Skinny Jeans Tutorial

Do you have a nice comfortable pair of jeans or pants that you love and fit you well but are no longer stylish because they are way too wide at the hemline? And you wish they were more updated? And besides, they are just too good to throw out? 

You can fix that! 

Here’s what I do: 
      1. Make sure there is a bit of stretch in them so after they're altered, you can still get     
      them on over your feet. Measure how far you want to "skinny" them up. Usually about to          the knee.

    

2.  Start at the hemline. Just take out the hem all the way around. 
     (This will make the finished garment look more professionally finished in the end.)

3.  From the bottom of the jeans, open up the side seams. You can use scissors or a  

     seam ripper. The seam ripper is preferable because it will probably be faster and 
     you won’t accidentally cut too far up or into the legs. (UGH!) Ask me how I know! Or 
     maybe not…

4.  Lay the jeans out flat so you can see how much to take out. I use a pair that fit well     
     as my guide. At the hemline and at the knee, pin both pair together so they won’t come 
     out crooked or off center!

5. Then draw with a fabric marker or chalk the outline of those pants onto the pair you are 
    altering. I used a marker so you could see the line. Do this on both legs. This will be your 
    seam line.

    6. Now cut 1/2 inch OUTSIDE the lines. Be sure to leave at least 1/2 inch! This is your 

        seam! And pin the front of the pant leg to the back pant leg as shown. The back leg 

        should be wider than the front.

   7. Starting at the bottom, sew up the pant leg being careful to tie in smoothly to the 
       original seem.  And finish the edges. I use a serger, but you can just as easily zigzag 
       the edges.

  

9.  The last thing is to hem them. Just fold and pin the hem back in where it was. Then top  
     stitch. 

    


     10. And tadah! You have just altered your pants and made them into “skinny” jeans!

Now look at the difference between the first photo and this one. 

Really not too complicated. Let me know how it worked for you.

Easy Altered Belt Tutorial

This belt came too long for me. So I decided to try my luck at shortening it. 

After all, how hard could it be? The buckle part is made of vinyl, not leather.

So this is how I did it... First I carefully picked out the stitching holding the  

buckle to the belting (which by the way is stretchy elastic). 

One thing that might make that easier is once you get it started, try to pick it out 

between the vinyl and the belting instead of on the outside. 

 So this is what mine looked like once I had taken it apart.

Then measure carefully and cut off the belting. 

 Stuff the belting back into the buckle end.

Make sure the edges are neatly tucked in...nothing hanging outside.

 Topstitch, following the exact seam line that you picked out.

 And there you have it.

A few simple steps and your belt fits! Yeah!

And no one will be the wiser that you shortened your belt yourself.

Easy DIY Ruffle Top Dress Tutorial - My Maternity Dress Makeover!

I'm expecting... and when you're expecting there's 2 things you desperately want your clothes to be - comfortable and cute. But that's hard to come by... especially together!

I went hunting at the thrift store the other day and found this gem – a long-sleeved maternity dress that was literally just a giant t-shirt. Talk about comfortable! But not so cute.

Well, it’s summertime and I had a plan… time for a dress makeover!

You could do this with any t-shirt or skirt too.

Step 1: Cut off those long sleeves.

 

Step 2: Cut the sleeve scraps into strips.

We’re going to use the cutoff sleeves for ruffles!

Make each strip 2 ½ inches wide. I wanted 3 ruffles on my shirt. So I cut one strip 14 inches long and the other two strips I cut 7 inches long.

TIP: Cut your strips 2 times the length that you want them to be in the end. This gives your ruffles plenty of “flounce”. Example: Want a 7 inch ruffle? Cut a 14 inch strip of fabric.

Step 3: Sew big stitches about ¼ inch from the top of each strip. The pull one of the strings to make a ruffle.

Step 4: Pin the top ruffle in place (the 14 inch strip). Then stitch it on.

Make sure the ruffle is centered on the shirt.

 

Step 5: Pin the top of the next ruffle about 1 ½ inches below the top ruffle’s stitching. Sew it in place.

Repeat this step for as many ruffles as you like. I made the 2^nd and 3^rd ruffles shorter than the top one just for added spunk. :) 

 

The top is done. YAY! If you’re only doing a t-shirt, you can stop here. But I had an entire dress to doctor.

 

 

Now to fix the bottom of the t-shirt dress…

Step 6: Cut off the bottom of the skirt.

Since it went to the floor, I had plenty of fabric to play with. *Remember not to cut off too much! You can always make it shorter.

Step 7: Make the bottom ruffle.

Cut two strips that are 2 ½ inches wide. Sew them together to make one long strip of fabric. Sew using big stitches about ¼ inch from the top and pull one string to make the ruffle. Then sew the two ends together to make a circle.

Don’t trim those strings yet! You might need to pull the thread again to keep that ruffle “ruffling”.

Step 8: Pin the bottom ruffle in place. Sew across the top of the ruffle.

 

Ok, now you can trim the strings. 

And … Ta Da! Here’s my new cute dress that feels like a t-shirt without looking like one. Happy day! :)

T-Shirt Hat

I tried a fun little project yesterday... thought I'd share.

I got on the bandwagon with the recycling of t-shirts.
("up-cycling" in todays world)
I found the instructions here.

 The hardest part was the flower. (seriously)

So what you do is measure the circumference of your head and add an inch.

Cut out two strips from the old t-shirt that length. Just keep the t-shirt together and cut the two pieces out at the same time. Then cut out a circle out. You can do this using your math  c=d x ∏ (pie) (3.14) or just cut out a 7" circle like I did. You need two of these also. And trace a brim from one of your other hats. Cut out two of knit and one of firm interfacing. Cut the interfacing a little smaller.

Sew the two long pieces together as if they were one piece and make them into a tube. Open the seam and topstitch open. 

Now sew the two circle pieces together.

Pin and sew the tube to the circle.

For the brim, sandwich the interfacing in between the two brim pieces and topstitch them together remembering that this will not be a finished seam. Tuck brim into the center front of the hat. Mine ended up being about 1 1/2" in, between the layers of the tube. Just check to see if this brim length looks good on you. Pin and sew going all the way around the hat. Add your flower. I added elastic in the back. You can do that too if you like.

And your done. 

This hat is also on my other blog. Go here to see what's going on there.
So I'd love to see yours if you make one.