Mending Old Jeans 1

 Hello Readers. When I find a bargain, I can't resist taking it home. These jeans were only 25 cents because they were so worn and damaged. I have been thinking about how much we throw away and how wasteful we can be with clothing but also all sorts of things. I want to take the time to mend and repair the things I own and love so... I bought the jeans and decided to try and rescue them.

Before and after. 

These jeans were really worn in and the denim was so soft. It takes so long to break denim in like this. When I saw these for such a low price, I saw a lot of potential. But there were a lot of problems. These were men's jeans. They didn't fit me well. There was also some wear and small holes in embarrassing places.  

You can see the hole right next to the zipper. That is not going to work for me. That is an area I really want covered. I started unpicking the crotch below the zipper. 

 

I unpicked several inches of the seam. I didn't un-do the zipper itself. Just the crotch seam.

 

With the seam un-done I could pull the right side of the pants over to the left and cover that hole. These jeans Had plenty of room so this will actually improve the fit for me. 

 

I wanted to sew the jeans back together like this. That hole will be covered up. 

 

Let's zoom in. I stitched the jeans back together in the new position. I sewed slow and used a new needle because multiple layers denim can be tough to sew through. A denim needle will work best. 

 

There was a similar hole on the back of the jeans. It was right next to the pocket. I do not want a hole in the bum of my jeans. That is another area I really want my jeans to cover is my bum. Let's mend that hole.

 

I found a scrap of denim to use as a patch. I wanted it to be much bigger than the hole. It is going inside the jeans and it will be right over the hole. 

 

I sewed back and forth over the hole and patch to re-enforce the fabric. My stitches are extending about 2 inches beyond the hole to add strength to the whole area. 

 

You can see my stitches here. I sewed forward and backward over the area in both directions. That will make the patch stronger too. The pocket was a more complicated spot to fix but it wasn't too difficult. I stitched vertically next to the pocket and then horizontally above the pocket because I had to work around the corner of that pocket. 

 

I wanted to narrow the legs of the jeans a bit so I sewed along the inner seam to make a new seam that was a little smaller. I turned the jeans inside out and made sure the leg of the jeans was flat and smooth before I sewed my new seam. 

 

I also cut the jeans a bit shorter. I cut at an angle so the front of the pant leg was a bit shorter than the back of the pant leg. 

 

My new/old jeans were great now. They fit so much better. The holes are patched, filled in, and covered. Thanks for reading along, now go repair something fun for yourself.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quilted Sweateshirt

 Hello Readers. Free promotional shirts are so common at thrift stores, we all get them from festivals and events.They get donated often. They are usually covered with advertising and they are not very cute. Let's make this promotional sweatshirt as cute as can be. 

 Before and after some simple alterations.  

 This sweatshirt was boring and blah. I can change that though. I have some scrap pieces of a quilt. I want to use some of this quilt to decorate this sweatshirt and make it special. (This is a modern quilt made in a factory, it was not made by my grandmother or yours. It's not antique or vintage. Please do not get upset about cutting up this quilt. It's OK. I have 2 quilts made by my great grandmother and I solemnly swear to never cut them.) 

 I measured the area that I wanted to cover. This shirt has printing on the front and back. I want to cover both. I cut a square-ish rectangular shape to cover the printing. I don't want to see any of the writing peeking out around my quilt piece so i used the size of the writing as a guide for how big to make my quilt piece I made my quilt piece a bit larger than the printing I wanted to cover.  I un-picked the stitches of the front pocket. I saw there was a stain on my shirt at the waistband, that's OK. I just cut it off. The pocket came off with the bottom of the sweat shirt. It looks short right now but I will fix that later. 

I pinned the quilt piece in place over the printing with a lot of pins. I wanted the quilt piece to stay in place and not shift around at all while I was sewing. The pins will do this.

 I used a zigzag stitch on my sewing machine and stitched along the edge of the quilt piece. The stitches will cover the cut edge and make it look nice and neat as well as attach the quilt piece to the shirt. The light blue is a nice color with the quilt and the sweatshirt. 

 When I was done sewing the front and back pieces onto the sweat shirt. I got a long horizontal piece of the quilt. It had a really pretty scalloped edge and I wanted to sew it on the bottom of the sweat shirt. It would add the length that I had cut off and it would be a fun look. 

 My new sweat shirt was cute in front and back. I liked the new look. 

 I added some light blue ribbon through the hood casing because it didn't have any string in it. It was just for fun and added a touch of matching light blue to the hood. 

 

Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.    

Can a Skirt Be A Dress?

 Hello Readers. Can a skirt become a dress? It can if you want it too be a dress. Let me show you what I mean. 

 This is a quick refashion project. 

This skirt was a little too long and a little too big but I loved the color and pattern of it. It would be difficult material to shorten at the hemline so I had another idea, Let's make it work as a dress. 

I spread my skirt out flat with the back and front centered where they should be. I cut just under the elastic waistband. (DON'T CUT THE WAISTBAND ITSELF!) I cut in 4 inches on each side. That will make my new armholes because this baby is going to be a dress. 

 

I wanted the waistband to look like shoulder straps. I turned the ends of waistband up. I just folded the waistband on itself at a 90 degree angle. 

