Quilted Sweatshirt

I love up-cycling things! Finding new uses or a new way of repurposing something for someone else is amazing! I have made a few quilted sweatshirts for my kids and I thought you might enjoy doing the same for your little ones or for yourself! Enjoy:)

You will need :

A sewing machine (however it is not necessary, you can hand sew this project)

Good pair of scissors

A new preferably used sweatshirt, try and get one two sizes too big, color of your choice.

Thread to match the sweatshirt

A jelly roll,no not the jelly filled kind:) You can find them at your local quilt shop. They are a roll of about 30-42 strips of precut 2 1/2" wide by 42" long strips of cotton fabric. I love these! Less cutting and the colors are already coordinated for you.

pins

hand sewing needles if you are not using a machine.

Any buttons you might have laying around would be great also!

Now you are going to start taking apart the sweatshirt.

The easiest way to do that is to cut the bottom band off first.

Then the neck band.

Then the band at the end of the sleeves.

After that cut the seams off starting at the sides.

Then the arm seams. Don't try and open them, just cut them off.

When you are done you should have four pieces. A front , back and two sleeves.

Next you want to find the center of the front. Easily done by folding it in half. Cut all the way up so that you have a front left and a front right.

Now open up that Jelly Roll!

I started with the sleeves. No reason in particular, just decided too.

You can use either the right or wrong side for the inside. I choose to use the wrong side for the inside so that it was soft against the skin but I have also done them the other way so that it looks clean.

Pick the one you want to start with. The strips are long enough so that you can cut them in half and use one piece for each sleeve. Your not sewing yet, just checking for placement. To see how you like it. I made my sleeves match, but you don't have too.

Do the same for both front pieces and the back.

Now you are going to do a sewing technique called "quilt as you go". Again I started with the sleeves but you can go in any order.

First find your center. image 1

Then place down the first strip right in the middle. Pin it in place so it doesn't move on you while sewing. If you are using a sewing machine, choose the center needle position. image 2 and 3

When you go to sew it, make sure the outer part of the strip is on the inside part of your pressure foot. At 1/8 inch. Do this to both sides of the strip. image 4 Don't worry about the material hanging over. You will serge or cut this away later.

Take the second strip and place right on top of the first one, pin in place. image 5and 6 Now when you stitch this one down place the strip to the outside of the pressure foot. at 1/4 and inch.image 7 Only do this to one side of the strip. Now remove pins and iron open. image 8 Now you have two strips sewn on. Seams hidden.  image 9

Place the third strip down. Pin in place. Stitch it in place with a 1/4" seam. Iron open.image 10 and 11

Place the fourth strip down. Pin in place. Stitch it in place with a 1/4 " seam, Iron open. Oh no, It didn't cover it all the way! Now worries easily fixed!

Just turn the sleeve over and cut a small piece from the same strip that hangs over, and sew it to the piece that is missing. image 13 and 14

Great ! Now repeat for the other side of the sleeve. Image 15. One down! When you turn the sleeve over, image 16, you are able to see where you need to cut the excess away. If you have a serger, just overlock the ends,

Now repeat these steps for the other sleeve.

Find your center. Place a pin at the top and bottom, just the same as for the sleeve. Repeat the same "quilt as you go" steps as for the sleeve till you have the back covered. Again cut away or serge the excess off.

Now it's time for the front pieces. These I did a little different. I started at the front edge that you had cut earlier. Start from this point instead of from the middle. Quilt the rest of the pieces on like for the sleeves. Serge or cut the excess material.

Now you are going to make and sew on the binding.

Fold one of the strips in half and iron it. If you spritz it with a little water the seam is a little sharper. images 1-4

Then open. Fold the two edges into the folded seam. iron these as well. image 5-8

Now take the sleeves and pin the binding to the edge.image 9-11

 Sew these.

Pin both of the fronts to the back at the shoulder seams. Right sides together and sew them together.

Now pin the sleeves to the armholes. Start at the center of the sleeve and work your way to the edges. Sew slowly around the sleeve. Looking good.

Pin the sides together. From the sleeves all the way down. Sew them closed.

Now you are going to take 3-5 strips and sew them together at the ends. Fold and sew the same way you made the binding for the sleeves. images 1 and 2

Pin to the edges of the sweatshirt starting at the back.  When you get to a corner fold it over your work to form a triangle then fold it back. so you have a kind of flap. images 3 and 4 For this part I don't like the seam to show so I open up the binding and use the first fold seam as a guide. Sew it to the sweatshirt.

When you get to a corner, stop about 1/4" to the end and fold the flap back over images 8 and 9.

Then by hand I sew the binding to the inside using a simple whip stitch so it can't be seen on the outside. images 10-13

Make one more strip of the binding for the buttons.

I cut mine 5" and I stitch the open side closed. images 5 and 6

Next I folded them so they have a triangle at the end and stitched that so it wouldn't come undone. images 7, 8 and 9.

Last I evenly placed them on the right front of the sweatshirt. I stitched them down upside down . image 10

Then I folded them over the seam and stitched that down. This way you can't see the raw edge. image 11

Next sew on the buttons to the opposite side corresponding to the button loops.

Try it on! Looks good:) Happy customer!