My dear friend bought me a cute shirt for my birthday. I loved it except for one thing: the 3/4-length sleeves. My forearms were always cold when I wore it, and I constantly tugged at the sleeves, trying to pull them down further. So I decided to dig into my yarn stash, grab a crochet hook, and re-make those sleeves the way I wanted them.
This is a great fix for any part of a shirt, dress, or skirt-- maybe even pants?-- that doesn't cover as much skin as you'd like it too. Hem ride too high on your thigh? Add a few modest inches to the bottom. Neckline plunges too far? Give your cleavage area a little double-crochet decoration. Here's how you do it:
Thread a sharp-pointed needle with some of your chosen yarn (I prefer lace or sock weight) and whipstitch around the edge of whatever hem you're embellishing. I make my stitches every 1/2"-1" or so.
Attach your skein of yarn to either side (work around the front or the back, as you prefer) and sc around. I put about 3scs in each of my whipstitches, except where I made one too short (2scs) or too long (4scs). The key is to try to sc evenly, so the crocheted cuff or hem will be flush with your garment's edge. If you want to make it ruffle, you can increase the stitches on a later row.
After the initial sc-row you can make your cuff or hem or neckline with whatever stitch(es) you like. For the cuffs on my shirt I did the following:
Round 1) ch 3, 2dcs in same st, sk 2, (3dcs in next st, sk 2) around. Join with sl st.
Round 2) (ch 3, sk 3, sc between dcs) around. Join with sl st.
Round 3) ch 3, 2dcs in next ch-3 sp, (3dcs in next ch-3 sp) around. Join with sl st.
Rep Rounds 2-3 until sleeve cuff is desired length. End by repeating Round 2 once more.
After I did the sleeves my daughter suggested I add a touch of the yarn to the hem as well, to pull the look together. I had enough yarn left to do a simple sc border with a (ch-3, sk3, sc) edge.
And that's all there is to it! If you've done this to one of your garments we'd love to see a photo in the comments!
Interested in some more crochet ideas? Check out Wylde & Plumb's Crochet Pattern Gallery.
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