Flirty Sweater

I picked up a nice little black turtleneck for a cool ONE buckaroo recently.  Not bad right?  There's a bit of mohair in it so it's nice and soft.  But I already have a black turtleneck (or two).  But how do I pass up such a bargain?!!?!  Oh, what a dilemma~

Aha!  Let's cut it up!

Here's what you need to make your own flirty sweater:
-sweater
-basic sewing kit
-chalk for marking lines
-lace or ribbon

This is what my turtleneck started out as:

Booooorrrrring~

Steps:
1) Cut off the neck!  Don't be scared, just measure it out, draw a line and then go for it!

I measured an inch all the way around first and then widened it out on the sides to make more of a boatneck (round necks don't suit me, but you can make it whatever shape you like to wear.)

2) As soon as possible run over to your serger or sewing machine and finish that edge off.  By that I mean zigzag it or even better take your serger to it.  Whatever you do, don't pull or stretch it or it'll unravel.

Here's what my turtleneck looked like once it was cut.

I was tempted to stop here,
but what kind of crafter would I be
if I didn't embellish?!?!

Be careful not to cut too drastically in the back.  I find that tops lie much nicer when you don't take too much out.  The extra fabric gives it some stability to stay up~

3) Next, choose a shoulder and make a couple of diagonal cuts.  This is where your tie will go.

Cut that little triangle right off.

4) Again, make sure to serge the cut edges.

5) Now turn your serged edges to the inside and press.  Pin it down and sew your edges evenly.

Now my turtleneck looked like this:

6) I love the look of the inspiration sweater (see below) but I felt like ribbon just didn't suit me.  I tried some lace I had but just couldn't find the right one.  I didn't want to go out and buy anything because firstly, I have waaay too much stuff in my stash, and secondly, it's too freaking cold outside to go out if I don't absolutely have to.

Then I remembered that I have a whole bag of lace collars!  Aha!  So flirty, so romantic.  They were perfect!

But I didn't want to use them the way you're supposed to use lace collars.  Instead I pinned the longest end to the part of the shoulder that I cut out, sewed it down, and voila!

If I hadn't been watching a fairly stupid episode of Housewives of Beverly Hills (ugh, why do I even admit to such embarrassing behaviour) this probably would've taken about 20 minutes to complete.  So easy, and so pretty!

Now get out there and flirt!

Here's the top I found on Pinterest that inspired this project:

                         Source: k.ifeng.com via Etcetorize on Pinterest

Hmmmm, I just realized how low the cut is on the sleeve, I might have to make some adjustments, that's far more flirty!

Here's another pic for inspiration:

                                                                             Source: lolobu.com via Etcetorize on Pinterest

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