Whether you're on a tight budget or simply searching for a DIY project to sink your teeth into, altering clothing is a great way to breath new life into your wardrobe. While turtleneck sweaters are a great style for winter that provide essential warmth to the body and neck, they go in and out of fashion every few years. If you have found yourself with an excess of turtleneck sweaters and fewer occasions to wear them, you can easily alter them into a more contemporary V-neck with a few basic sewing materials.
Unpick the turtleneck section of the sweater with a quick unpick or seam ripper. Place the fabric from the turtleneck to one side.
Lay the sweater on a flat surface in front of you with the front facing up. Measure in a straight line from the underarm seam on the left to the underarm seam on the right with your measuring tape. Place a mark exactly halfway across the total width of the sweater with your fabric chalk.
Draw the shape of a "V" from your mark in the center of the fabric in a diagonal line upwards to each shoulder seam of the sweater with your fabric chalk and a ruler. The V can be as wide as you wish; however, you can use the width of the current neckline as a guide.
Cut carefully along the chalk lines with your sewing scissors to create the V-shaped neckline.
Measure one-quarter inch from the raw edge on both sides of the V-neck with your measuring tape and mark all the way around with fabric chalk.
Measure one-quarter inch from the raw edge around the rest of the neckline on the front and back of the sweater and mark all the way around with fabric chalk.
Fold the fabric inwards on the line of the chalk markings all the way around the v-neck and the rest of the neckline on the front and back of the sweater and pin into place with sewing pins.
Sew around the V-neck and the rest of the neckline on the front and back of the sweater with your sewing machine. Sew slowly and remove the pins as you go.
Try on your completed V-neck sweater.