How to Cut a Sweater for a Wool Soaker
- 1). Prepare your sweater. Wool sweaters can be felted, which means they are made softer and more watertight by washing them with a small amount of soap on the hot wash cycle, and dried on the highest heat setting. This will tighten the wool. Felting your sweater will shrink it slightly, so do it before cutting the soaker to ensure that the sizing is correct.
- 2). Lay your sweater out flat, with one side seam facing you. Fold the sleeve up and out of the way. Lay a folded pocket or all-in-one diaper, set on the largest size setting, on the sweater, with the folded crotch area lined up against the side seam. Trace with a fabric marker. Give yourself a sewing allowance by tracing an extra inch around your soaker pattern. It should be slightly house-shaped. If you don't have an available diaper, trace around a pair of child's shorts with the legs folded up diagonally, or a pair of child's underwear. Cut out the soaker.
- 3). Cut each sleeve cuff off at the wrist, with about an inch added sleeve fabric. This will form the leg cuffs of your soaker, and it saves you the step of having to hem up the leg holes. If the sweater doesn't have large enough cuffs, just cut off about 4 inches of sleeve fabric. Sew the soaker together using a durable thread and medium sized needle. Sew the sides of the soaker together, add the cuffs as legs around the bottom and hem the waistband.
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