Green DIY: 3 New Pieces from a Turtleneck

Hi readers! Valerie has come up with a really green conscious DIY that I think you will really love and find super helpful when you don't completely want to toss that sweater that has been sitting in the back of your closet for years. Thanks so much to Valerie for sharing this amazing DIY with us today! Enjoy! :)
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Hello, Little Somethings readers!  I'm Valerie from Threads & Thoughts & Things I Love and the Etsy shop Dottie Adele.  As a part of Lo's wonderfully creative Green Initiatve, she has been gracious enough to let me share a tutorial with you today!  I turned a scratchy, suffocating wool turtleneck I never wear into no less than three separate pieces, all of them things I will definitely wear in the future!

Here is what I began with:

Although I love the color and the cable knit pattern of this sweater, the neck part of this turtleneck was just too darn tight.  I couldn't bear to toss it out completely, so I found some ways to salvage it!  If you have an old turtleneck you don't wear anymore, grab it!

First off, I cut the sweater into these different pieces.  Cut off the sleeves of the sweater to make it short-sleeved and cut the neckline into a scoop


I started with the main part of the leftovers: the bodice of the former sweater.  To finish off the new neckline and new sleeves, you will need a sewing machine and some single fold bias tape.

Next...

Before doing the next steps, trim off two one-inch strips from one edge of the turtleneck portion. Then:

Repeat for both sleeves, snip off your stray threads and voila!

New, non-choking, (dare I say?) even cuter sweater!  And we still have more to make from the remnants...

Next, grab the sleeves that we cut off earlier.  From these will come some adorable mittens!

 

Turn them inside out and slip them on! Cute, comfy, cozy mittens!

For the last piece, I used part of one leftover sleeve and a little piece of the turtleneck ribbing to make a bow, like so:

Then, grab the other strip of leftover turtleneck ribbing.  In order to make it long enough to wrap around your waist, you will want to sew the two one-inch strips end-to-end.  Then:

Surprise! Cute knit bow belt!

In the end, this is all I was left with:

You could even use these leftovers to make another bow (add it to a hair clip or headband!) or make an iPod or phone cover by sewing one end of the leftover sleeve tube shut and adding a closure (ribbons to tie or some velcro) to the top!  The great thing about refashioning is that the sky's the limit.  Any idea is a good idea!  Take the challenge of using up as much of an old garment as possible and creating something (or lots of somethings) new!

Thanks again, Lo, for having me!