The "Virgin Killer" Sweater | Make Thrift Buy #50

(Sigh) Yep. I'm actually doing this.

[Make Thrift Buy Intro Music]

Hey! Welcome to Make Thrift Buy, the show
where you send in suggestions of clothes that you've

seen on the Internet and then I try my best
to recreate them.

So a LOT of you have sent me messages in the
past few weeks asking me to recreate the "Virgin

Killing Sweater". Appppparently this sweater
recently blew up on Twitter in Japan, and

later it was also picked up by Western major
media outlets in their monthly "isn't Japan

so craaaazy" stories, although I am pretty
sure it's actually manufactured and sold in

a Chinese store called Seventy Three.

It's also apparently received the name "virgin
killer" from a Japanese person on Twitter

because it's so erotic....that it kills...virgins?
Look everything about this is a little bit

iffy; I'm just here to sew.

Oh yeah. Important thing to note about this
sweater: It's supposed to be so low cut at

the back that it shows off "butt cleavage".
Now I didn't know butt cleavage was a thing

until today. And in attempting to keep this
video PG I'm not going to show you the photos

of people wearing it where you can see their
butt cleavage, nor will I be showing my own

butt cleavage if I do make it successfully,
but if you want to see this worn on actual

human beings (or a bunch of anime girls or
my little pony characters, which, I pre-warn

you, you will not be able to unsee) there's
a Not Safe For Work page on knowyourmeme.com

all about this sweater with about 300 pictures.

Anyway, let's try and recreate this.

Well, I started out by finding a suitable
sweater at the thrift store. This one was

$15 and it's a men’s size large. Most importantly,
it has a turtle neck, and it's also quite

long on me – it ends about where my shorts
end so it’s the perfect length for this

DIY.

Anyway, off with the arms! We sure won’t
be needing those!

Oh yeah, guys, I should just stop here, I’ve
created such a sexy look already.

Anyway next I wanted to make it fit more snugly,
so it’s time to take in the sides.

I pinched the material at the sides until
it was more snug on my body, estimating how

much I’d need to take it in by.

Then I turned the sweater inside out, and
I laid it out flat, and I drew straight lines

down both sides using some chalk. And I also
stuck some pins through both layers of fabric

to help keep them together through the next
step, because knitted fabric STRETCHES like

nothing else.

In the next step, I’m going to be using
my overlocker to SERGE down these two lines.

So here is some actually useful tips about
sewing with knitted fabrics.

So this is an overlocker, also known as Serger
- stickers available from DFTBA.com - and

before serging any kind of fabric, especially
bulky, knitted fabric like I'm using here,

you should adjust the settings on your serger.
So I am setting my differential feed to "2",

which will give me, hopefully, flat seams.
If you set it to this, we're going to get

real wavy seams, so it needs to be set to
"2".

I'm also setting my stitch... length? Yes.
This is length. I'm also setting my stitch

length to the, uh, longest length possible.
And finally I am using nylon threads because

they are stretchier.
I worked out all of these adjustments by reading

the manual for my machine - your machine will
probably be a bit different, so a good idea

is to read the manual.
But the most important one is this one here,

the differential feed.
And I practiced on the fabric that I cut off

from the arms until I got a nice, flat seam.
See, this is one of my first attempts - that

is what I did not want.

So, after doing all that I put the sweater
into the serger and I serged down those lines

I drew earlier!

And, guys, I actually managed to sew a pretty
flat seam on my sweater there! It was still

the tiniest bit ruffled but hey, it’s pretty
good – because sewing together two layers

of chunky knit is really difficult, so I'm
pretty proud of myself.

Okay so then I decided to do the rest of the
measuring by putting my sweater on this dress

form, because I was sick of how itchy and
hot the sweater was making me.

So the thing I did next was to essentially
trace those cut-outs directly onto the sweater

using some chalk. Obviously, using a dressform
also makes this process somewhat easier than

trying to trace it out while wearing it on
myself.

So once I had drawn on those cutouts I…
cut them out. Using some fabric scissors.

