Last spring our Mom’s Club did a clothing swap.  I got this great little cotton sweater with white moose on if for Little Bit for this winter.  I thought it was perfect!  Then I put it on him today and realized it was a girls sweater!  The shoulders had gathering at the seems, which seems to be the universal sign for “this a is girl shirt.”  Well I wasn’t about to let that get in the way of a nice sweater!

Besides the shoulder gathering, the sweater is completely gender neutral.

I’ve frogged sweaters before, so finding the connecting threads wasn’t difficult.

 If you are looking to try this and your seams are serged,  You may not want to try this method. Serging is a lot more complex to undo.

I snipped the connecting seam yarn on both sides and fiddled with it until I found the thread that when pulled would just unravel and open up the rest of the seam easily.

Once your seam is opened enough, Iron the sleeve so the former gathered area lays flat.  Pin the shoulder seam back together making it flat.  I had a couple of odd shapes sticking up on the sleeve side because of the original sleeve shape.  

Snip of any odd pieces that stick out as a result of changing the seam line and zigzag or serge over it to prevent it from unraveling.

Before. 

And after.