Refashion a sweater for kids Clothes

Oh my goodness, can I just say first I love these two goofballs… but boy do they drive me batty when I’m trying to take photos.  My husband went through his sweaters at the beginning of the season and gave me two sweaters… a cook argyle one and a grey one. Today I’m going to share how I refashion a sweater for kids clothes. Also fabulous about this refashion project is that I used 3 free patterns for my outfits… used sweaters + free patterns = SCORE! I’m going to walk through the steps and then I’ve got a full video tutorial showing you how to put it all together…

I’m all about refashioning and upcycling and when I was able to refashion a sweater for kids clothes it made me very happy. Check out these amazing sweater pants!! So comfy!! Rose loves them and has worn them several times since I made them last week.  The only bad thing about these pants is I can’t make them in my size {ha!} you can only make them as long as a sleeve, which means babies and toddlers only.

I love how sharp this sweater looks! I was able to leave the original sleeve cuffs, but added a waistband and neckband. I usually like to leave the original waist, but will show you below why I didn’t in this particular sweater refashion..

So whether making a stylish sweater or comfy pants using an old/thrifted adult sweater can have great results… Let’s talk about the details…

What you need>>>> Sweaters… sweaters you can refashion… sweaters you can cut up…  Have a sweater with a hole? Use the rest of it to make something fabulous!! I had 2 XL sweaters from my husband and I made 3 garments… 1 pair of pants, 1 dress tunic and 1 child’s sweater… AND I used free patterns for all of them, so this is a great budget project.

Here is the tunic that was made from the main body of the grey sweater… I added cuffs to the arms and neck to bind off the raw sweater. The hem is original to the sweater.

For this tunic I used the color-blocked tunic pattern {free}! You can grab that pattern here… I just used the front/back piece and laid it on top of the sweater. Cut, then flip the pattern and cut the other side. I cut both layers of the sweater at the same time. The video will show you how to cut and sew the project.

I used a colorful cotton knit as the neck and arm bindings. You can check out the video below for more details on that. The bottom of this tunic is the original sweater edge.

OK, second are the pants.. You are limited by the length and width of the sweater arm for the pants size. This were a 2t from my MESH PANTS free pattern and they took the whole arm… bigger sweater arms, bigger pants… I need to troll the thrift stores! Use the original cuff for the sweater pants. Grab some Cotton Lycra and elastic for the waist. The details for putting it all together is in the video.

For the child’s sweater I usually like to retain the original waistband and cuffs, but with this sweater I REALLY wanted the argyle pattern to stay.. As you you can see in the photo I couldn’t really have both… SO I chose the pattern, not the band. I used the FREE BOYS T-SHIRT pattern for the sweater.

Here is how I laid out the shirt front/back piece. Cut one side, then flip the pattern and cut the other side.

Remember to go back and cut the neckline of the front piece slightly lower.

For the sweater sleeve, use the original cuff for the sleeve end and cut the rest of the sleeve from the sleeve of the sweater. Then cut a neckband and bottom cuff and put it together like a shirt. See the video for more help with all this…

All the details for the three sweater refashions can be found in this video. They appear in this order if you want to fast-forward… pants, tunic, sweater. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Other refashion/upcyle projects I’ve worked on…

Sweater upcyles

Boys Pj Upcycle

Pants to Skirt Refashion

Dress to Skirt Refashion