I can't help you, Red but I was at a Quilting Day two weeks ago and there were several ladies there wearing them. I want to do one so I hope someone comes up with some ideas. A couple of ladies I talked to said they were not difficult.

Red, check out my Sweatshirt to Jacket Conversion in the Gallery. They are fun and easy to do. You may want to refer to Sue Hausman's book "Sew Fast, Faster, Fastest" for ideas and instructions. There are several ways to do it. You can remove the bottom ribbing and use it for the ribbing down the front (be sure to interface with a fusible so it won't stretch so much) and add buttons and vertical buttonholes, or you can use a coordinating cotton fabric for the front opening's ribbing, or you can just fold the opening under and top stitch. If you take the bottom ribbing off, the jacket ends up (naturally) a bit short, like a shrink jacket. There is also a book entitled "Sew Creative Gifts for Under $10" that has two sweatshirt conversions, pages 113 and 147. That book is from the House of White Birches publishing house and has lots of great inspirations.

Have fun and be sure to post a pic of the finished product!!

Mary L

I've made lots of them and sold them,they really aren't hard to do.If i still have your email addy,i'll send you a picture of a couple of mine.
Kathi

Mary Mulari has some great ideas for converting sweatshirts and she has a great website. I own several of her books and have attended several of her seminars-she is a wonderful lady. marymulari.com

Pat

I made one where you take the sweatshirt completely apart and then use the pieces as patterns for denim pieces. You embroider the denim as you choose, then quilt the denim piece to the matching sweatshirt piece (so that the sweatshirt becomes the lining), then sew it all back together. The front, bottom and sleeve edges were bound with denim strips and you sew the neck ribbing from the sweatshirt to both layers around the neck. The pattern was in Creative Machine Embroidery magazine back around Nov/Dec 04.

Just saw some cute sweatshirt jackets made on Carol Duval Show, DIY.com. These were a bit rough, turned inside out, waist and sleeve bands cut off.........all hand sewn & ready made appliques applied. Not exactly my cup of tea but perhaps others might like them.

All the best,
Nanna