My friends this is one of my favourite makes… and also one of my stupidest. Who makes a cream sweater for a toddler? It makes no sense and I did it anyway hehe. But don’t worry, I got my just deserts.
I made this little cropped Mini Briar sweater for Birdie last year when she was 2. It originally had gold leather for the heart on the front and the elbow patches. She wore it so much and it was crazy adorable – but all that wearing meant it got really really grimy. And after a particular spaghetti Bolognese incident i decided to soak it in Napisan for like a day to get the stains out. Lets just say i learn the hard way that leather and Napisan do not mix.
Here is the before photo:
Here are the patches after the Napisan incident when I unpicked them:
Yes. I did cry. But I was really glad that the sweater itself was salvaged. Unfortunately i didn’t find myself putting Birdie in the sweater much anymore because it was, well, boring after that. I put it in the overflowing mending drawer until I fixed Bunny’s sneakers with glitter glue, and realised i could the exact same thing for Birdie’s sweater!
I used the same heart applique templates from the Mini Briar pattern, and just traced around them with gold fabric paint, then filled them in with more and smoothed as best i could with a paint brush.
It’s not the most perfect application, but at this point I realised having something she could wear and enjoy was more important than trying to perfect my paint application.
So here is the finished sweater with the gold fabric glue heart in the front, and elbow patches. I must admit I am really happy with it! it’s the same fabric paint i used for my lighting bolt tee, so I know it launders really well.
Since I was neatening the sweater up i also decided to try out my new coverstitch machine on the neckline edge, as I always hated that i hadn’t topstitched around the neck band. It’s a little wobbly in patches, but i’m getting there, learning to love my cover stitch oh so slowly LOL.
Nothing makes me happier than seeing my kids enjoying things I made them, and I’m just thrilled to see this sweater on this little cutie again. She is 3 years old now, and this is a size 2/3, so I’m not sure if we’ll be able to wear it next year again – but i’m really hoping!!