I cut about 1 inch outside the chalk lines,
to give myself some hemming allowance.

And when that was done… it looked like this.
And it’s looking quite similar to the original

at this point, if I do say so myself!

The next step was to hem all the raw edges
to give them a neat finish, which I did by

first going all the way around the raw edges
with my overlocker...

And then folding the hem up inside the garment
about ½ an inch and using a stretch stitch

to go over the top, and using a walking foot
attachment as well. These two techniques stop

the hem from ruffling on the knitted fabric.

So this is what it looked like when I was
done, and ummhhh... I realised at this point

that I had been a bit too enthusiastic with
those side cutouts...

See now, on this mannequin, it looks like
there’d just be “tasteful” amounts of

sideboob, right?

But unfortunately this dress form is not exactly
the same size as me. SO when I actually tried

this on – uhh… how to say this delicately…

My boobs spilled out the sides.

This is why I probably should have tried it
on before cutting it out. Welp. Too late now.

It’s time to try and salvage this project.
Which I did by grabbing the one sleeve that

I hadn’t already butchered by practising
on it before with my serger, and I cut this

sleeve in half, then I placed it underneath
the side cut outs like this, to give a little

bit more coverage at the front. I pinned it
on, repeating this for the other side, and

then I sewed these extra pieces on like THIS,
again using a stretch stitch.

Next, the fabric also went a little bit more…
floopy? Than I expected after making the cutouts,

and it also gaped a bit at the sides, so to
fix this, I turned the garment inside out,

laid it flat like this… and essentially
I made this part tighter by sewing a line

like this, through both layers of fabric.

The very LAST step was adding a tie at the
back.

I’m not sure why this tie exists on the
original, I think that it’s probably just

purely decorative – in any case, it’s
definitely not going to be functional on my

backless sweater.

So first I estimated how long each tie would
be by pretending that my measuring tape was

the tie, and getting the approximate length
from this.

I cut out two long pieces of cotton fabric
in a matching colour, each of them measuring

33 by 2 and half inches.

And I folded both in half lengthways, sewed
down this edge, turned them inside out using

a bodkin, ironed them flat and then sewed
down the middle of them like this.

Finally, I attached them together in one long
strap, and then I hand-sewed it onto the back

of the sweater just underneath the turtleneck…
and I tied it into a pretty bow.

And with that… I was done. So…. Oh man
I still can’t believe I’ve made this item

of clothing… How did I go?

(dorky music plays)

Mmpphh!! I wanna take this off NOW!

(Sigh) but first - some shots.

This is what it looks like from the front.
I'm gunna put pants on to show you the back.

So we've got the turtleneck at the front,
we've got ample side-boob... we have a "V"

cutout at the butt, waistline here, for a
lot of...

butt cleavage!

Oh look! We've got some more sideboob there,
we've got the tie... that doesn't... function.

Mmm. Yeah. So, uh, Pfffft. This is, uh, 100%
wool! So... and it's, it's summer where I

live right now!
I do not feel sexy... at all.

Mm, baby. I'm so itchy.

Here's a hot tip for those of you planning
on recreating this - not that I particularly

recommend doing so - use a sweater that's
not 100% wool, like maybe, more polyester?

I couldn't figure out what the original was
made of but I'm betting it isn't 100% pure

wool.
Turns out, that's not very comfortable to

wear!

And yep, so I'm feeling REALLY uncomfortable
and awkward right now... so... uhh...

END CARD!

'Kay so I made it.

[Make Thrift Buy Music .... Bowp bow!]

At the very least, even if you don't plan
on making one of these for yourself - and

more power to you if you do, I think you should
be able to wear whatever you want... it just

doesn't suit me! - I hope you learned some
tips and tricks on serging knitted fabrics!

Make sure you check out my merchandise store
over at dftba.com for some punderful sewing

stickers, and an awesome Make Thrift Buy poster,
to help support my channel and more quality

videos like this one! That's all for now,
I'll see you all in my next video.

Bye!

Thank you to all of my supporters on Patreon
for making these videos possible. To become

my patreon supporter go to patreon.com/annikavictoria!