WEBVTT 00:00:00.429 --> 00:00:03.620 There is a box, in the corner of my sewing room. 00:00:03.620 --> 00:00:07.419 It is a box whose contents have not seen the light of day for many a month. 00:00:07.419 --> 00:00:10.650 Many crafters will be familiar with this box, in all of its forms: 00:00:10.650 --> 00:00:14.590 There’s the ever-growing amorphous lump that lies underneath your desk… 00:00:14.590 --> 00:00:18.730 The monster underneath your bed… The stuff you vacuum-packed in a fit of organization 00:00:18.730 --> 00:00:21.940 and stuffed into your garage in the hopes that you’d never have to deal with it again… 00:00:21.940 --> 00:00:25.060 This, my friends, is the UNFINISHED SEWING PILE! 00:00:33.640 --> 00:00:38.040 The item that I pulled out of the box today… well, I actually did a bit of digging through 00:00:38.050 --> 00:00:42.800 the box because I wanted to find a particular item that was right at the bottom – is this! 00:00:42.800 --> 00:00:49.040 A plain, beige cardigan. It’s not a particularly interesting – or flattering – item, and 00:00:49.040 --> 00:00:52.649 it’s also missing a button down the bottom. But, I really like the colour and I think 00:00:52.649 --> 00:00:55.040 that it could definitely be turned into something cuter. 00:00:55.040 --> 00:00:59.140 SO the first thing I wanted to do was to change the length. As you may have noticed by now, 00:00:59.140 --> 00:01:03.239 I really like cropped stuff. So first, to crop the cardigan, I sliced off 00:01:03.239 --> 00:01:04.839 the bottom with my rotary cutter. 00:01:04.839 --> 00:01:09.450 Then, on this bit that I sliced off, you’ll notice how the knits are a bit different – it’s 00:01:09.450 --> 00:01:13.700 all ribbed along the bottom here, and I want to keep that ribbing for my new cardigan. 00:01:13.700 --> 00:01:17.610 So, with this sliced off bit unfolded, I cut the ribbing off. 00:01:17.610 --> 00:01:21.500 And now I’m going to attach this to the bottom of my cardigan as a quick way to deal 00:01:21.500 --> 00:01:22.330 with the raw edges. 00:01:22.330 --> 00:01:27.270 So, I place the ribbing onto the cardigan, right sides together, with this original BOTTOM 00:01:27.270 --> 00:01:31.360 of the cardigan pointing UP. And then, I pin it on, making sure to match 00:01:31.360 --> 00:01:39.340 up the side seams on both the pieces. 00:01:39.340 --> 00:01:45.299 And then, once it’s all pinned on, I sew the new bottom of the cardigan on like this. 00:01:45.299 --> 00:01:49.530 To sew the two pieces together, I’m using my overlocker – also called a serger – mainly 00:01:49.530 --> 00:01:53.409 because I’m working with a knitted fabric and I don’t want the knit to unravel! 00:01:53.409 --> 00:01:57.229 Zigzag stitches on a regular machine would work okay, but it would be wise to use a very 00:01:57.229 --> 00:02:01.749 short zig zag stitch over each raw edge first to prevent any unraveling of the knitted material. 00:02:04.770 --> 00:02:08.619 Also – to finish off my serger seams, I usually just use a zig zag stitch over the 00:02:08.619 --> 00:02:12.200 ends and this stops them from unraveling. However there are other methods to finish 00:02:12.200 --> 00:02:17.049 off serger seams, and I want to know – what method do you guys use when overlocking? 00:02:17.049 --> 00:02:21.689 Anyway – now cropped, the cardigan looks like this! Which is much more to my style. 00:02:21.689 --> 00:02:25.669 Now it’s time for some granncy chic embroidery! I recently learned a really quick and easy 00:02:25.669 --> 00:02:30.739 way to embroider roses thanks to this blog, Kmac-DIY – an embroidery goddess whose technique 00:02:30.739 --> 00:02:34.599 I am reproducing here with her permission! And just by the way, her blog is also full 00:02:34.599 --> 00:02:38.679 of other really cool embroidery techniques and DIYs for beginners, and I highly recommend 00:02:38.680 --> 00:02:39.920 checking it out! 00:02:39.930 --> 00:02:44.290 So, to embroider these roses, the first thing that I did was pick out my colours – 3 reds 00:02:44.290 --> 00:02:45.809 and a green for leaves! 