(I’ve decided to start an occasional series on my blog called “Before and After”.  It will feature before and after photos of items that I have re-constructed (through sewing, embellishment, etc) to work better in my wardrobe.  I’ll also feature before and after shots of items that I’ve had professionally altered, and discuss what I had the tailor do.  I’m discovering that tailoring your clothes to work for you is extremely important, and that it is essential and do-able for everyone, including those who are on a tight budget.)

Today’s before and after features a grey cashmere-blend Ralph Lauren sweater that I bought at a garage sale for a mere $5.  Normally, I prefer to knit my own sweaters, but when a deal on cashmere presents itself, I tend to oblige.  Especially when the temps get as insanely cold as they did in Florida this year, and I find myself ill-prepared handknit wise.

Before: Grey Turtleneck

After buying this sweater, I wore it once, while hanging out at an outdoor bar in Tampa on a very cold night.  After that, it languished unworn in my closet.  I pinpointed several reasons why: 1) turtle-necks are not flattering on me, and they aren’t really necessary in Florida, where a scarf wrapped several times around your neck will do just fine, 2) the turtle-neck was too warm.  It was fine for being outdoors, but in over-heated offices, it was just too much. 3) While the rest of the sweater didn’t bother me, the neck itched, which meant that I had to layer a cotton-turtleneck tee underneath it, which increased problem number 2.

I noticed that all of my issues with this sweater revolved around the turtleneck.  Since I spent so little money on this sweater to begin with, and since wool is relatively easy to alter, I decided to make it into a v-neck and see what happened.

Unfortunately, I’m horrible at remembering to take pictures while I d.i.y., so I’ll just explain the process.  First, I put the sweater on.  Then, in front of a mirror, I marked with pins where I wanted the new neckline to be (this would work better on a dressform, but I don’t have one yet).

After that, I took the sweater off, and cut out the new neckline, leaving about 1 inch extra.  I then folded that extra inch under and pinned it down.  After that, I machine-stitched three lines of stitching to make sure it was down there fine.

After: Grey V-neck sweater

Is this the most professional job I could have done?  No.  I could have serged the knit fabric, and faced it with a soft cotton.  But I didn’t really feel that was necessary, and I’m pleased with the result I got.  I’ll be wearing this sweater a lot more often now.

(And just a note, because of the length, I will be wearing this sweater with skirts and dresses.  I took the pictures with jeans just because that was what I already had on).