Knit Top Refashioned…

Well its time to reveal the adult to toddler refashion I’ve been working on. Remember this top I showed you a couple of posts earlier:

And I promised you this $1 thrift shop bargain would be refashioned into a super funky toddler knit…. Well, here it is:

Hmm… the jury is still out on the boot sleeves and the head band… is it too much? I  wanted to have shoes that tied in to the outfit so I made the sleeves with some offcuts and some press snaps so they could go over any of Big Little Miss M’s shoes/boots.  I know little girls can get away with a lot of things but I just am not too sure about these. What do you all think? Here’s a close up of the boot sleeves:








I think they look alright on there own just not sure if it over does the outfit though?
This is more of a winter outfit – and here in Australia it’s summer and the last couple of days have been close to 40c (104f) – so I’ll be packing this one away for later but in many parts of the world it’s winter now so….
If you want to do something similar, read on to learn how I did it.
Materials for the project were:

• Thrift shop knit
• 2 fat quarters of print fabric for bias tape, buttons & boot sleeves
• 2 extra buttons (found in craft stash)
• all the usual suspects ie cutting tools, sewing machine, thread etc.
• (I used my press snap machine for the snaps on the boot sleeves but there are many other ways you could finish them if you don’t want or have snaps)

Firstly, after sizing it up on Big Little Miss M (she wasn’t too pleased about this – and promptly told me that she didn’t want to be a scarecrow!) and working out much I would be cutting away I decided to use masking tape to mark the outline. I used it for two reasons – one being that I was pretty paranoid about cutting the knit and having it unravel into a pile of frizzy curly wool before my eyes and it helped to stabilize the knit whilst it was feeding through the sewing machine so it didn’t stretch all out of shape.


And then because I was extra paranoid about it possibly unravelling I added some more tape…

It really did seem to help when sewing it though as the machine foot and feed dog really didn’t pull the knit out of shape at all. The only thing I’d keep in mind if using masking tape though is that you really shouldn’t leave it on the fabric for too long, so don’t be taping it up then putting it away for another day. The tape will get tackier and near on impossible to remove – I have done this on windows when painting before only to spend hours… no days trying to remove the tacky residue from the tape!


Okay, so I then sewed up the side seams and the tops of the sleeves before cutting (with much nervousness) as shown above.

I then marked from the edge of one of the top sleeved seams to the other, indicating where the collar would be resewn.

I then cut from the point where the top sleeve seam and the collar marking was straight up to the back collar. I then cut two rectangle panels from the collar to reduce its size in line with the total size reduction (these collar offcuts became the front panel of the boot sleeves). Not sure if that is very clear but basically you need to cut excess from the collar to match the new smaller neckline. The original collar had two seams either side of the neck to the rear. I kept this width but shortened the front lapels before restitching the collar back in place.


I then stitched a border of bias tape around the entire outside hems of the knit and also the sleeve openings (I used 1 fat quarter of the print fabric to make the bias tape – this yields just over 5 1/2 yards of bias tape, which I pretty much used up). Now here’s a peek at what it looked like after that… Doh! Can you see my big boo-boo?

Here’s a closer look:

Yep, that darn collar! I was so careful because I didn’t want the knit to stretch and sit all funny that I didn’t think the collar through enough. Sure enough it needed to be stretched around the neck section so that it would sit flat and be much wider like the original top. SO….. out came my trusty quick unpick – darn it I hate mucking up! I ended up unpicking the bias tape from about an inch above the top button all the way around to the same point on the other side, cutting the bias tape and joining up some more before restitching – WHILST STRETCHING the collar. Problem fixed… Phew!


To doll it up a bit more I made some rolled rosettes which I hot glued onto felt and then onto the existing buttons. I also made up a head band with part of the sleeve of the original top and some bias tape and of course the boot sleeves.
Taa Daa! Alright, you know it – victory dance time!


I haven’t included a tutorial for the boot sleeves – mainly because I’m not sure if any of you would like one. Can do it another time if there’s enough interest I guess.
Well, let me know if you think I funked it up enough or if it was over funked… If you’ve any questions let me know, I really do appreciate any feedback and remember to check out some of my other tutes, the fabulous link parties and if you really like my blog feel free to become a follower.
Check back soon, I’ve always got something in the works…

***UPDATE: You can now find the separate tutorial for the boot sleeves here. ENJOY***