 

I sewed the waistband on itself to make the straps. I sewed it in place on both sides in front and back. This made the straps go straight over my shoulders nicely. And it only took a few minutes.

 

I sewed around the armholes using a zigzag stitch just to make it look more finished. This skirt is a knit so it won't fray, but this extra step just makes it look nicer and neater. 

This dress is very loose. That's OK. Trust the process. 

I added a belt to cinch in the waist a bit. 

I added a sweater because it is cold as ice outside where I live. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

 

 

 

 

Make a T-shirt Pillow

 Hello Readers. Do you have a favorite t-shirt? I think probably everyone does. I love graphic tees. The more unusual or funny the better. I found this map of the earth t-shirt and I loved the images and the colors. I gave it to my daughter but she didn't want it. (Maybe it didn't fit?) She gave it back and I had an idea. I could make a fun pillow for the arm chair in the study. We do school-work in here a map would be very appropriate. 

A t-shirt pillow with easy matching fringe. 

 

I am using this map shirt but you can use any t-shirt you want. Whatever image catches your eye and that you like will make a fun pillow. 

 

I started by cutting the bottom of my shirt off. I didn't want any of that double folded hemline to get in my way. T-shirts don't fray so we can cut this shirt with no worries. 

 

I also cut off the side seams. I cut just enough to get them out of the way. You can cut any size you want. A square or a different size rectangle would work too. The image on your t-shirt can be your guide. If it looks better as a square, you can cut a square. You get to choose.

 

Now it's time to think about stuffing. I used this Poly-fil to stuff my pillow. This is a good choice because this pillow is not going to be a standard size, there are no pillow forms to fit this shirt. I used my bag of stuffing as my shape guide and traced around the bag of fluff with sewing chalk. I wanted to mark onto the shirt, about 3 inches in from the edges. That extra fabric around the edges will be my fringe. If you want short fringe, leave less of a border around your t-shirt pieces. 

 

I had my front and back pieces with the wrong sides facing each other like they did when they were a t-shirt. I sewed a rectangle and left a 5 inch opening at the bottom for stuffing the pillow. You can see my blue chalk marks, I sewed right on top of the chalk. I used a straight stitch and matching thread since I am sewing on the outside of the shirt/pillow.

 

Here is my opening at the bottom of the pieces. That is where I will stuff the shirt with fluff. 

 

I stuffed that pillow as much as I could. I made sure to fill the corners really well. I sort of over stuffed it a little because it will flatten with use over time.

 

Here is a better look at where I stitched my pillow shape. It is about 3 inches in from the edge. This is one corner. Now I need to sew the opening shut. 

 

This part is a bit of a wrestling match. I squeezed and squashed the pillow down and sewed the opening shut. I used a straight stitch again. This wasn't difficult, it just was an unusual way to sew. 

 

You can see the stitching from the seam here. I started cutting the fringe. I made small strips of fringe all around the pillow. 

 

When you get to the corner cut off the excess corner piece entirely. You can see the fringe ends at the corner of the pillow itself and begins again on the next side of the pillow. 

 

Here is a look at my new pillow. I love the matching fringe. And it was so easy to make. 

 

The fringe adds a fun touch to the pillow. I added a matching throw blanket to make this a cozy reading spot. 

 

Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 
 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turtleneck to Round Collar

Hello Readers. And Happy New Year to you. It is cold and wintertime means I need to bundle-up to stay warm. I like to be warm but I hate wearing turtleneck shirts and sweaters. I always feel like someone is strangling me. I can't take it. It's too much. I would rather be cold. I usually find a way to alter turtlenecks so I can be more comfortable when I wear them. Let me show you what I did.  

Before and after. Tight and uncomfortable to fun and easy to wear. 

 This gray knit turtleneck dress was soft and great to layer under other clothes. It was a tight- 

knit ribbed cotton material. The turtleneck part of this dress was not working for me though. I just did not like how it fit. 

  

I decided to cut the turtle neck open. I marked the center of the neck with sewing chalk. It is easy to see the marks but washes right out in the laundry.

 I cut the turtleneck open with sharp fabric scissors. Dull scissors make messy cuts in the fabric. I cut right on top of the chalk mark. 

 I liked how the turtleneck now opened up like a shirt collar but I wanted to finish the cut edges somehow. The tight weave of this knit won't fray. I could leave it like this but they might not look nicely finished. And I wanted something a little cuter and a little more fun.

 

I folded the neck so that one cut edge was right on top of the other. I cut the corners of the collar so they would be round. I cut them both at the same time so they would be symmetrical. I didn't want a lop-sided collar.

 

 I liked the shape of the round collar and it will be easier to sew lace on the edges with curves as opposed to the sharp corners I cut at first. 

  

  I picked some lace trim that I had on-hand in my sewing stash to dress-up the new collar. (Similar lace can be found here.)

I used my sewing machine to stitch the trim on the edge of the collar. I used a zigzag stitch with white thread to match the lace. I stitched right on top of the lace trim. This attached it to the edge of the new collar and hid the cut edges.

 This was a quick easy project. I liked the bright white trim. It helped brighten up this plain dark gray dress. 

  

This was a quick and easy project that will be much more comfortable for me to wear. And it's cuter too. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.