How To Make A Recycled Sweater Blanket With Hexagons

Inside: A tutorial on how to make a felt wool blanket from recycled sweaters.

There is a definite nip in the air. Summer has almost gone, and it won’t be long before I’ll be putting on the heating. I decided to sew a new throw for the living room by making a recycled sweater blanket.

Autumn is my favourite time of year. Even though I feel energised after recharging my batteries over the summer, I love nothing more than snuggling up under a blanket in the living room with a hot coffee and planning for all the fabulous coming seasonal celebrations.

Recently I refreshed my mountain of pillows and cushions with some Boho-style recycled jeans pillows. To continue with this theme, I recycled some old wool sweaters to make a new throw for the living room, and I used the denim waistbands leftover from the Boho pillows as the trim.

A Recycled Sweater Blanket With A Splash Of Denim

I’m also a massive fan of hexagon patchwork; therefore, I also incorporated hexies into the design of my recycled throw. This involved less sewing than typical fabric hexagon patchwork, as felted wool doesn’t fray, so it doesn’t need to be hemmed.

Hexagons are a popular shape for crafting and DIY and are efficient for covering a large flat area such as a blanket.

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What you need to make a Recycled Sweater Blanket

This craft is a sustainable way to repurpose old clothes.

• 3 to 4 Old wool sweaters- Ensure they are at least 80% wool. If you can get hold of old lambswool or cashmere sweaters, that’s even better, as these are lovely and soft. I’m lucky that my family gives me all their old sweaters. Jumble sales and thrift stores are excellent sources for wool jumpers/sweaters. How many sweaters you need will depend on the size of the throw you want to make and the size of sweaters once felted.
• Denim waistbands for the trim – I used about 5 for this upcycled sweater blanket.
• Quilting hexagon template – The templates come in various sizes. When deciding what size hexagons to use, you must consider two things. The larger the hexagons you use, the less sewing you will need. However, the smaller the hexagon template, the more usable hexagons you can cut from a sweater. I used a 3-inch hexagon template, as this size worked well for me.
• Rotary cutter and cutting board
• Seam ripper, needle and thread

How to Make a Recycled Sweater Blanket

Step 1: The first thing to do is to felt your wool sweaters; the way to do this is to put them in a hot wash with soap powder, as I did with my mountain sweater pillows.

Step 2: Cut your felted sweaters up at the seams to open them out to maximise the surface area. Then using the hexagon template and rotary cutter, cut out as many felt hexagons as possible from the sweaters.

Step 3: When you have finished cutting out your hexagons, pin them together the length of your sweater blanket in a row. Then sew the hexagons together in a long row.

You can either use a sewing machine or sew by hand. As felt doesn’t fray, you can stitch very close to the edge of the fabric. Sew all your hexagons the same way so that the recycled sweater blanket is different front and back.

Step 4: Rip open the jeans waistband with a seam ripper to add the denim trim to the blanket. Then open up the waistband, insert the blanket edge and pin the waistband to the blanket.

You will end up with a sort of sandwich of denim waistband on the outside and felted wool as the filling. Using a heavy-duty needle, stitch together until the whole blanket is edged in denim.

You can make some fabulous fabric key fobs with any leftover bits of denim waistbands.

If you don’t have any old denim to hand or want a different look, you can trim the recycled throw with bias binding. You can buy this online or make some in a fabric design of your choice.

Or, if you love denim and hexagons, check out these patchwork denim hexagon table mats I made.

I’ve already been cosying under this recycled sweater blanket and love how the denim trim coordinates with the recycled jeans pillows I made the other week. Or you could make some upcycled sweater pillows to match.

Tip alert: When cutting out your hexagons, you will have been left with lots of felt scraps. Don’t throw them away; you can use them to make lovely Christmas decorations such as upcycled felt garlands or cookie-cutter upcycled Christmas ornaments.

For more repurposing and upcycling sewing projects, visit allfreesewing.com.