Last night, while much of the nation sat watching election results roll in, I sat in the quiet of my guest/project room and used my hands to do something cool. Specifically, I turned 2 of John's old sweaters into something new. Both were intended to be new sweaters for me, but one was a big fail.
First, I tried them each on to see how big they were on me and what their original shape would allow me to do. As you can see, this one was a bit boxy to begin with.
Then, I laid them out and, using pins, a yardstick, and a fabric marker, made a plan for where my new seams would be. With the first one, I was shooting for a dolman-type sweater that would still allow a lot of room through the body but be more fitted at the wrists and waist.
The blue line is faint, but what I did was see how big a hole I needed for the wrist and made a mark there. Then, using the yardstick, I drew a straight line from the existing armpit to that dot.
I did the same at the waistline, measured how much I wanted to take off the waist and made a dot there. Then, I drew a line from that dot to the existing armpit, joining the line I'd just made from the arm.
Then, I sewed on the lines, cut off the excess fabric, turned it rightside out, and checked out my new sweater!
As you can hopefully see despite these horrible photos, it's still a full, flowy sweater but it nips in at the wrists and waist.
I also tried to refashion this one. It was looking great, with more fitted sleeves, until I cut out a giant neckline that made it impossible for me to even keep on my shoulders. Oh, well. Other ideas for how I could salvage this sweater and perhaps turn it into something else?
So, I took something that John had viewed as less than desirable and approached it with hope, with positivity. It's apparent to me after reading my FaceBook feed this morning that many of you could use a little positivity today. So, join me: drown out the ignorance and negativity around you by turning up some positive music, dancing around the living room with your Little Boy, taking a walk (it's a gorgeous day here), posting/reading about /doing something positive, and praising God for his sovereignty.
Sounds pretty good to me. ;) I'd better get to it.