
When I switched out my Summer wardrobe and restocked with my Autumn and Winter clothes last week, I found a long tunic length sweater that I hadn’t worn for 3 or 4 years. The sweater had been knitted by my mum on her knitting machine and is made from a lovely Superwash Merino wool by King Cole, which, if you’re interested, is available here. I used to do a lot of knitting myself years ago (never hand knitting though) and had a machine that my mum still uses now, these days I prefer sewing 🙂
Here is how the sweater looked before the refashion:

It seemed like such a waste to leave the sweater unworn, but I simply don’t wear long tunic length sweaters these days (it was the sort of length you would wear with leggings which I don’t wear anymore). A more sustainable option was to alter it and so after a long hard look at it, I came up with a plan. After sharing my plan on Instagram I got a bit of interest in how I would alter my sweater so I thought what better way than to share the process here. I’m sure there are some of you that have a similar item in your wardrobe and hopefully, you’ll feel inspired to try a bit of refashioning or yourself.

I thought that I’d break the process down into stages for ease so let’s get started:
- Firstly I tried on my sweater to decide on my finished length and it turned out that I needed to shorten it by 63/4”. I wanted it to stop at my high hip level so that it would work with quite a variety of bottoms.
- I wanted to keep the ribbed band, so the plan was to remove it and then reattach it for a shorter length. The first stage of this was to carefully cut it off just a couple of rows of stitches above where it finished and the plain stocking stitch started.
- I unravelled the extra rows at the top of the rib until I got a clean row of empty stitches ready to sew through and as the rib would be sitting across a narrower part of my body (It was originally thigh length) I had to overlock off some width down the sides.
- To prepare the body of my sweater, I measured off the amount that I was shortening the length by and then cut it off and overlocked the lower edge. The spare chunk of fabric would become the collar.
- Now to sew the ribbed band back on to the body. To do this I pinned the rib evenly to the edge just covering the overlocking stitches. Then using a large needle threaded with some yarn, I backstitched by hand through the individual empty stitches. It gives the look of a rib that has been attached with an industrial linking machine and looks really neat (see photo)

- I unpicked the original collar and measured the neck opening.
- I got the spare section of knitting left over from the body and unravelled the rows top and bottom of it until I had clean neat edges of stitches.
- After checking neck measurements I machine stitched two seams at angles for a bit of a mitred effect…one for centre back and one for centre front.
- To attach the collar I used the same method as for the body bands and I backstitched through the empty stitches, first on the outside of the sweater and then stitched the other edge down on the inside.

A gentle steam press and my refashion was complete. I love it now! Such an easy to wear, useful and comfy sweater. I like how it looks with my faded jeans, but it will look equally nice with some of my culottes or skirts too. Dare I say that I’m actually looking forward to colder weather so I can wear it because its such a warm and cosy sweater!

So this was a slightly different post than usual as it wasn’t strictly about sewing, but I hope it inspired you. I’m already eyeing up some other things in my wardrobe to refashion now 🙂
By the way…I’ve given my website a bit of a refresh with a different colour scheme and an awesome new logo which was designed for me by a very clever lady called Fiona of
See you soon!

Love this refashion. I was similarly feeling a bit uninspired by my winter sweaters when unpacking them this weekend. And I love the site revamp, it looks really fresh!
Author
Thanks Beck. Maybe some of your sweaters would be suitable for a refashion? Glad you like the website refresh 👍
That’s a win! It sounds fiddly but the end result looks really neat.
Author
Thanks, Catherine! Yeah, it was a bit fiddly, but I don’t mind it to get the look I want.
What a brilliant idea I’ll have to have a look at my sweaters, its looks great on you lovely colour.
Author
Thanks ever so much, Julia!
Great refashion Diane! Love your ‘new’ sweater!! You look so pretty in this color too. Nice blog design! I like your new header and signature line especially. 🙂
Author
Thanks so much, Lisa. It does feel like having a ‘new’ sweater 🙂 And thanks for the lovely comments on the design refresh xx
Great refashion of the sweater & the blog design! Wis x
Author
Thank you, Wis! Glad you like the blog refresh too 🙂
Your new website design is great, but that refashion is excellent. Such a difference and a jumper that you will wear often is such a good outcome. Love it!
Author
Thanks on both counts Sue! xx
Wow, that seems like it was a lot of work but it turned out great.
Author
Thanks, Celeste. It was a little fiddly, for sure but worth it 🙂
That looks good. I’ve altered some RTW knit tunics but need to do some knitted ones. I wouldn’t have thought to alter the neck to. Fabulous.
Author
Thanks so much, Anne. I hope you’re inspired to try some radical altering 🙂