DIY Bow Earwarmer

                 

                 

                  

Well its just snowed here in Missouri over this wonderful President's Day weekend, and I thought why not do another warm DIY. I remembered that I had seen these knitted bow ear warmers at a craft fair in the fall but I have no idea how to knit so I decided to try it with a sweater. This was the thrift store sweater I had left over from my boot cuffs DIY.

Supplies:

Sweater or warm/stretchy fabric

Sewing Pins

Cutting board or hard surface to cut on

Scissors

Measuring Tape

Sewing Machine

1. The first thing you are going to want to do is to measure around your head. My head was 22 inches. Lay out the fabric or sweater you will be using.

2.  Next, you are going to cut out a rectangle. I made the length of my rectangle 20 inches because the fabric of the sweater was really stretchy. The width is up to you. I made mine about 4 inches wide to cover my ears plus a little more. Note: I cut on the fold of the sweater so I divided my length in half.

Here's what the rectangle looked like unfolded:

3. Pin the right sides together and sew leaving the ends open.

4. Now time for the bow. I cut a two smaller rectangles out of the sweater, both about 4x7. I also cut a strip of fabric that is going to be the middle of the bow. Hemming the strip is optional, it is totally up to you and what kind of fabric you are using. I didn't hem the strip because I didn't want the bulkiness but I did apply Fray Check along the edges to prevent it from fraying.

5. Take the two rectangles and pin them together, leaving an opening in the middle top. Sew. Note: The opening is at the middle top so that we can flip the bow right sides out and then cover the opening with the strip that goes in the middle of the bow.

6. Take the ear warmer and stuff one open end into the other about 1/2 inch. Pin and sew.

Here are the ear warmer and bow ready to be connected:

7. Place the bow on top of the ear warmer, covering the seam. slightly scrunch them together with your fingers. Take the strip of fabric and wrap it around the bow and ear warmer once. Pin in the back and sew, then cut the extra length of the strip.

Hope everyone enjoyed this DIY and are having a wonderful winter. Stay warm!

                  

DIY Mittens and Beanie from Sweater

     Sweater weather is officially here! Yay!!!!! In honor of sweater weather, I decided to do a couple sweater DIYs this week. The sweaters I'm using are ones that I got from the thrift shop.

     So for my first sweater DIY, I made a beanie and mittens. I remember seeing this somewhere on Pinterest and decided to try it out. It turned out so cute and now all of my friends are asking for them. Hope you enjoy this DIY, it was one of my favorites yet.

     

     

Supplies:

Sweater

Sewing pins

Paper

Scissors

Measuring tape

Sewing machine

1. First, you're going to need a sweater. I got this one from a thift shop. Preferably the sweater should have some kind of band around the bottom. That makes it stay around your head easier for the beanie and the cuff on the bottom of the mittens.

     

2. We will start with the beanie. Measure around your head to see how big you need to make your beanie. Divide this measurement in half and that will be the length along the bottom of your pattern. For the pattern, I cut out an extended dome shape.

                         

3. Next, I folded the sweater in half like this because the back did not have the textured ribbing like the front and I wanted that to be all around my beanie. Place one side of the pattern along the fold and pin it.

     

      

4. After you cut it out, it should, look like this. Fold the right sides together and pin it. Sew. 

Note: you may need to serve or zig-zag stitch after in sew depending on if your sweater is fraying or not.

      

                                    

5. Now on to the mittens. First, trace your hand on a piece of paper in a mitten shape. Leave room for the seam when you are tracing your hand.

                                   

 

                            

6. Cut out the pattern and place it on the sweater, making sure that the cuff lines up with the bottom of the pattern. Cut out 4 pieces. I used the back of the sweater for the mittens because it did not have any texture.

      

7. Pin the mittens, right sides together and sew.

       

    

All done! Hope these mittens and beanie help you look cute and stay warm at the same time! :)