Upcycling Stretch Rib Knit Cuffs for Doll Clothes

Several doll clothes were made for Christmas gifts this past season and still catching up. Had some fleece scraps an art teacher friend gave me and a pair of warm fuzzy white sweat pants that once belonged to my Mother.

The sweat pants were of the era when the leg bottoms had stretch rib knit knit cuffs.

I put those cuffs to use on this hat and top.
Hope this tutorial inspires you to recycle.

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1. Cut off the rib knit cuffs leaving stitch line intact.

2. Cut apart at the seam.

3. Now cut off the former stitching line as close to stitch line as possible.  Cleaner cut to do it now than from the sleeve in step 1. Using scissors helps me to control a close cut.

4. Then I clean trim with the rotary cutter and ruler, because I can now lay it flat.

5. Cut off and even the ends with right angle.

6. Open flat. Do not iron as you will use the center crease as guide line.

7. An 18 inch doll does not need the complete width. Cut along center line.

8. Fold one piece in half and serge to neckline and sleeve of shirt. Don't use a pattern, just stretch slightly as you are sewing on to neckline and cuffs so the bands will be smaller than the openings. Cut off excess, then stitch side seams.

Note: Use any pattern you desire.  I used the one found at Strictly Homemade and notice it doesn't even use neck and sleeve bands.

No hemming sleeves or further finishing neck needed. 

The fabric for the top came from Mother's soft, white fuzzy pants. Stretch fabric clothing is easier for little hands to put on dolls, I think.

9. Since there were 4 pieces of stretch knit made, there's plenty leftover for the hat.  Following the Strictly Homemade hat pattern, the band pattern wasn't used, but rather just stretched the knit a bit as I sewed.  Be careful not to stretch so much that it won't fit around the dolls head.

 10. Had enough fleece left to simple cut a 24 inch by 1/2 inch strip for a scarf.

Note in the picture above, the shirt was turned around and used more like a jacket.

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Upcycled Shirt- Christmas Card Pillow

I brought home several of my Mother's clothing with the intent to make memory quilts.  However, there were some Christmas shirts I decided to turn into seasonal pillow covers. This one I made for my sister. Turns out she actually bought the shirt for Mother, therefore had more special meaning to her.

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Forgot to get a picture of the shirt before I started the project.

It had a small stamped picture on the front.

Some light stains on the bottom of the shirt, so turned up bottom.

I left the hem intact.

Added the same green Christmas tree fabric to bottom and top to create size of pillow form.

 Pillow cover is made in "Envelope" fashion

Tip: I use my washing machine"s "Sanitize" cycle before using second hand pillows as my pillow forms.

Do the triangle trees look familiar?

They are just like the ones on these Christmas Cards.

Serendipity happened with this project.

I turned up the bottom to cover stains.

After completed, I realized the pillow had pockets!

Great place to put those Christmas cards!

I was tempted to keep this pillow, but it was part of my Christmas gift to my sister.

I hope she enJOYs it.

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Sharing at several Linky Parties.

Thanks to the FREE programs:

possibly used for this post

GIMP for cropping & other digital effects

 Photoscape for downsizing & watermarking photo

PicMonkey creating collages used on this page