00:02:45.809 --> 00:02:50.819 Then, using this washable fabric marker, I drew 3 small circles on each side arranged 00:02:50.819 --> 00:02:55.409 around the neckline. It’s hard to see the lines with the camera – but they’re there! 00:02:55.409 --> 00:02:58.209 The three circles that I drew onto the cardigan look like this! 00:02:58.209 --> 00:03:02.699 Then, I put my embroidery hoop onto one side of the cardigan, with the 3 circles in the 00:03:02.699 --> 00:03:06.680 middle of hoop – or, about as close to the middle as I could get them! 00:03:06.680 --> 00:03:11.940 Now, I’m going to draw 5 lines radiating out from the middle of the circle like this. 00:03:15.680 --> 00:03:20.140 Next, with my embroidery thread and needle, I brought it up through the back like this, 00:03:25.020 --> 00:03:28.520 and back down at the centre of the circle, creating a straight line. 00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:33.720 And then I repeated this for the other 4 lines! 00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:45.620 Next, I brought my needle up HERE, in between two of these radiating lines. 00:03:45.620 --> 00:03:50.089 The next step is really easy. I’m going to simply bring my needle over the top of 00:03:50.089 --> 00:03:54.929 the adjacent stitch, and then under the next stitch, in an anti-clockwise way. 00:04:00.520 --> 00:04:08.520 Then I'm going to repeat this. I’m going to go over this stitch, and under this stitch. 00:04:14.440 --> 00:04:21.440 Then over this stitch, under this stitch... 00:04:23.820 --> 00:04:31.120 Basically, I’m going to keep repeating this, in an anticlockwise manner, with the threads moving outwards from the centre, until I’ve gone 00:04:31.120 --> 00:04:33.940 around enough times to create a rose! 00:04:46.639 --> 00:04:53.330 To finish it off, I simply brought the thread to the back again, and then tied a knot – or, 00:04:53.330 --> 00:04:57.889 a couple of knots, because the knitted material is quite gapey and I don't want the knot to 00:04:57.889 --> 00:05:00.249 go back through to the front, and then I cut off the excess thread. 00:05:05.120 --> 00:05:09.560 Then I repeated this for the other two circles I drew onto the cardigan, in my two different colours! 00:05:10.060 --> 00:05:14.689 Next, to embroider the leaves, I drew on a leaf shape with my fabric marker, and then 00:05:14.689 --> 00:05:20.400 I used a satin stitch to fill the shapes in, from the edge to the halfway mark. Now I explained 00:05:20.400 --> 00:05:25.319 how to do a satin stitch in this video here, but basically I brought my needle up at the 00:05:25.319 --> 00:05:39.020 edge of the shape, then back down at the other side, and then I brought it up again next 00:05:39.020 --> 00:05:45.439 to that straight line stitch I just made, then I continued this, up one side of the 00:05:45.439 --> 00:05:51.340 leaf and down the other, until the entire leaf shape was filled in like this. 00:05:51.340 --> 00:05:57.270 Then, I repeated this whole design onto the other side of the cardigan’s neckline, and 00:05:57.270 --> 00:05:59.780 I’m done! 00:06:10.719 --> 00:06:15.610 This cardigan has been totally transformed – from a simple, unflattering beige cardigan 00:06:15.610 --> 00:06:18.949 to a cute, vintage-inspired, cropped and embroidered number! 00:06:18.949 --> 00:06:24.689 It’s very what I like to call "Granny Chic", a style I am very fond of, and I think that 00:06:24.689 --> 00:06:29.560 it goes really well with high waisted skirts and shorts and dresses, buttoned up like this, 00:06:29.560 --> 00:06:31.969 or left open like this! 00:06:35.480 --> 00:06:39.880 Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this video, that you maybe learned something, and like always 00:06:39.889 --> 00:06:44.889 if you try out this or any of my other tutorials then tag it with #diyannika on instagram so 00:06:44.889 --> 00:06:46.669 I can see your creations! 00:06:46.669 --> 00:06:50.289 And I will see you all for my next video. Thanks for watching! Bye! 00:06:50.289 --> 00:06:57.259 Thank you to all my supporters on Patreon who help to make this video possible. To become 00:06:57.259 --> 00:07:02.000 my Patreon supporter, go to patreon.com/annikavictoria .