 2

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

GUEST BLOG part 2

2-29-12

Project Woolly Part 2 Wool Sweater Mittens

Back to Project Woolly. Here’s a breakdown of the steps, sweaters to mittens. First, felt “shrink” sweaters in hot water, rinse in cold and dry on high heat. Reminder to wash like colors together.

Cut the mitten pattern out, I use 3 sweaters at time, working off the colors in the patterned sweater. Then sew the pieces together, ironing as you go along. Remember now, this is pure wool and my sewing machine is working better that I thought.

Last step is to put the fleece lining on and put on the wool mitten on top, work out the edges and then put the cuff on. Now this is the hard and tedious part. After the cuff is on, trim, iron and then get ready for sewing the button on.

Did I mention where I’m getting the sweaters from? The Goodwill and Salvation Army for $2 per sweater. I would say I’ve purchased about 50 sweaters. Button shopping is also done at the Goodwill and Salvation Army. Each week, I pass by the stores and the Goodwill on Sunday for $1.29 day, looking for anything with large colorful buttons. So far, I’ve purchased about $75 plus for buttons. In two months, I’ve sewn 50 plus mittens, gifted 15 mittens and have moved on to customizing a few for my niece at Va Tech. Go Hokies!

At about #50, my singer 9050 began running slow. Genius me, I took it apart and got it working only to figure out, the screws wasn’t fitting just right. I broke down and took the Singer to the shop on Saturday. Not to get behind, I bought a back-up Singer 5050 on Craigslist on my way home from Davenport. For $60 I got a pretty sweet machine.

And where do I sew these beauties? Why of course in the “sweatshop”. I have a table for sweaters and one working table for sorting/cutting and my buttons. This project will take me into June and I hope to have about 100 done for the fall. I’ll be selling them somewhere at a craft show near you.