Take One Jumper Challenge!

As you know, I love to thrift and I love to craft, so turning something old into something new has all the excitement of pure alchemy for me.  I don't profess to be good at making things, in fact my new mantra is "it's not perfect, it's handmade".  Anyway, it adds to the charm I think!

Quite a lot of my Magpie Monday posts have shown items that I've bought with the intention of upcycling, so now it's time to show you some of the outcomes - if only to prove that they don't sit languishing in my cupboards forever (well, not all of them).

Before Christmas I bought a wool jumper with the specific intention of making Christmas stockings from it as inspired by Maggy at Red Ted Art.

Well, ever the tightwad, I thought I'd try to get two stockings from the body of the jumper (sorry, it's the only picture I've got of them!) .

Fitting two was remarkably easily, and thrilled with my frugal cutting, I though I'd see how far that jumper would stretch (metaphorically speaking - after felting it on a hot wash, that jumper wasn't stretching anywhere!).

Next up, I made a cover for a mini hot water bottle which was given as a Christmas gift.  I love the thought that when the recipient is feeling cold or poorly, this present will be there to give them a hug from me.

With the cuffs and lower arms I made a cute pair of leg warmers for Ruby.

They are remarkably easy to make.  If you hot wash your jumper first to felt it, then cutting is simple and the wool won't fray or unravel.  You can simply cut off the desired length of arm to suit the height of your child and turn and hem the unfinished ends.  I decided to use some of the ribbed V-neck part of the jumper to trim the other end.

I love these, in fact if you spot a mad woman in a charity shop trying to put her feet through the arms of a jumper, that will be me in the hope of finding a jumper I can make a pair of leg warmers for myself from.

Since my new coat thoughtfully has a special pocket for handwarmers, I thought I'd have a go at making a pair.  I filled them with rice and lavender.  It seemed like a good idea, but alas I hadn't thought it through properly.  That pretty glittery thread running through the wool is obviously metallic as it sent my microwave into exploding spasms.  Ruby has now commandeered these as mini scented pillows for her teddies instead!

Finally, based on the padded hearts I made with School of Craft, I managed to make six tree decorations of varying sizes.

I still have a bit of the jumper left! No bad for a couple-of-quid-slightly-mis-shapen charity shop jumper.

So, here's my challenge to you...

I'd like you to take one jumper - it could be old; moth-eaten, accidentally shrunk, no longer fits or a second-hand buy - and turn it into something else.  Blog about it and link back to this post, and join up below.  You can recycle an old post if you've already done a project, or write something new.  If you're stuck for inspiration, give me a follow on Pinterest and check out my Upcycled Stuff board.

There's a lovely juicy carrot to encourage you to get stuck in to this challenge, in the form of some gorgeous Jennie Maizels Clothes Plasters.  I will select one entry from those linked up here by Monday 30th January at 5pm, to win these three sets of clothes plasters.  Perfect for embellishing or extending the life of your/your kid's clothes.

I've selected the following designs which I think are fairly unisex.  They are simple to use - just iron on for instant pzazz as featured in the Telegraph, Grazia and Easy Living.

One lucky person will win all 5 of these gorgeous plasters.

So come on, take one jumper...and show me what you can do!