This Fall, the incredibly creative Betz White has been on a blog tour with her two new video series on Craftsy: Project Upcycle and Fab Felt Holiday. Betz is an author, fabric designer, pattern designer, green crafter extraordinaire as well as a dear friend. I'm excited to be part of her interweb travels for Project Upcycle and to be sharing such a stylish re-fashion!
The Cashmere Shrug | Betz White's Project Upcycle via craftsy.com
I have been in awe of Betz's seemingly unending treasure trove of crafting and sewing ideas for quite some time. In particular, her use of thrifted cashmere sweaters in so many projects had me compelled to stash a few of my own on my last closet cleanout... for some future 'just in case' project. When she invited me to try out one of her projects, I couldn't write back fast enough to say that I had "a stack'o sweaters just waaaaaiting for such a refashion!"
Before & After
The Video
I watched the video tutorial for the cashmere shrug on craftsy.com once all the way through, jotting a few notes as it went along. Betz offers tips & suggestions that I was glad to hear before I started cutting! I restarted the video a 2nd time, with all my supplies in-hand. I let it play as I began my sweater reconstruction, pausing if I needed to watch a step again or to listen more carefully to Betz's directions.
The video is divided into logical sections called Chapters, which also facilitates stopping & starting so you can go at your own pace. You can take notes for yourself right on-screen so they will always there for you to reference; you can also post questions, comments or pics about your project for Betz or other participants. How cool is that?!
Betz is easy to understand and follow, a sure sign of someone who is well-versed in her craft! Plus, Craftsy does a great job of getting camera angles that are super helpful for seeing exactly what she was doing. Craftsy produces high-quality video tutorials, and it was a welcome break from some of the youtube tutes I've watched! So nice!
The Cashmere Shrug
Betz's refashion of a sweater into a shrug is a cleverly uncomplicated design - exactly what I like in a clothing reconstruction project! It looks spectacular, and the directions are very straightforward. The project offers a variety of fun stitching techniques, too, like the lettuce-edge and the hand-sewn rosette. The sweater I used was already sorta short and semi-fitted, so I will definitely make a couple more of these to try out sweaters with a different fit to see what kind of result I get. I'd also like to try stitching a lettuce edge all the way around the entire piece for the heck of it! You might find other jumping off points in the design, if you'd like to add a unique variation ~ you'll have to see for yourself!
Project Upcycle
Project Upcycle includes 5 different projects made primarily with thrifted clothing, all of which would make great gifts if you're looking for original, handmade ideas. Learning the techniques and learning a bit more about how to shop for & re-imagine thrifted or old clothing is a pretty awesome bonus! I'm swirling with ideas!
$10 off
You're invited to special preview of Betz's course. Click here and, if you register, you'll receive $10 off the course price! The course never expires, and you can access it anytime! Also, be sure to check out Betz's Fab Felt Holiday preview, too!
Have fun!! Thanks for the opportunity to try out this project, Betz!
To see the other fun stops on the Project Upcycle blog tour:
:: Week of Oct 17th: The Long Thread
:: Week of Oct 24: Inspire Co.
:: Week of Nov 28 ME!
:: Week of Dec 5th: Lil Fish Studios
:: Week of Dec 12th: While She Naps
For all the stops on the Fab Felt Holiday blog tour, which wrapped up last week, visit this post to find all the link love.
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How adorable is this rosette? Love this embellishment!
