Extend an Outgrown Sweat Shirt by Adding a Stripe of Cloth

Here is a cheap and innovative way to extend the life of a kid's outgrown sweat shirt another year. This craft works best with plain sweat shirts without zippers, due to the fact you are adding a stripe of a contrasting color to the shirt. Note that a sweater with a design will not work for this craft, other than being a source of scrap material.

For this sweatshirt sewing craft you will need:

Kid's outgrown sweat shirt

Scrap sweat cloth of complimenting color

Scissors

T-shirt

Sewing machine.

Craft preparations:

Gather all the outgrown kids sweat shirts for this craft. Because the shirt will have a stripe of contrasting cloth added to it, select sweat shirts with this fact in mind. Obtain sweat cloth material in the contrasting color. Sources can include old sweaters not suitable for this craft, legs cut from sweat pants shorts, cut-off sweater sleeves, or old clothes. One old sweater can be used for several sweat shirts. In the absence of sweat cloth material, any cloth could be used, but expect varying results.

Craft step 1: Cutting the sweat shirt:

Turn the sweat shirt inside out, lay the sweat shirt flat and fold in half. Line up the shoulders and cuffs of the sleeves. Line up the shoulder and collar of the T-shirt with the sweatshirt so you can use the taper of the end of the T-shirt sleeve to guide the sleeve cut. A short sleeve is longer on top and shorter on the underside, your cut should taper inwards. A "straight" cut across the sleeve always comes out slanted and is undesirable. Cut through both sleeves with sharp scissors where the stripe is to be added. Unfold the shirt, and cut across the middle in a straight line after lining up the front of the sweatshirt with the back.

Craft step 2: Obtaining the cloth for the stripe:

Cut two strips of cloth from the scrap material about three to four inches wide and a quarter inch longer than the length of the cut sweat shirt midsection. Then cut two strips of three to four-inch wide material long enough to construct two tubes to extend the sleeve. Remember to leave an extra quarter of an inch to allow for sewing the open ends of the strip together.

Craft step #3: Sew the sweatshirt:

Sew the strips of sweat shirt material to the sweat shirt midsection, lining up the seams on the cloth strips with the side of the sweat shirt. Sew the strips together, and sew the bottom of the outgrown sweat shirt to the added material. With the sleeves, line the ends of the cloth tube so the seam connects with the seam of the sweatshirt sleeve. Then sew the cutoff sleeve ends on and your sweatshirt is reconstructed. This sweat shirt reconstruction is green in two ways; not does it only conserve resources, it also saves money.