Category Archives: Refashion

How to Take In Your Jeans – The Quick and Easy Way

Posted on by
Reply

There are quite a few tutes out there on how to take in denim and while I looked at them, in the end I did it completely different and so I thought I’d share my way with you all in case it’s helpful. I’ll also share a mistake I made so that you don’t go down that road also.

I wanted them to fit above the knee just like a pair of leggings and since these are stretch denim I was able to use a pair of leggings laid on top of them for a pattern.

chill out cute leggings - imitation is flattery

Since my seam was going to be only on the outside of the jeans I didn’t center the leggings on my jeans, but rather moved them so that they were right in line with the inside leg of the jeans. I used straight pins to pin the jeans just outside the outline of the leggings, then tried the jeans on inside out to see how they fit.  I made a few adjustments then sewed them up using a sewing machine.

straight pins hurt - safety pins do not

 

 

sportin' my new jeans

 

and from the side

 

 

and from the other side

And since you made it all the way through a bunch of pics showing me in jeans I’m going to award you all with a special bonus – how to care for your jeans! Some of you may already be aware of these tips but since we’re on the subject I thought I may as well throw these tidbits into the mix. So here goes:

Always turn them inside out to wash them. This not only protects your jeans but protects the other clothing in your laundry from getting roughed up by the rivets and other hardware on your jeans.

Wash in cold water with white vinegar or a handful of salt. The vinegar or salt helps to hold the color in.

Keeping them inside out hang to dry. The dryer breaks down clothing fibers.

 

 

How To Lengthen Your Jeans

Posted on by
Reply

I have a pair of jeans that I usually tuck into my boots so I don’t mind that they’re a little short, but this year I want to wear them over booties and I want a little extra length. Not everybody will like my solution but I really like the double hem effect these jeans now have.

I had another pair of jeans in my refashion pile that were a similar color but way too small for me. I cut off a 4 inch section from the bottom of each leg and pinned each one to the leg of the jeans I was lengthening, playing with it a little until I got the length I wanted.

one down - one to go

 

pinned in place

 

Then it was a simple matter of stitching them using navy thread right below the original gold stitching which served to hide the new stitching. And if you don’t like the double hem effect you could still use this idea but add enough so that you can cuff the jeans and still have the length that you want.

 

 

Bourbon Street T-shirt

Posted on by
Reply

 

Before

I love this t-shirt even though it has always been too small and too short for me. I picked it up at a garage sale assuming since I was eating healthier I would soon fit into it. Not so. Not even close. But I had an idea that would make this t-shirt not only wearable but cuter than the original. I started by going through my scarf collection, looking for one that would work with this t-shirt. My goal wasn’t so much to match it as to find a scarf that I would wear with this shirt. If you don’t have a scarf that works for your project you could use another t-shirt, light-weight knit, light-weight cotton or even a piece of lace.

First step – cut away the back of the t-shirt in a straight line from the bottom of the sleeve opening and down each side seam. I cut just inside the seam on the back and then cut away the serged seam from the front so that I would have a piece I could use as trim if I needed it. Be VERY careful not to cut through the front of the t-shirt. I mention this because I’ve done it before. I’ve always been able to salvage my mistakes by reworking the original design but since this shirt was already a bit small it would be more difficult to correct an error like that and besides I didn’t want the extra work. I wanted to keep this refashion relatively simple.

 

template for new back of top

 

the third triangle is a fifth wheel in this refashion

Second Step – cut the back piece that’s been liberated from the shirt into 3 triangles. Use the two triangles that are the same size and sew them to the side seams of the front of your shirt. These triangles along with the new back will turn a fitted top into a trapeze style top. Add the middle triangle to your scrap pile. You may find a use for it in another refashion.

Third Step – sew the scarf to the back of the shirt on all three sides. You may need to trim, gather or otherwise manipulate your scarf to make it fit or to get the fit that you want. I generally choose to gather rather than trim because I’m afraid that once I cut something away I’ll find I regret it and it’s a lot harder to fix a mistake like that than to simply remove the stitches from a gather. Plus I like the detailing that gathering gives. You can see how I gathered the lower sides of the scarf in the larger picture of the back of the finished shirt.

Third Step Note – my scarf wasn’t wide enough to fit from the top seam to the bottom hem so I cut a portion from the length of the scarf and stitched it to the scarf to create a piece large enough for what I wanted to do with it. You can see this seam in the close up of the back of the shirt.

Fourth Step – After trying the shirt on I felt like the sleeves needed to step it up a bit to fit in so I used pieces from the scarf to trim them.

Then it’s off to the stables where I found a stable-hand to take some pics of my new t-shirt.