Recycled Sweater Coat: An intense experiment

[lidehtium]

So beautiful! Tempted to make a trip to a thrift store and make one of my own!

Do it! It was so easy and much fun to do.

Beautiful coat dear!

If you guys are interested in learning how to make a coat very easily yourself, and also learning a ton of fabulous ...

I know who she is, but since it was not her work that inspired me I saw no need to mention who she is. I understand you wanting to give her credit, but I think you could have made your comment in a less advertisy way.

[MissingWillow]

That is really beautiful!

[Ivy Mae]

That is so awesome! It looks so warm and snuggly too. I have to catch trains early most mornings and in winter I freeze standing on the platforms, but one of these would be perfect! And as a plus, other passengers might think I'm a tad crazy and leave me to commute in peace

[SHELIAANN1969]

You did a beautiful job!

How many sweaters did it take?

Do you have any tips?

I have been looking at all of the sweater coats on Etsy and they are lovely, I bought about 60 sweaters for $1 each, I divided them by colors and like colors and I have about 15 blue, 8-10 white, 3-4 black, 4-5 tans, 6-7 red, 6-7 pink, a couple purple, 3-4 green and one rusty orange and a yellow.

I can get more when Goodwill changes their tag color, but it's hit and miss with the color selection.

I am going to wash everything up in a few days and start, I am totally hyped, those coats are so beautiful.

Any pointers at all would be appreciated.

Also, do these coats open all the way in the front? Meaning, from top to bottom? Some of them look like they go over the head.

[Brynns Mom]

UNREAL!  I love it!

[RissaSan]

So beautiful! Tempted to make a trip to a thrift store and make one of my own!

Do it! It was so easy and much fun to do.

Beautiful coat dear!

If you guys are interested in learning how to make a coat very easily yourself, and also learning a ton of fabulous ...

I know who she is, but since it was not her work that inspired me I saw no need to mention who she is. I understand you wanting to give her credit, but I think you could have made your comment in a less advertisy way.

I'm sorry, but Katwise really is the person who came up with the whole upcycled, sweater coat with swingy skirt thing - there are hundreds of imitators who began copying her when she started selling online rather than in the lots of a Grateful Dead concert. She's spent decades developing her design. Not only that - but you're getting questions on how you made it, and Katwise wrote a tutorial with tons of really helpful information on exactly how to make it so that it lasts and lasts. She did this so that it was a fair playing field for everyone. I'd be curious to see who inspired you, but honestly, it's her design - do you think they weren't "inspired" by her? ALSO, the video you linked to that you found on youtube? That IS Katwise - that video is an add on helper to her PDF tutorial. So how can you say you weren't inspired by her designs? Her video is what you watched to learn how to put it together!

[lidehtium]

How many sweaters did it take?

Do you have any tips?

I used the better part of 8 sweaters. All the ones I used were knit or something like it so it was a little difficult but those were my only options.

Because of the weight of the sweater use the strongest and best fitting sweater as the actual main sweater piece. Mine hangs a little/stretches a bit if its not closed properly.

Mine opens all the way down the front, I guess it all depends what you're looking for. It has buttons but I mostly cross it over in the front and use the ties to hold it up. I can imagine you could use zippers or whatever you want.  When you're making it if you have any questions let me know!

[SHELIAANN1969]

Thank you!

[Forteisbest]

Aw it's fabulous.   It's like, medieval or Skyrim-ish.

[SHELIAANN1969]

I am a little bit boggled by the fact that you feel the need to call someone out twice on their own creation. I have seen all kinds of reconstructed, upcycled goods and I am sure Katwise did come up with her own style (her flair and colors and style is a LOT different than anyone elses I have seen) but so is a lady who makes what she calls *Frankensweaters* and sells on Etsy, her style is unique, you can look at each coat/sweater/garment and see the difference in style.

I am sure that during the depression people took parts of one thing and made it another, and then again, the whole SteamPunk thing, that is a mix of many things thrown together that end up working.  So, is Katwise *really* the inventor of tearing up clothes and sewing them together to make a functional garment? I think not. Look at the Mad Max movies, those clothes are wild and many of them are many parts of other garments all patched together.

Nobody *has* to say *X inspired me*, this isn't Etsy or Ebay and nothing is for sale, the creator of this coat is showing us her work and I think it is a lovely garment, has it's own style and pizazz, you can look at it and see that this is her own style and nobody elses.

This isn't a pissing match, it's a craft forum where people can show the things they made and give and receive tips from other crafters. I think you're being really rude to lidehtium and I can't see any good reason for it.   Honestly, we're here to uplift and encourage each other not to say that everyone is a copy cat and a liar. (because really, NOTHING is new or unique!)  

Also, repeatedly saying that someone is basically stealing someones idea and not giving them credit (which isn't the case here) is not the spirit of Craftster and trying to redirect people to *BUY* someone tutorial is really uncalled for and unnecessary. I knew there were tutes out there, there is another lady on Etsy who sells tutes for the same coats and they come with pattern pieces for $10.

As per the linked video, lidehtium said she did a search for tutorials and it came up, saying Katwise is the *original* inventor of upcycled clothing is like saying Goodyear is the original inventor of the wheel.

I'm sorry, but Katwise really is the person who came up with the whole upcycled, sweater coat with swingy skirt thing - there are hundreds of imitators who began copying her when she started selling online rather than in the lots of a Grateful Dead concert. She's spent decades developing her design. Not only that - but you're getting questions on how you made it, and Katwise wrote a tutorial with tons of really helpful information on exactly how to make it so that it lasts and lasts. She did this so that it was a fair playing field for everyone. I'd be curious to see who inspired you, but honestly, it's her design - do you think they weren't "inspired" by her? ALSO, the video you linked to that you found on youtube? That IS Katwise - that video is an add on helper to her PDF tutorial. So how can you say you weren't inspired by her designs? Her video is what you watched to learn how to put it together!