Saving a Sweater

When I graduated college, my mom and I went through my closet and did some major purging. We filled bags and bags with clothes destined for Goodwill. After we were done, we decided I needed a new wardrobe full of professional options for interviews and the working world. One of the first things I bought was a white sweater with black and white dotted ruffley rosettes on the front. I loved it and wore it to so many of my interviews that my mom nicknamed it my "interview sweater".

A year and a half later, the ruffley rosettes had started shredding in the wash and getting tiny black and white threads on EVERYTHING. It just got to the point that I couldn't stand pulling the threads off all my clothes after washing them, so I had to decide what to do with the sweater. My first thought was, of course, to throw it away. It was shredding so badly that I couldn't even bring myself to let a poor soul at Goodwill buy it. Being the crafter I am, I wanted to save the buttons off the neckline. They're the pretty knit covered ones that are much more expensive to buy new. But then I realized that if I could save the buttons, maybe I could save the sweater by just removing the ruffles.

My sweater, pre-surgery

The ruffles were attached to strips of a mesh-like backing, so I had to remove the mesh strips instead of removing the ruffles themselves.

Using my seam ripper, I VERY CAREFULLY ripped out the stitches that held the ruffles on, being sure that I was grabbing the thread and not the fabric of the sweater.

Here it's easy to see those mesh strips I was talking about. They came off very easily, but it took a little time and a little patience. You can also see in the picture that the texture of the mesh left an imprint on the sweater. At this point I wasn't sure if that would be an issue, but I knew a round in the wash could do wonders for something like that.

All the mesh strips after I got them off. I considered saving them to do something with.. but they just fell apart at the slightest touch, so they ended up right in the trash.

And my sweater now, clean and imprint-free after washing and drying it, like I'd hoped. If you look closely enough you could still see the faint remains of where the strips used to be sewn on, but I really don't plan on anyone looking that closely at my chest... awkward. I also imagine that another few washes and the knitting will rearrange itself so it'll be as if the strips were never there.

I love this sweater and I'm glad that I can keep wearing it (now with even more outfits since the ruffles are gone!) I hope I've inspired you to take another look at a piece of clothing before you toss it.