Upcycle: Felted Wool Coffee Cozy

This is a quick upcycle project with a sort of long story.  Dave has had this fuzzy wool sweater that he’d had since college.  It was large to begin with and then got stretched out.  Add on Dave’s recent weight loss and it was a big billowy mess on him.  You get where this is going, right?

He asked me if I could shrink it.  A little.  I thought Sure – no problem, I’ll just wash it on warm for a short cycle and it should shrink.  A little…  Famous last thoughts.  It shrank.  To a size more appropriate to one of my daughters than my 6′ 5″ husband.

Out of the ashes of a favorite sweater comes — felted wool!  I washed it again (on hot this time) to felt it the rest of the way.

Using a Starbucks coffee sleeve, I cut strips from the arms.  Then I had to give my little cuffs a haircut since the sweater was so super fuzzy.

Dave chose the colors for the embroidery and I did a simple whipstitch in red on one and sort of an inverted blanket stitch in the mustard on the other.  Nice project for sitting on the sofa with your foot propped up.

Do you have any wool sweaters that you’ve ruined intentionally shrunk?  Pretend you meant to and make some coffee cozies!

I’ll be linking to many of these great parties: 

Mondays Making the World Cuter Monday – Making the World Cuter Made By You Monday – Skip to My Lou Craftastic Monday – Sew Can Do Making Mondays Marvelous – C.R.A.F.T. Market Yourself Monday – Sumo’s Sweet Stuff Creative Me Monday – The Southern Institute Tuesdays I Made It Without My Hubby – Shanty 2 Chic Sew Cute Tuesdays – Creative Itch Take a Look Tuesdays – Sugar Bee Craft Edition Shwin&Shwin Wednesdays We Did It Wednesdays – Sew Much Ado Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice – Seven Thirty Three Show & Tell – Blue Cricket Design Show Me What Ya Got – Not Just a Housewife Your Whims Wednesdays – My Girlish Whims Thursdays Strut-Your-Stuff – Somewhat Simple Make It, Wear It – The Train to Crazy It’s Stinkin’ Cute – Sew Stinkin’ Cute Show Off Your Stuff – Fireflies and Jellybeans Making It With Allie – What Allie’s Making Now Pinspirational Thursdays – The ArtsyGirl Connection Fridays Furniture Feature Friday – Miss Mustard Seed Weekend Wrap Up Party – Tatertots and Jello Feature Yourself Friday – Fingerprints on the Fridge Friday Fun Finds – KojoDesigns Weekends Check Me Out Saturday – A Vision to Remember Show and Tell Saturday – Be Different Act Normal Sunday Scoop – I Heart Naptime Sunday Showcase Party – Under the Table and Dreaming A Pinteresting Party – Tutus & Tea Parties Sunday Roundup – A Rosie Sweet Home