How to Make a Shaggy Sweatshirt Jacket

Use a sweatshirt without waistbands, if you can.

A sweatshirt jacket is an effective coverup option for keeping warm inside a soft, comfortable fabric. To give the sweatshirt jacket a more bohemian look, make it shaggy by covering the sweatshirt material with fringes that can be sewn into the fabric and dangle loosely. Start with an oversized sweatshirt since the jacket you convert it into will need to be large enough to fit over clothing without being too tight.

Things You'll Need

• Sweatshirt
• Scissors
• Pins
• Sewing machine
• Sewing tape
• Fabric pen
• Needle
• Thread
• 6 regular buttons, or 4 oversized buttons
• Fringe

Instructions

1. Remove any part of the sweatshirt that you do not want to keep for the jacket, such as the wristband, waistband or hood. Cut off these pieces with scissors, making clean, horizontal cuts in the fabric.

2. Place the sweatshirt on its back, with the front facing up, on a work surface. Eyeball the middle of the sweatshirt and make a cut in the fabric with scissors. Work from the bottom up or the top down to make a full, vertical slit in the sweatshirt. You will end up with a sweatshirt that opens with two separate flaps in the front, just like a jacket.

3. Fold back 1/4 inch of the fabric on both center flaps where they join together. Do the same at the wrists and at the waist, if any material was cut from these locations. Tuck the material under and use pins to keep the material in place for the full length. You need to smooth out the edges so that the sweatshirt material does not fray from the cut.

4. Sew the edges back so that you create a small hem in the fabric, using a 1/4-inch seam allowance. This will give the opening flaps of the jacket smooth and even edges. Work on one side at a time.

5. Plot out where you want to add buttons so that you are able to close the jacket. One of the panels will have buttons and the other panel will have holes that the buttons are inserted into. Use sewing tape to make even places on the panels for the holes and the buttons and mark the spots with a fabric pen. A suitable number of regularly-sized buttons for a jacket is six. However, if you use oversized buttons to make a fashion statement, you can get away with using four.

6. Hand-sew the buttons onto the side of the jacket. Use a needle and thread to weave in and over the center of the button, closing the thread in the underside of the jacket. Make the holes in the corresponding side and finish the holes off by sewing a straight stitch inside of the holes so they do not fray.

7. Sew the rows of fringe onto the front and back sides of the jacket with the sewing machine. Start the first row of fringe at the shoulder area. The fringe dangles down from where it is sewn onto. Where the fringes end are where you should sew the next row of fringes, and so on. The last row of fringe should hang from the waistband of the jacket to make the ultimate shaggy sweatshirt jacket.

Tips & Warnings

• To give your sweatshirt jacket a funky or offbeat look, do not make the cut down the sweatshirt in the middle. Instead, move the cut to the side so that one jacket panel can wrap over the shorter one.

References

• "Start With a Sweatshirt: Sew a Stylish Jacket"; Nancie Wiseman; 2008