le crafty one: Reconstructed: Quick and Easy Cropped Jumper (with tutorial!)

I recently picked up some cheap men's fleece jumpers on sale (even cheaper!) to hopefully keep me warm and fuzzy this winter - the chill really comes and goes these day. We can go from a mild/warm winters day to absolutely icy the next!

As they were already cheap, by the time they were discounted, only really big sizes were left... and as they are men's, they are even bigger to me!

What the hey, they were cheap so grabbed a couple.
So this is jumper reconstruction project numero uno.

What you need:
1 x oversize fleece jumper/sweatshirt (i used men's black jumper in size XXL)
2cm wide elastic
scissors
sewing machine/matching thread
optional: embellishments, overlocker/serger

Steps:
Put the jumper on and mark where you will be cropping the jumper depending on how long you want it to be.
Remember to add the seam allowance to your desired length.
As the elastic is 2cm, i add 3cm to my desired length.

I had pre-machine embroidered a design to my jumper before the reconstruction, just in case the embroidery turned out bad. The embroidery design i appropriated was originally created as table linen corners, so i had no idea if it would work on fleece fabric as its a lot thicker :P

Save the cut-offs for another project!

Take it off, fold it in half and cut.

Wrap the elastic around your arm (unstretched) approximately where the sleeve will end to measure elastic length. Cut out 2 pieces for the arms.
Measure around your torso where the jumper ends also. Cut one piece.

Optional: overlock the edges of the cut sleeves and hem.
This will provide a neater finish but is not critical as the fleece doesn't fray much.

Fold 3cm of the sleeve edge under. Sew the sleeve hem 2.5cm from the folded edge. Leave a small gap in the seam to thread the elastic.