Sweater Pillow - another upcycle

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I'm pushing on with working through my clothes upcycling pile.

Today I decided to tackle an old favourite of mine - this cute pure wool sweater.

I bought it when I was a teenager on a family holiday to York in England. I loved the design on it, and it's such a cosy sweater, so it was worn LOTS.

For the past 10 years we've been living in tropical Far North Queensland in Australia where it very rarely gets cold enough for a sweater, so this one has been in storage for those 10 years.

I still really like the design, but don't think I'd ever wear it again - even if we went somewhere cold, I think I've just grown out of it!

So I decided that instead of keeping it stored away, I might as well get some use out of it. I've seen lots of sweater pillows around on blogs, so thought that would be a good thing to try.

It was nice and simple to make.

Just turn the sweater inside out, and pin across the top:

I checked our cushion size and it was just perfect for the width of the sweater, so I could just leave the side seams, and sew up the arm holes, and across the top.

I used a small stitch to prevent the wool from unravelling.

Then came the hard bit...

Actually cutting the sweater, for years my favourite sweater....

I took a deep breath..

...and cut, then ziz-zag stitched the raw edges.

I'd left the bottom of the sweater open, and decided to close it by sewing on some buttons.

All done!

I'm quite happy with the result, and now my sweater can be useful rather than taking up storage space and sitting in a cupboard!

Now I just have to find something to make with the sleeves.

For more ideas on upcycling sweaters - take a look here. And please do add any of your own sweater upcycling projects to the long term linky there!

I shall be linking this post to many of the fabulous linky parties whose pretty buttons can be found on the bottom of this page, and whose direct links can be found on my linky party page.