Up-cycled Sweater Quilt
I really hate to be wasteful. Post-winter purging time of sweaters and also my son’s birthday, hatched a bright idea. Previously-loved sweaters are cozy and warm, so why not give them a second life? Up-cycling is so rewarding. My son’s decor is grey tones and somewhat casual, so this will fit right in. My mother always taught me not to waste as she lived through difficult war times… So here goes…
Quite a stack of tones of grey and blue. They don’t need to be very “matchy”. The real charm comes from the blend of textures and knits.
I decided on a 9″ square so that I could get quite a few out of the pieces like the sleeves and across the fronts. You could use smaller as well. Larger sizes will leave more waste. I used a cardboard template and a rotary cutter for speed. Since the knits are stretchy there is some “forgiveness” in the exact shapes. This is not as fussy as true quilting.
Quite a stack came from 6 sweaters. 81 squares!
Since I have a three thread serger, I used it to piece random couples. I was hoping for a random pattern, and only tried not to have same colours next to each other. I then added doubles, then added quads, to make long strips. Do ease the knits together and not over-stretch them.
Once I had the long 8 square strips, I laid them out til I was happy with the random pattern. It allowed some switching and flipping. After sewing the strips together, I used a soft bedsheet as a backing. Place right sides together and sew all around, leave an opening and then turn right side out, close the opening with slip stitches.
Once turned, I laid it out on the floor and tied knots with yarn at the corner points. This gives it a rustic handmade look and is quite easy. It’s too hard to try to jam it under a sewing machine.
In keeping with the look, I added a large blanket stitch around the outside edges in contrasting yarn.
I did not use the traditional batting filler as I wanted it to be softer and not so puffy and bulky.
I had so many squares left over that I was able to make a couple pillows. They are 4 squares on front and back. Since these were well worn sweaters, they should wash quite well. Happy Birthday my son and Enjoy!
I love that !. It is very similar to what I used to do for my family years ago ! Thanks for sharing !
There’s almost no reason to throw away sweaters! I hope to inspire more up-cycling and change some mindsets! Keep making!
Your sweater quilt is beautiful! When you stitched the blanket stitch around the edges, did you do so by hand or did you use your machine?
Thanks! I did the big stitches by hand for effect .
I love this!! I do not have a serger, is there a way I can do this another way? I owe my sone a quilt and this is just what I would love to make for him.
Before I had a serger I used to just use the zigzag stitch and a straight stitch. If it is a oose weave just add another row of stitching. If it stretches out too much, yiu can add a little strip fo some thin fabric to stabilize the seam from getting too long or out of shape. Happy making
Hi Barb… love this quilt! I have 2 questions. Did all of the sweaters have similar composition (e.g., wool vs. cotton, etc.) or was it a mix? For the backing, you mentioned using a soft bedsheet… was this flannel (and if not, do you think flannel would work)? Thanks!!
I tried to keep the composition similar, or at least all washable. When gifting it is important they know how to wash. I used a cotton bedsheet that was already washed. You could use flannel but I find that it is quite a loose thread count and can also shrink a lot when washing. Flannel is soft but can be a bit ‘grippy’ when pulling over yourself. It’s up to you how you like the ‘feel’. I’ll admit that I love to check out the thrift stores as afghans/throws seem to be donated at high volume, perhaps since they are a common gift and take a lot of space. The backing fabrics are huge as well. Happy making!