Sustainable BadDIY: Reworking an Old Cardigan into a Two-Piece Set

Looking through my closet I came across an old Forever21 cardigan I had kept from high school. Something about the cardigan was calling for it to be remade into a DIY. So I decided upon making a shrug cardigan and a skirt out of the old materials. I’ll walk you through the process behind this DIY, so you could be inspired to make something yourself!

After making the initial cut to the fabric, this was the result: the top portion would become the shrug, and the bottom piece would become the skirt.

After pinning the pieces to myself, I made some more cuts, and had quite a lot of extra fabric. I always make sure to keep my larger chunks od scrap fabric so that I am able to repurpose them in some way!

Next, I set out to sew the hems of the pieces. When doing this part, make sure they are pinned with the fabric inside out, that way you won’t have visible hems. I am lucky with the nature of this knit because the fabric doesn’t fray at the raw edges, so I didn’t need to hem the skirt at the bottom or top (just make sure you make a nice, clean and straight cut!).

As someone who loves rainbow things and personalizing everything, I couldn’t just stop at creating the two-piece, so I added these little bows of rainbow ribbon to both the skirt and the shrug. I pinned them in place and hand sewed them to the knit. I also gave the skirt a bit of a hem to accommodate for the bows matching up, and to be at more of a flattering length.

And this is the final result! I am obsessed with this piece and am very proud of it. I wore the shrug on its own and received a ton of compliments. I hope you guys loved this tutorial and make something similar for yourself! Don’t forget to tag Sustainable Baddie and #SustainableBadDIY on what you create! Happy upcycling!

Sophia Jaramillo Sophia Jaramillo is a Content Writer and TikTok Creator for Sustainable Baddie who loves all things sustainable fashion. Sophia works as a freelance creative, which includes being a content creator and an illustrator. In her free time, she loves going to estate sales, reworking old clothing, and spending time with her friends, family, and dog Tilly. Her go-to coffee order is an iced matcha latte with oat milk and an almond croissant. @menswearsoph