His Thermal + Buttons = Her Cardigan

Getting chills and goosebumps from the cold, foggy air outside? No problem – grab his thermal. Yeap, that’s right – that medium sized, navy blue one from Gap. Boyfriend’s thermal is pretty comfortable and wearable in it’s original form; All I would need to do is accessorize with a few bedazzling necklaces to jazz my outfit up. But it’s still boring and I still seem wide, stubby and manly – looking; It’s because you’re hiding your girly features – your neck, your collarbone and a peek-a-boo of your breast (I’m kidding; Please don’t be raunchy). I thought to myself: How I can make this girly? Hmmm, so what if I made some sort of jacket-mathingymabob?

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Slice it!
Okay, I sliced it right down the middle with my handy dandy scissors. (Btw, cutting a straight line on a thermal sweater is pretty easy because it has that gridded texture -use them to guide you – just locate the center and follow that line down with your scissors.)
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(Lovely awkward fingers, ehh?)
Well there you have it, your jacket! You’re all done. Kay, thanks – bye. Just Kidding; come back…Jack.

Taking in the words of wisdom from Tyra Banks, “V is for victory…go for the v-neck. The low-cut will actually elongate your face and take you away from a place no one wants to be — double chin land” in her article Hide a Few Extra Pounds with these Wardrobe Tricks,” I decided to go for a V-neck. It “will elongate the neck and torso, making you appear taller” for a short person, like myself. -Merrill Foster, How to Dress to Flatter Any Figure. I know! I can achieve V-neck by making buttoned-up cardigan.

Mend the edges
So I folded 2 inches of raw edges in for both side. Used pins to hold their place.
I located a guide line from the thermal, and used my black thread to mend these edges to give it a crisper, cleaner, legit look.
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Mark Your Points
Located where you want to place your buttons and button holes.
I used pins to mark my points – having each points 3 inches away from each other.

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Sew Them On
Then, sew on your buttons. You can find buttons all around the house or use the ones on that one jacket from way back when you were 5. I got these vintage buttons from Michaels in a variety pack for a bout $3 – $5; I don’t remember since I got them 4 years ago back when I was on a button galore phase. Purty aint it?
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(Someone needs a manicure? Uh-eck!)

Make Your Slits
Using my seam ripper, I ripped 1 inch slits. You can use scissors if necessary.
Make sure your slits aren’t too close to the edge – leave about an inch width space from the edge.
You can do an overcast stitch to mend the raw edges of your slit to prevent your slits from stretching and buttons from falling out later.
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And ta-da! You got yourself a new cardigan!
(Wear a dress shirt underneath – show the cuff and the collar; you got yourself something fancy!)
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(or not – since it’s too easy to bake up in a thermal)

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From that to this! Yeap, I am going to have to agree with Foster and Banks by comparing my figure before and after the DIY: His Thermal + Buttons = Her Cardigan. Goodbye stubby boy; Hello elongated girl.

The revelation of this reconstructed thermal:
BF: Did you take my thermal?!
GF: Yea, you gave it to me.
BF: No, I didn’t!
GF: Yea, you did – it was in that pile of crap clothes.
BF: Seriously, stop shopping in my closet!
GF: You gave me this one!
BF: Nuh uh.
GF: You’re just jealous of it’s amazing potential and regret to have given it up. Well, uh… thank you?

Raid & Create,
Jessica

Btw, this project took about an hour of my life.

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Comments ( 8 )

niiiiceee!

agnesrose added these pithy words on Sep 27 09 at 12:21 am

cooooool. Stealing things from your boyfriend is actually fun-er than asking huh?! Nice one Jess!

mai tinio added these pithy words on Sep 27 09 at 12:57 pm

Omg i love this! I may try it out on my girlfriends brother baahahha

Miriam added these pithy words on Sep 29 09 at 4:12 pm

I really like this one. The end result turned out very successful & it’s not difficult at all. The finished product looks like something you can find in the store.

ey1987 added these pithy words on Nov 07 09 at 12:02 pm

So, I was wondering if there was a video for this DIY. i really, really like the idea but i just can’t seem to get the right picture! D: PLEASE???? i would really appreciate it!