patchwork sweater blanket

I love upcycling all kinds of things but one of my favorites are old or thrifted sweaters. You can transform an old sweater in all kinds of things (pillows, poufs, arm warmers, even a new sweater) but one of my favorite things to make is a blanket. With fall coming, you can never have enough cozy blankies (thats what we call them around here)!

When I am out thrifting I am always on the lookout for cheap sweaters with colors or pattern that catch my eye. I like to keep a little stash in the studio for fall and winter projects. 

I grab a few sweaters (I used 4 for this blanket and have enough leftover for another project). I like to pick funky and unexpected color and pattern combos.

Next, I cut them up into different sized squares and rectangles.

Then I piece them together, pin everything and get busy sewing!

Sewing sweaters can be a little tricky and messy because once you cut up a sweater it will want to unravel.

I use a really tight zig zag stitch when sewing the pieces together. This keeps everything together and helps to avoid any unraveling.

I stitch everything on the outside because I prefer to have my stitching and seams show (that's just my style not a requirement). The cool things that happens when you are sewing sweaters with a zig zag stitch is that the seams get curly which adds more texture to the surface.

I sew everything together and call it good! While you could back the blanket I prefer not to because I like the back side of all the sweaters showing.