AT Commander's
Home-Made Sweaters
I got this Bright Idea one day when taking off a pair of socks.
I noticed the hole in the toe and the heel was looking pretty thin. It
came off inside out. As I prepared to throw it into the trash, I noticed
the pattern on the inside of the sock. It looked like 1/6 cable-knit sweater
material! From this observation, home made sweaters were born!
Jane's sweater is made from the original sock that gave me this idea.
Yes, I washed it first. The sweater is made from the inside-out ankle
of the sock. First, I started with it outside-out
and sewed it into a tube. I
cut it off at the top and sewed across the
opening, essentially making a
bag out of the ankle of the sock. Then I cut a neck hole and two arm holes.
Using the other sock, I made a long thin tube and cut it in half: these
two tubes became the sleeves. I turned up the end a turn or two and stitched
it down to make cuffs. Then I attached them at the arm hole location
on the pullover I'd created. For the collar, I just took a roll of material
and stitched it in place. Then I turned the whole shebang inside out
and Viola! I had a cable-knit sweater! No, I don't have a pattern, because
this project just sort of happened. Here, she's dressed in her French
Resistance Fighter garb (which could also be about any spy-related outfit,
too, I suppose). You can find details on the shoulder holster in the Holster
section of my website, if you're interested.
This sweater was my second attempt. This one was made out of a brown
sock. The sweater came out a LOT better than the first one. The material
looked like it might be prone to fraying, so I used some fray-stop stuff
after I got the whole sweater sewn. Unfortunately, the anti-fray stuff
turned a greyish-whitish color and became hard like concrete... which really
detracted from the sweater. In these pics you can see how it made a greyish
caste around the seams where I used it. :-( I guess I won't use THAT stuff
again! This one makes a great French Resistance Fighter sweater, too!
The first sweater was rather unplanned and just sort of happened.
The second one happened with a tad more forethought, but without much planning.
It's cool to have a couple of extra sweaters around, in case I need to
throw together some French Resistance Fighters for a diorama event or for
a quick Joe game. I had a pretty cool knockoff sweater from the '60s,
and an original French Resistance Fighter. Thanks to these easy-to-make
sweaters, we can fill the ranks pretty easily!
LMK what you think of this project, or any
other stuff you stumble across on my website!
- ATC
or click the bar to email me, the ATCommander@adventureteam.com