Easy J. Crew Inspired Jeweled Sweatshirt Tutorial

Jewels, jewels, everywhere.  I especially love the combination with a comfortable sweatshirt for a cozy yet luxe feel.  Inspired by the beautiful details on J. Crew Factory's Jeweled Raglan Sweatshirt (here, $98), I wanted to try making my own after finding this Target striped sweatshirt (here, $12).

Jeweled Raglan Sweatshirt DIY

Difficulty: Easy

Time: ~2 hours + let glue dry overnight if gluing only
           additional ~2 hours to reinforce with thread

Materials:

• Existing sweatshirt (raglan sleeves work well if you're going for a similar look)
• Jewels / Gems / Baubles
• I used sewable black gems in a variety of sizes (Joann's) and small silver spikes from a previous project (eBay)
• Note: The prettiest, clearest gems are Swarovski, but those are $$.  If you're going for a cheaper gem (like me), I'd recommend an opaque color so you don't have to worry about "muddy" clarity or surface scratches.
• Fabric glue
• Optional: fusible interfacing for added stability.  My sweatshirt is very thin and I was afraid the added gems would make the material droop, so I added a rectangle of interfacing on the underside of the sleeve seams on the front.
• Optional: needle and matching thread.  I didn't want to take the chance of any gems falling off so reinforced with stitching by hand.
• I would recommend against invisible nylon thread if you plan on wearing the top without a camisole as the thread ends tend to feel plastic-like and irritate skin.

Materials

Steps:

1. If your sweatshirt material is thin, consider using the optional interfacing.  Simply cut interfacing in the size and shape of your general design.  Turn your sweatshirt inside out and iron the interfacing (nubby fusible side towards the sweatshirt) in your design area.
2. Lay out gems in your desired configuration.  Use the seaming to help orient the gems symmetrically.
3. One by one, add a small dab of glue to each gem and glue in place.  If you misalign one, simply pull it off and re-glue.
4. Allow glue to dry overnight.
5. Optionally, reinforce with hand stitching after glue has dried.

Detailed look

Finished Jeweled Sweatshirt DIY

Happy DIYing!