Ponchos are the perfect San Francisco outerwear option. Sometimes you just need an extra layer to protect from the wind, but nothing that needs to cover as much as a coat. Plus they’re a little hippy which is perfectly San Francisco (or haven’t you heard).
Modeling by Hanalei, Styling and Photography by myself
I’ve been loving my poncho from Madewell (also in this post) so much that I thought it might be fun to try making my own from a thrifted wool blanket for a cozy, easy, throw-over-everything type of piece.
I was secretly hoping to find an old pendleton throw but this blanket above I found thrifting totally worked.
It takes only about 10 minutes to make, and the only supplies you need are an upholstery (knitting) needle, scissors, and some wool yarn to match the blanket.
Keep reading for the full tutorial!
1. Lay your blanket out flat on the ground and mark off the middle (which was easy in this case since I had that gray line as a guide)
2. Measure your head hole to be centered on the middle (I used another sweater to measure the length of the hole, that seemed easiest). Pin it on either side and cut with the scissors.
3. Pull out any excess thread until only loops are on each side
4. With your knitting needle, thread some similar color yarn through all the holes one at a time. Be careful to allow enough slack since it will pull and stretch a bit with weight. Go up and around the entire hole and knot off the end (again, allow lots of slack).
5. For the sides, use your knitting needle to thread yarn through each of the stitches. The way to make it invisible is to grab the stitch just below the top one, and as shown above.
6. When you pull on the thread it should align as shown above
Enjoy your new cozy sweater!
Wardrobe: Thrifted boots, thrifted and DIY distressed jeans (tutorial here), Fabric and Handle bag
Also,
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How do you feel about this color combination?
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I’ve been dying to try this out, thanks for the tutorial, love the finished product!
i just love this! i made something similar for my little girl (from a wool wrap skirt) last year and have been wishing since that i had one my size. the blanket is such a great idea.
and a picture of my cute babe in her poncho:
http://maraelindsey.blogspot.com/2012_03_01_archive.html
Oh I love your daughter’s version! Cute with those tights too
I absolutely adore this. I clicked over to the Madewell one thinking “good, I can maybe get that one” (since I CAN NOT sew a thing). But man, I actually love yours better. I lot better. Okay, time to learn to sew.
You really don’t need to sew, just add a few stitches. It’s super easy!
Great & simple idea, the only difficult part is to find a blanket which has a cool color combo.
It’s true, It took me two thrift stores to find out but it wasn’t too hard. And if you’re willing to spend more than thrift store prices you can find some awesome pendleton blankets on etsy and ebay
What a fantastic and creative idea…. i mean seriously. You have me eyeballing everything in my room to see if it’s wearable now. ha!
Thank you! I love looking around the finding things to re-purpose
What an amazing poncho. I love both the style and the colours. And what’s even better is that this through creative thinking this blanket began a new life as a piece of clothing. How much better the world would be if we all began thinking more creatively and challenged ourselves to make things out of ‘found objects’ (i.e. thrift store finds) rather than robotically trouncing to the mall to find out what we’re meant to buy this week. And think of the great people watching we could do if everyone became her own artist! Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.
I hadn’t thought about it in that way but I love it!