Upcycled Art, one Sweater from two

I find it really fun to take stuff from the Thrift Store and just play around with it. 
My "uniform" in the winter, when I'm working in my home studio has become a zip-up polar fleece sweater. It's comfortable and warm and boring. Plus, my husband is retired now and is home to see the boring clothes I'm wearing.
So, I decided to create something fun that would fill the same category.

This is the sweater I started out with. I wanted a neutral color and I wanted something that zipped up.

The stripes had possibilities, but the red Nordic design had to go.

The minute I cut that striped border off, I started trying it here and there and decided it just HAD to become a collar.

Time to bring in sweater number two that coordinates so I can change and add parts to this sweater. I bought this man's pullover from the Thrift Store at the same time.

THEN I was stuck. I couldn't decided what to do next. I was busy on another project so I just left this on my dressform and stared at it for about two weeks.

I wanted to add length and I wanted it more shapely, but I didn't want to just add bands or ruffles around the bottom ... and then in the middle of the night it struck me ... I needed princesses seams, using the second sweater on the sides.

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To figure out where I wanted the princess seams I used some really skinny tape I have and just kept moving around until it looked right.

And, for shape, I folded in a bust dart.

I taped both sides of the dart so I could see what I had after unpinning.

Then took a big gulp and started cutting, leaving a bit of a seam allowance.

This is now my pattern piece. I will deal with the dart later, which really is just going to be a guide for shaping the side panels.

First I need to pin it to the other side of the sweater as a guide, so both sides can be cut the same.

This piece is, also, used to cut the side piece from the second sweater I'm using.

Now I can add length in the front using parts of the sweater that used to be on the side and inner sleeve of my original sweater. Several smaller pieces needed to be sewn together.

I pinned the pieces together to see how it will look and tried it on for fitting. This seam will go to the outside and be serged with contrast thread, so it looks almost like a corded seam.

The stripes are my favorite feature from the first sweater. So I figured out how to use every shred of it. This bit will go in the back.

Like this!

I mitered the stripes for the collar keeping the rolled hem which is now used as a dimensional feature along the "V neck of the sweater.

More of the stripe is used on the front of the sleeve. There wasn't enough to go all the way around. The remaining piece was so small, I had to split it into two narrower pieces to manage it. 
AND, that black band with the skinny grey stripe at the very bottom was the neckband from the man's sweater. 
You've heard about nose to tail eating with regard to animals? Well this is neck to hem sewing. I'm trying to work in as many elements from my two original sweaters as possible.

I used ALL the black ribbing from the man's sweater, too. This sweater is now longer than the original and extends beyond the bottom of the zipper. I used some of the black ribbing to fill in the gap created below the zipper and split the remaining ribbing, finished the edges with my maroon serging thread, to make a secondary hem all the way around.

This sweater will make me happy when I wear it next winter. And it will be warm since both sweaters I used were 100% wool.