Wear Your Heart on Your Sleeve and Keep Your Arms Warm

heart on your sleeve upcycled armwarmers

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I’ve had this sweater sitting in my bedroom for a while.

sweater upcycle
It’s a cute sweater, I guess, but not for me.

heart on your sleeve upcycled armwarmers
My mom gave it to me. Someone else had given it to her, and it didn’t fit her. I wasn’t wild about the way it fit me, either, and knitter though I am the circular yoke cardigan thing is not really my style.

This sweater, which came from Old Navy, it about half wool, so I thought I would try to felt it. It may have gotten a little firmer in the wash, but not much.

After contemplating it for a while, I decided I really just wanted to use the arms, and what better way to reuse the arms of a sweater than as armwarmers? You can do it, too, if you have a sweater you’re not crazy about but that’s still warm.

What You’ll Need

  • an old sweater (the wool content is nice, but not strictly necessary)
  • scissors
  • yarn
  • yarn needle

What You’ll Do

  1. Cut the sleeves off the sweater. I did this as close to the armhole as I could, but you can make yours long or short as you like.

    sweater cutoff sleeves
    If you’re not much for embellishment, this is really all you have to do.
  2. My sweater didn’t unravel a bit when I cut it, but if yours does you might want to put some Fray Check on the edges, turn them over and sew them down (or use a permanent fabric glue like Fabric Fusion).
  3. Embellish the sleeves as you like. Because it’s that time of year, and I happened to have some fuchsia yarn on my desk, I stitched a little heart on each sleeve, but you can do flowers, some other basic shape or nothing at all. Or embellish with old buttons, rick rack, or whatever.

    heart embroidery armwarmers
    Now I can wear my heart(s) on my sleeve(s).
  4. Wear and be warm.

    upcycled sweater sleeves
    I just tucked the top edge under to “finish” my sleeve.

Anybody got any ideas for what to do with a sleeveless circular yoke cardigan?

Thanks for visiting, commenting and sharing!

This post is linked to Make It Wear it at The Train to Crazy, Feature Friday at Blissful and Domestic and Shine on Fridays at One Artsy Mama. Check them out for more great ideas!


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