Chartreuse Crop Job

I grabbed a few pieces at a neighbor's yard sale sometime back in July, including this chartreuse sweater. What I didn't notice upon grabbing it were the several and varied stains along the bottom half of the torso and sleeves... :-/ Meh. The best way to get rid of all of that was to simply chop off the offending portions. Which is just what I did...before snapping a before shot ;)

With my newly cropped sweater, I decided that I'd go the easiest route and simply finish off the raw edges. I grabbed some thrifted yellow bias tape and first topstitched on the outside of the raw edges, folded it under, topstitched it again giving it about a 3/4 inch hem, then folded it under once more so that the bias tape lines the inner side of the hems. I had some taking in to do, and thanks to my new hem without stretch, I got to get a little creative. I decided to fold over a portion in the back, and marked the area with pins.

I then grabbed a thrifted snap and hand stitched the folds, then the button, in place.

Now, when I put it on, all I have to do is snap it closed in back and I have a fitted cropped sweater...perfect for layering :). I paired it with this thrifted silk, black and white striped top + thrifted & refashioned skinny jeans.

I need to fiddle with the snap a bit as I don't think I like the off-center placement, but that's a simple matter. What do you think? Does it look like it needs to be slightly more secure? Perhaps two snaps? Center placement? I'm also considering doing two snaps creating two smaller folds centered side-by-side in the back...maybe I'll play around a bit with this. Oh! Maybe I'll insert elastic, creating a gathered portion in the back!!! Ha! Not sure why I didn't think of this sooner...

Either way, I love this layered look, and wish I could have photographed it with my boots in the lovely outdoors, however we are experiencing a very gray, rainy day. Perfect for cozying up with hot chocolate and a snuggle with my family on the couch while watching movies and, generally, just being lazy ;).