It's easy to accidentally shrink a jumper by washing it in a hot wash. But all is not lost.
This tutorial shows you how to recycle a favourite shrunken jumper into mittens. You could also use it to recycle a purposely-shrunken item of knitwear.
I used a cashmere jumper bought from a charity shop for £2.49, which looked like it had already been shrunk. My finished mittens are fantastically soft and cosy and they would also make a fantastic, personal present for Christmas.
What you will need:
A jumper or cardigan made from 100% wool
Paper
Matching thread
Sewing machine
Pins
Paper and fabric scissors
1. You can use a jumper or cardigan shrunken by mistake or shrink a jumper on purpose by putting it on a 60 degree wash. Your chosen knitwear needs to be 100% wool or it won't shrink adequately. Either way, you should wash and dry your item before beginning.
2. Check that your item has shrunk enough by making a cut into the cuff and checking that the knitted fabric doesn't unravel. If properly shrunk it should be stable enough to be cut without unravelling.
3. Make a paper pattern for your mitten by drawing around your hand or around another mitten. Once you have done this, draw round again half a centimetre outside your first line. This adds on the seam allowance.
4. Pin your pattern to the knitwear and cut around it. Pin through the front and back of the item to cut both pieces of each mitten at the same time. You can use the bottom ribbing of the item for the cuff of the mittens. Cut out 2 mittens (4 pieces)
5. Sew around the edges of the mitten, using a half centimetre seam allowance. Cut small triangles on the curved edges of the mittens – this makes the seam less bulky. You might want to trim the seam allowance of the thumb in half to make it easier to turn inside out.
6. Turn your mittens inside out. You can press them lightly with the iron if they need to be flattened.
Read more of Kerry's fashion DIY tutorials here:
How to make your own heart-shaped elbow patches
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article