Osborn Fiber Studio

More thrift store fun today. Last year, they were donated a whole box of these giant black sweaters. The sweaters were brand new, clearly meant to be embroidered with promotional information or something, but not of a style that anyone in town would have much use for.

I took three, an idea germinating in my mind, I took three. This week, with my sewing machine on the table, I made them into something else.

My inspiration was Stephen West’s swants. Each garment started with me sticking my kids legs into a sweater’s arms, and seeing how far up they went. For Stringbean, I cut the sweater across just under the arms, cutting the back in half. When I pieced it together, the collar ended up fitting pretty well around her waist, so I just tapered off the rest of the fabric.

She kept pulling them up, so I added some suspenders, made from tubes of the excess fabric. And, after owning my sewing machine for over a decade, I finally made buttonholes with it.

There was still so much fabric left that I used the bottom half of the sweater to make… a sweater. (Thank goodness the zipper pull was still on that half.) I used fabric from the bottom half of another sweater to make sleeves, handily using the bottom ribbing for cuffs.

Cutting the second sweater in half the same way, with a little extra surgery, made a garment that came all the way up to Minimighty’s armpits! So I just added very short straps and called them swoveralls.

For Dooner, if I cut the sleeves right off and opened them up a little, the sleeves alone were long enough to make an entire pants area. So I took the top half of the sweater body, still intact, and carved a top out of it to fit the bottom. Add some cuffs made out of the waistband of another sweater, sew the top to the bottom, and you have a swumpsuit!

I’m telling them they look like ninjas.

This time of year, my kiddos are always traipsing around the house in blankets, refusing to wear socks or sweaters, claiming they aren’t cold. This is an effort to further insulate them. But as they say, you can lead a horse to water…

Regardless, I’ve given up on making them keep their socks on.