It recently dawned on me that if I can have a festive Christmas sweater, why can’t I have an equally festive Valentine’s Day sweater? I love my Lands’ End red and white Fair Isle Christmas sweater and have been wearing it since I purchased it in college. (I’m fully aware that it’s corny. I love what I love and can’t help it!) Because I’ve been dabbling in making my own clothes and repurposing/upcycling clothes, I set out to create my own design with thrifted sweaters.

My quest started at the thrift store and my stash of material. First, I found a sweater at the thrift store. I specifically was looking for sweater in a neutral color, made from natural fibers. I scored a dark gray, 100% cotton sweater—perfect! Then, I hit my stash for material for a heart appliqué. For my daughter’s first birthday, I made her stuffed chicken toys from a pinkish-orange, cable-knit thrifted sweater. I knew I had scraps leftover, and dug them out.

I traced a heart onto a sheet of computer paper. (I could have gotten fancy with tissue paper, but the shape was so simple, a plain sheet of paper worked fine.) I trimmed around the heart leaving a little bit of paper around the edges. I did this because I wanted to make the cut of the heart from the sweater scrap itself.

I was careful to line the pattern on the sweater scrap so that the cable knit pattern was somewhat symmetrical. After the pattern was pinned on, I carefully cut the heart out.

Placement is always tricky—I wanted to have the heart in a good place vertically and centered horizontally. I tried the sweater on, placed the heart where I thought it looked good, and marked the sweater so I could see where I had placed the heart after taking off the sweater. I folded the sweater in half (shoulder to shoulder) so I could find the horizontal center and placed a pin to mark it. Really, I just fussed with the heart until I was happy.

A little bit of washable glue stick and several pins later, I was ready to stitch! I used a blanket stitch with white embroidery floss I had on hand to secure the heart to the sweater. (Side note: it’s not until I actually have needle to fabric that I can remember how to do a blanket stitch. I have such a hard time visualizing it in my head. I think this is why I can’t parallel park. Haha!)

Voilà! I now have a cheery Valentine’s sweater to wear in the weeks leading up to the big day! I love it! One of my favorite things about it is the contrast of the smooth, plain knit of the gray sweater and the textured, cable knit of the appliquéd heart.

Full disclosure: I haven’t washed it yet. Eeep! So, I don’t know how it will fare. But! If the heart starts to come off, I have confidence that I can fix it or redecorate the sweater altogether.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some Valentine’s Day cheer to spread!