Dolman Sweater to Eternity Scarf & Beannie Hat

Going through my closet the other day I pulled out an adorable sweater I had bought on sale last year.  It was one of those, "It's so cute!  It's so stylish!" moments when what seems to work in the dressing room never looks quite the same at home.  Its horizontal stripes, and baggy shape weren't exactly figure flattering.  The wide neckline kept slipping off my shoulder and I just didn't feel comfortable revealing a bra strap to the world.  I tried it on the other day to wear to church and my 12 year old plainly stated, "Uh.  Mommy.  NO."  Message received and understood!

 

But the stripes!  The cozy, stretchy knit!  I was having a hard time parting with it, so I decided I would upcycle it into something.  I had previously upcyled a wool sweater into slippers and made the sleeves into a pair of slipper socks for my daughter, but this sweater was a synthetic knit, and wouldn't shrink  and felt.  I thought the stripes would make a lovely scarf, so away I googled.  Here is a helpful tutorial on how to turn a sweater into an eternity/circle scarf.

Here's what I did.

1.  Lay out sweater.

2.  Cut a straight line through both layers of material.  Turning the bottom part of the sweater into a circle scarf was the simplest thing since the edges naturally rolled under and didn't need hemming.  In hindsight, I wish I would have cut the line up higher and made a wider scarf.  I didn't realize it would stretch so much and become so narrow.   But it was just the right size for my daughter!

3.  The dolman sleeves were wide enough to make a hat for my daughter.  For the beannie hat I simply cut off the cuff, and then cut the sleeve away from the body.  Then I stretched it over my daughter's head, trimmed it to the right size, flipped it inside out, stitched together the top opening and gave it back to my daughter.  
If your sweater sleeves aren't wide enough to make a beanie, then you can use other parts of the sweater, as in this tutorial.

It made me smile to see my daughter go out the door this morning with her new accessories.  I don't have to be wearing the sweater to enjoy its fun and cheerful fabric on a grey, rainy January day.

The whole project took 15 minutes tops.  Blogging about it has taken longer!

This would be a great project for a sweater you love that no longer fits, or has a stain somewhere.  Happy sweater hunting!