Wool Sweater to Vest (+ Boot Cuffs!)

Why, you ask, would I choose to do this to a pretty great sweater? Well...

Elbow patches were put on a couple of years ago, for self-explanatory reasons; similar, but not the same as a more recent Elbow Patch Fix. This is one of my OG refashions, although I guess really it's more of a mend then a refashion... It took me about a hundred hours to do by hand, but the hole got covered, and I thought it turned out nicely. I was very proud. Then, my husband tried it on. Turns out, the patches were not quite in the right spot for his elbows. Dang. He was a good sport and wore it anyway, but lo and be-holed, a new sucker ripped right through where his elbow actually hit. When I then managed to shrink it via laundry, he couldn't really wear it anymore, and it no longer seemed worth re-patching. Dang. Poor sweater, right?

By simply cutting off the shrunken, non-hole-covering-patched arms, hemming with a zig-zag stitch around the openings, a perfectly wearable vest is born! It's his, but I wonder which of us will wear it more?

Added bonus: the salvaged cuffs from the sleeves were perfect for a pair of boot cuffs! For a super fun and femme embellishment detail, I tacked on a little flower appliqué leftover from a Lace Trim Shorts project I did a while back. I heart them.