2013/06/24

Tutorial: How to Cutify a Plain Cardigan



Thank you all for wishing me luck for exams - I successfully graduated and I'm leaving for UTRIP on Friday - I can't wait to join the first batch of students in Tokyo. As for my Msc., I'll probably talk about it in detail in August - for now it seems that I'll most likely become part of an international Erasmus Mundus Msc. in "Food Innovation and Product Design". If anything goes wrong, I got a recommendation for my current uni's "Department of experimental biology of plants". :)

A long time ago, I bought a black cardigan in Funchal, because I thought I needed one and it wasn't that expensive at Zara. However, this classic black cardigan proved to be one of the most useless and boring pieces, not to mention the black kinda faded after 5 years. So I thought I'd give it new life and increase its cute factor with a little help of an old lace I got on sale and some pearls my mum bought for me at a crafts fair.

This is the "before" state: Shapeless, lifeless, boring.


Lace and pearls (you'll need pearls in 3 or more different sizes, which is hard to get I must say):


First, sew the lace around the collar (temporarily remove buttons, if neccessary) in hand.


Then, sew the first row of beads (the biggest ones) close to the scallops of the lace, I decided to go in a zig zag pattern. Always go through the bead several times and secure the thread too.


Gradually add 2 or more rows.



Proceed to do the same with the bottom part of sleeves.



Voila!
It's 1000% cuter now, right? However, if you use pearls, you need to be VERY CAREFUL when washing the cardigan - only wash it in hand and try to keep the beads away from water.






Yours truly
Vita

8 comments:

  1. Congratulations, dear Vita.
    Great DIY.
    Don´t forget my info on melatonin before you go, pleaseeeeeeeeeeee
    XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

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  2. Awesome Vita! Great way of pulling back an old classic (: have a great trip and lots of fun!;)

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  3. I love this DIY!
    I think I had a cardigan like this when I was younger :)

    You are so creative!

    Congrats for graduating, and have a nice trip Vita :)

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  4. i have no idea why but this reminds me of project runway haha. with the mannequin figure thing and all :p

    alysia x

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  5. That's such a cool DIY idea! And the cardigan definitely looks very cute now, right in your style alley! :)

    callmemaddie.blogspot.com

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  6. Congrats to you! I'm impressed with how you pulled this off---the distance between the pearls is perfect. Had you not said anything, I would've assumed that you bought it with the neck and cuff detail.

    Brittney

    anotherbeautifulthing.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete