[boobykinmamma]

I scored today at Salvation Army on a men's large 100% merino wool sweater for 3 bucks. It's soooo soft. How do make soaker pants? do I use the sleeves? How do I cut them to sew together and form the waist and crotch area? I assume I need to put elastic in the waist. It's so huge I think I can get at least one regular soaker cover out of the main body of the sweater as well.

Also, do I need to lanolize it? I'm planning to hand wash only, as I don't want to felt it.

It's a light gray color. Can I Kool-Ade dye it over the gray, if I use a pretty intense color, maybe something purplish? What colors would work well over grey (assuming I can dye it at all)?

 

[boobykinmamma]

Well, I figured out how to cut them out--just folded a pair of leggings in half and used as a pattern, leaving room for seam allowances and a casing for elastic. I'm still wondering about the dying and lanolizing, though. I want to dye them before sewing, so I can find nylon thread to match whatever color I use.

 

[Throkmorton]

Yep, you can use koolaid dye over the grey. It will come out very different than over a paler colour, so I would try it on a scrap first. Believe me, 15 cents worth of koolaid is worth a strand test.
Purple would do great, as would blue. Green would look dirty, and red might look washed out.
You will have to lanolize it when you're done, commercial sweaters don't have the lanolin.

 

[boobykinmamma]

Thanks for the info, Throkmorton! I'll do the strand test first. Blue and/or purple were exactly what I was thinking of using. I've got plenty of scraps to play around with. I love your son's name, by the way. Xavier was the name my brother and his wife had picked out for my niece, if she'd been a boy.