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Sweater Surgery: How to Make New Things with Old Sweaters
Contemporary crafters are thriving on personalizing, modifying, and altering fashion as not only hobbies but as a lifestyle Why repurpose your sweaters? Because you can't buy sweater fabric by the yard. Sweaters get damaged or go out of style but we still love the prints, colors, and textures. You don't have time to knit it from scratch. It's ecologically correct. And most of all--it's fun! Sweater Surgery shows you how to upcycle all your slightly worn, slightly damaged, or plain old out-of-style sweaters into fabulous new items for your wardrobe and your home. Readers learn how to choose, cut, restitch, felt, and embellish old sweater fabric, transforming it into beautiful handbags, mittens, scarves, hats, hoodies, skirts, jewelry, soft toys, pillows, and more! Complete instructions for 27 projects, plus a huge gallery of exciting ideas for further inspiration.
160 pages, Spiral-bound
First published January 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
February 22, 2015
With Christmas rapidly approaching I took an all-time favorite book again from the shelf. Obviously now is the time to turn your daughter’s old embroidered cardigan sweater into a cute purse or a son’s former favorite sweater into a pillow and make your child happy all over again, without spending too much money.
‘Sweater Surgery’ is the perfect book for people, who have a hard time throwing out old items, especially sweaters. Do you too remember a sweater, which you bought on a perfect vacation trip, or which you hunted down at some awesome sale? You loved that piece and wore it often… so often, that eventually the sweater appeared worn, especially at the elbows. When it was time to throw out the good piece, you almost cried. Well, not any longer…
‘Sweater Surgery’ is the answer. It gives people with basic sewing skills the opportunity to recycle and reuse old sweaters buy turning them into little purses, scarves, necklaces, pillows… Some of my favorite designs are the ‘A Bird in the Hand Purse’, ‘The Joan Purse’, and the ‘Striped Vases’ (about as simple as can be, an elementary school kids can fabricate them). My all-time favorite projects are in the ‘Sophisticated Pillow Collection’. Making pillows out of former much loved sweaters gives me the opportunity to see and hug them much longer.
I would recommend the spiral bound edition to crafty people; obviously spiral binding is excellent for any instructional book.
Gisela Hausmann, author & blogger
‘Sweater Surgery’ is the perfect book for people, who have a hard time throwing out old items, especially sweaters. Do you too remember a sweater, which you bought on a perfect vacation trip, or which you hunted down at some awesome sale? You loved that piece and wore it often… so often, that eventually the sweater appeared worn, especially at the elbows. When it was time to throw out the good piece, you almost cried. Well, not any longer…
‘Sweater Surgery’ is the answer. It gives people with basic sewing skills the opportunity to recycle and reuse old sweaters buy turning them into little purses, scarves, necklaces, pillows… Some of my favorite designs are the ‘A Bird in the Hand Purse’, ‘The Joan Purse’, and the ‘Striped Vases’ (about as simple as can be, an elementary school kids can fabricate them). My all-time favorite projects are in the ‘Sophisticated Pillow Collection’. Making pillows out of former much loved sweaters gives me the opportunity to see and hug them much longer.
I would recommend the spiral bound edition to crafty people; obviously spiral binding is excellent for any instructional book.
Gisela Hausmann, author & blogger
January 23, 2009
3.5 stars. Actually the projects in this book are for the most part pretty great. But the instructions are lacking. Practically every project gets a page or less devoted to "How To" and then a full page photo. The photos are great, but there are no step by step illustrations or photos to guide you along the project and sometimes the instructions were a little muddled. Definitely not a book for someone new to felting or repurposing clothing.
January 3, 2010
Fun book that I would recommend to anyone who likes re-using/re-cycling/re-purposing.
Even if you don't have a sewing machine, there are still things you can make using this book as a guide.
Great pics too!
Even if you don't have a sewing machine, there are still things you can make using this book as a guide.
Great pics too!
September 23, 2009
Adorable book. The birds and stuffed animals are the most adorable projects. The projects are relatively well explained, though I do feel like they are over my head a little bit. The definitely assume a certain level of comfort with the fabric arts!
October 13, 2012
I checked this out of the library for inspiration, but I wasn't very impressed. I already knew that you can use old sweaters to create new items, but I wanted to get some design ideas, 'cause that's not my strong suit. Most of the projects are slight variations on the rest, though, so there aren't many actual ideas. If you're looking for a lot of slightly different purse and necklace patterns, this would be a good place to look.
April 22, 2023
Practical spiral-bound format filled with lots of creative-reuse ideas for sweaters, not all of them felted, and just a few of them with that Frankenstein look (like in Crispina ffrench's The Sweater Chop Shop. Besides garments, there are home decor items, bags, and JEWELRY! I particularly enjoyed the Gallery chapter towards the back of the book. No step-by-steps in the Gallery section but lots of photos of finished projects certain to spark creativity.
November 11, 2011
I love sweaters, and want to wear them. I do not need any purses, felted necklaces, or baby booties, nor a myriad stuffed animals. There were hardly even any actual projects with instructions; most were just pictures for "inspiration". And the majority of the "inspiration" was ugly as sin.
Maybe if you're a purse-o-phile you'd find some good ideas in here.
Maybe if you're a purse-o-phile you'd find some good ideas in here.
December 10, 2010
a few cute ideas for things to make with felted and un-felted sweater, especially the bags, but i don't think i'll be making anything specifically from this book. they do include patterns, but i felt like it will be more of a jumping off point for my own ideas than anything else!
June 26, 2008
yEAH, IT ROCKS.
November 26, 2008
There's some cool ideas in this one. Definitely worth buying.
April 8, 2009
Recycle your old sweaters. Interesting ideas. Teens may like. Not so much for me though.
June 15, 2009
The instructions were hazy and vague. Unless you are already well-versed in repurposing sweaters, this is more of an inspirational journey than an instructional one.
September 28, 2009
An inspiring book with lots of projects I want to try but as others have said instructions are a bit on the light side. Not for a beginner sewer.
July 19, 2009
It was ok....I am not sure how much can be done w/ sweaters in TX....maybe this would be better for colder places?
March 2, 2010
Pictures weren't great, projects weren't great, but I still love the idea!
July 22, 2011
This one had some original ideas - stuff I hadn't seen before or thought of. I especially liked the "Oh! Pillow" on p. 90 and the stuffed animals. Lots of fun ideas.
July 9, 2012
Some interesting ideas. Some very odd ideas. But I will look at old sweaters at GoodWill with a different perspective now!
November 23, 2013
Ooo, I like some of these! Especially: the purse on 35, baby booties on 44 and 47 (!!), the piggie on 76, place mats on 82 and 126, and tiny mittens on 128.
August 19, 2013
Mostly purses and jewelry, so...not really my thing. Decent concept, poorly executed.
November 19, 2013
Very creative ideas. Lots of good directions and tons of inspiration.
June 28, 2015
Cute ideas, but I think interesting mainly for young folks - that is, teens and 20s. Quirky, interesting, but I doubt I'll make any of these.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews