Jumper to Cardi

Where on earth did that sunshine go? Not so long ago we had the most glorious weather and now it's back to rain. Uri the friendly security guard from the Ukraine always says that I shouldn't complain, it's beautiful and that it's 'Mary Poppins Country'! He's right, I shouldn't complain, he's had to cancel his holiday home for fear of not being able to come back. Despite all this, he must be the most upbeat Security Guard I have ever met. He's always so happy regardless of what's going on in his life, which is amazing because I (like probably a lot of people) catch his happiness every time I speak to him. Some people are just so wonderful aren't they?!

Again, I haven't really been sewing much. I have, however, got something to share today! A few weeks back Andrea  posted about a cardi that she had made by re-fashioning a jumper. I was so thrilled with her finished product and her simple explanation that I just had to have a go. I rarely wear jumpers as they just feel so restrictive and when you take them off they always mess your hair up, so having more cardi's in my wardrobe would be a brilliant idea for me.

So, I set about looking at jumpers that I had that I could modify. Unfortunately most of my jumpers were a bit past saving. So, whilst I was getting my car serviced I had a little walk into town to see what I could get in the charity shops. This was a big fat nothing, there were no jumpers worth saving, mostly all worn out or not very nice material.

Then, I found this little beauty in the Tesco's sale:

So I cut it right down the middle and attached some pre-made bias binding that I'd bought from Boyes.

I had a bit of trouble putting in the button holes and I have to admit I need a little more practice on these as a couple of them aren't as straight as I would have liked. The main issue was that my machine did not like the knitted material and failed to want to move to create the buttonhole. As a result I ended up with a nasty knot of thread and a bit of a jam! After two failed attempts I tried a little tissue paper over where I wanted the buttonhole and it worked a treat:

Once I'd gotten the buttonholes all stitched I then simply tore away the tissue. It came away with no problems at all and any remaining tissue will be melted away in the wash anyway.

Here's the finished cardi:

What do you think to the little heart shaped buttons? I was struggling to find matching buttons in my stash, so a quick look on eBay and I just couldn't resist them. They're just so cute!

I absolutely love my new cardi, I wore it to work yesterday and it's so comfy. I could take it off and put it on anytime I liked without disturbing the hair!