Patchwork Sweater Blanket
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Sweater blanket in progress.
Posted by ReadyMade
Made by Adrian Van Allen/photo by Sherif Shalaby
Inspired by the old Knitting Factory in New York City (black turtlenecks not advisable)
Skill Level
Moderate
Active Time
More than a weekend
Cost
$
- 21 large crewneck sweaters in the same or complimentary solid colors (grays and browns, fuzzy white, etc.)
- 5 spools of thread in your favorite color
- 27' satin ribbon (to bind the edge of the blanket) in your favorite color
- For optional liner:
- 5 yards of satin liner in a complimentary color (you shouldn’t pay more than $4 per yard for this stuff, and it should be 54" wide)
Materials
- Black Sharpie marker
- 1 square of cardboard, 12" x 12"
- Sharp pair of scissors
- Sewing machine, or a great deal of patience with a needle and thread
Tools
Wash the sweaters in hot water and tumble dry on high heat. (They will emerge dense and dog-size.)
Iron the shrunken sweaters until they’re flat, then lay the 12” x 12” square of cardboard on the chest of sweater. Using the sharpie, trace along the edges of the cardboard, leaving a visible outline on the sweater.
Cut through both layers of the sweater with a pair of sharp scissors so that you have two squares of sweater, each 12" x 12". Hang the gutted sweater remains on your wall—a trophy for your crafting skills.
Clear a space on your bed, floor, or other large, clean workspace. Lay out the 42 sweater squares into seven rows of six squares each. Arrange them in a pleasing pattern.
Collect your rows into piles and set them down next to your sewing machine. Sew together the six squares for each row. Use a wide zigzag stitch to make sure the sweater ends don’t unravel. If they insist on unraveling, repeat the stitching on the extreme edge of the sweater seam to bind the edge.
Sew together the seven rows, lining up the squares as much as possible. Remove the tape labels from each square.
Cut the satin ribbon into four pieces: two pieces measuring 6'3" each, and two pieces measuring 7'3" each. Fold each of them in half and iron lightly to crease the fold.
Fit the folded satin pieces along the edges of the blanket, sewing them as you go, but stopping 1" short of the corners.
At each corner, snip one of the pieces of ribbon where the blanket ends. Sew this piece in place. Take the other tail of ribbon and cut it where the blanket ends. Fold it under along the diagonal and sew along the diagonal seam.
You now have a cozy, roughly 6' x 7' blanket under which you can curl up and think of all the people in the world wearing only one sweater while you wear 21.
OPTIONAL SATIN LINER: From six yards of 54"-wide satin (enough for a 72" x 84" queen-size blanky) cut four 36" x 42" squares. Using a zigzag stitch to ensure a long, unfrayed lifespan, sew the squares together into a four-square grid matching the dimensions of the blanky. Place the satin grid atop the sweater grid, wrong sides out, and sew the grids together along three of the four edges. (Leave the fourth edge open.) Pull the blanky inside-out through the open edge, then handsew it closed. Inne
