Frou-Frou Fromage: Upcycled No-Sew Cowl Tutorial

I hesitate to post this because it is so stinkin' easy...but I've had a few requests for a tutorial recently so I'm going to go for it.

It's February. And it's cold still. And sometimes you're getting ready for church and realize that you will be too cold in that cami & cardi but you'd prefer not to look like a beluga whale in a wool sweater. You need "something" and you feel the panic starting to rise because you know you don't have that perfect "something" ready and you're leaving in 15 minutes. Deep breaths, girl. Think. Think.

You don't have time to crochet a scarf.

You don't have time to sew.

You need something quick...

And now you congratulate yourself for not throwing out that wool J. Crew sweater that you accidentally shrunk in the dryer 8 years ago and ended up saving for your 3-year-old to wear. You may or may not have accidentally shrunk it again after that, too. It doesn't matter. Keeping it was genius.

Okay, set your timer because you will have this puppy done in 15 minutes. You'll need:

long-sleeved wool sweater (wool is thick and has plenty of body to keep it from getting saggy, but watch out for scratchies! I think mine was merino...very soft)
scissors
3 or 4 medium or large safety pins
a package of two 1 1/2" cover buttons with the pusher thingie in the package (WHAT?! You don't have these on hand?? Go get some and keep them in your craft cupboard. Seriously. I use these.)
fabric scraps to cover buttons

Step 1:

Measure your neck. A tape measure is handy but if you don't have one, cut a piece of yarn or thread the length of the circumference of your neck. Then measure that thread using a ruler and make a note of the circumference. My neck measures 11.5".

Step 2:

Cut sweater. Yes, it might hurt...but it has to be done. This is an emergency, remember? Before you cut, look at the sleeve. Is there a trim or special weave on part of the sleeve that you want to include on your cowl? If so, orient the cut appropriately. I especially liked the ribbed cuff on my sleeve so I measured 11.5" up from that end of the sleeve and added 8" for an overlap (19.5" total length, which happened to be the cuff-to-shoulder seam measurement). If you are worried about messing it up, add a couple of extra inches to your measurement. You can always trim it off later.

Step 3:

Fiddle with your new cowl! You'll need a mirror for this one. Pin the cowl where you think you'd like it to lay. You may need to trim off a bit of length if you made it a touch too long. The cuff of my cowl was more narrow than I wanted, so I cut along the back seam to make it flare out a little.

Step 4:

Cover your buttons. Find some fabric you'd like to cover the buttons with, then follow the instructions on the back of your button package. I chose some red silk dupioni because that was the most fabulous fabric I had on hand.

Step 5:

Position your buttons. Remember that fiddling you did in front of the mirror a few minutes ago? No? Okay, go do it again. This time, mark where you want to put those buttons.

Step 6:

Pin buttons. Please, no groaning. I told you this was easy. Pin from the backside to hide those safety pins...