{make stuff} DIY Upcycled Sweater Cowl

You’ve seen those jersey knit circle scarves, right? All they do is cut out the body part of the t-shirt and BAM! Circle Scarf.

Well, why can’t we do it with sweaters, too? Then you get the warmth of a knit scarf without having to knit it,. That’s an A+ idea in my book!

Here’s the step-by-step:

1. Find your sweaters.

I’ve been scouring thrift stores for my sweaters. If your sweaters aren’t similar in size, make sure that the smaller sweater is big enough, because your scarf won’t be any bigger than the smaller sweater.

Once you get your sweaters, wash and dry them to get them all clean and ready to go.

2. Cut the body

Cut out the main bulk of the sweater. Striped sweaters are great for easy straight cutting. You can always make it smaller if you want, so I cut the smaller sweater as big as possible to begin by cutting right under the arms and right above the ribbing.

Repeat the process with the other sweater. In this case the gray sweater was longer than the striped sweater, so I used the striped sweater as the guide for how wide to cut both.

Step 3. De-Circle-Fy 

Ugh, I know, doesn’t sound very intuitive? We’re making circle scarves, the sweaters are already in a circle! Yes, but we want a clean finish, so we need to de-circle-fy them before we can circle-fy them.

So, cut open one side seam on each sweater so you have two long strips.

Step 4. Make a Tube

Pin the strips right sides together by lining up the two seams in the middle.  Cut off any excess on either side if one sweater is longer. This scarf we’re working on ended up being about 32″ long. You could make it longer if you wanted to be able to fold it once, or a little smaller if you want it tighter around your neck. Whatever you prefer.

Sew along both long edges, leaving the ends open.

Flip right side out. Now you have a looong tube.

Step 5. Circle-Fy!

Fold the tube in half so the raw edges meet. Sew the ends together on the machine by sewing around the circle. Don’t just sew across all four layers of fabric. Only sew two layers at a time. You won’t be able to go the whole way around.

Disclaimer: There’s just a smidgen of hand sewing required.

See? Barely any hand sewing needed. Hand sew that little hole shut and you have yourself a new circle scarf!

Step 6: Show It Off!

I ended up making 3. The one on the right was made with one long sweater.

What an eco-way to stay warm!