Removing Jean Pockets

 Hello Readers. I love to go thrifting and sometimes I find amazing items. Sometimes I find great basics too. These jeans fit so well and the length was perfect. They were a perfect basic. And they were only $1.75!!! I liked the dark wash but not the front pockets.

Removing the pockets.

These jeans were on clearance at the thrift store. They were also soft and had a straight leg cut. They seemed great.

I didn't notice until I got home but the front patch pockets were unevenly placed. I don't like front patch pockets anyway and I planned to remove the pockets entirely. 

 

I used a seam ripper to take the stitches out. I worked from the inside to prevent damaging the outer fabric. I worked slow and went stitch by stitch until I could remove the pockets easily. I didn't want to pull on the fabric or rip the front of the jeans. 

The jeans had some slight light marks where the pocket stitches were. 

 

I used a fine tipped permanent marker in black to hide the little stitch marks. I didn't draw a line over them. I made a small dot right on the light spot to darken it. I went dot by dot until I had blended them away. The permanent marker will stay on through the washer and dryer well over time.

 

I was happy with how the stitch marks had disappeared. I think the smooth front looks better without the pockets. I like the plain simple look of these "new" jeans so much better. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.
 

 

Artistic Jeans

 Hello Readers. Do you like distressed denim? I love almost anything of  denim and jeans are my everyday uniform. But these are a little too distressed for me. Especially in winter. My legs would freeze in these. They were only 25 cents at one of my favorite thrift store! I brought them home and decided to patch all these holes.

 

Before and after.

 

 

The holes in these jeans were not going to work in the winter where I live. It is freezing outside. I would turn into an ice cube. 

I need some patches. I decided to use this fabric I had on hand. This fabric is cotton and has a nice weight to it, it's pretty thick. It is for home interior decorating projects. It will be a good match for the thicknes for these jeans. I could cut out some of the pictures and use them as patches.

I cut out the pictures with my rotary cutter. I cut the pictures out based on the size of the picture and the size of the holes in my jeans. I wanted the patches to be a bit larger than the holes.

I arranged the patches on top of the jeans to make sure the holes were fully covered. I arranged them carefully to make sure my plan would work.

 

I used this iron-on hem tape to hold the patches in place. Pins would also work but they always seem to shift around and stab me when I am sewing so this tape will be safer for me. 

I placed the tape under the patches. I put it around the edges and ironed the patches to the jeans following the directions on the package. 

I unbuttoned the jeans. This allowed me to get the jeans into position on the sewing machine. I used a zigzag stitch all around the patches. The stitching will hold much better than the iron-on tape alone over the long term. 

It took a while to get around all the patches and wiggle the jeans around my sewing machine but it worked out great.

My jeans were finished. The patches were all in place and all the holes were covered. My legs would be warm and covered all winter. 

I love the colorful and fun patches. This was such a fun way to "fix" the distressed spots on my jeans. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

Denim for Pennies

 Hello Readers. Sometimes when I go on a thrift adventure I find a real gem. This classic simple denim skirt was an amazing find. It was only 25 cents.That's right. One quarter.

Before and after. 

I liked these front seams a lot and the dark wash of the denim was nice too. 

I found this skirt in the 25 cent bin. 

Were they serious??? I doubled checked with the nice grandma-type woman at the front desk. (She reminded me of my Grandmom.) They were serious. It was only a quarter!!

The only problem was that the skirt had was the messy hem someone had made. I didn't mind, I have made some messy hems before. I took it home and made it my own. 

I needed to resize this skirt. It was just a bit big and I wanted it to fit really well. It had stretch to it and that would help with fit and comfort. I made new side seams so that I could keep those 2 front seams centered and symmetrically placed. 

I wanted the skirt to have a straight fit like a pencil skirt. I liked how it turned out. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. And go by your local thrift store, you might find something fabulous.

 ***Year End Update***- This skirt is such a great basic, it is always easy to wear.

Jeans From Scraps

 Hello Readers. You know I like to cut up, remake, and refashion clothing. That leaves me with a lot of scraps and leftover pieces. What do I do with them? I try to put them together in a new way.

Before and after. 

I had the front of these jeans leftover from a past project. 

I found this pair of jeans at a thrift store for less than a dollar. They were so torn up that the store priced them low. I cut the waistband off for a project that I never actually did. So with these pieces could I make a complete pair of jeans. 

I decided to cut the front of the light blue jeans off. The holes in these jeans were so big that they wouldn't be warm enough in winter. I am trying to prepare for the coming colder weather. Sort of like a bear preparing for hibernation. 

I put the right sides of the jeans together and sewed the inner leg seams first. I matched up the center crotch seam to make sure they were lined up. Then I sewed the jeans together. 

I sewed the back of the waistband on the back piece of jeans. 

I sewed the front waistband in between the front and back pieces of jeans. I sewed the sides together. I started at the waist and ended down at the ankles. I wasn't sure if the pant legs were exactly the same length so I started at the waistband and figured I could hem the pant leg lengths later.

I stitched the light blue waistband to the front of the dark jean piece. I didn't need to do this to wear the jeans but I wanted to add the waistband for fun. 

I have worn them a couple times and I like the two tones of blue together. They are comfortable because they have some stretch to them and because I made sure they were a little roomy in case I eat a big pasta dinner. I think looser styles of jeans are supposed to be in style and I am all for it. I want to be as comfy as possible. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

***Year End Update***- I loved these and wear them a lot. I love 2-tone DIY denim.

Making 2-Tone Jeans Part 2

 Hello Readers. I put together 2 pairs of jeans, again, so this is part 2. I was inspired by the upcycler on TikTok named @Radha. She made some cool blue and white 2-tone jeans. I really liked hers so I got to work making something similar with what I had on hand. 

This was a fun project to put together.

I had these 2 pairs of jeans and putting them together would be fun. The white pair was basic denim. 

This blue pair was also denim but they were not very stylish. They had a very unattractive gathered elastic waistband and I have been keeping them to cut up for a project. Today was the day! I cut 2 straight long pieces from the back so they wouldn't have any seams and so I wouldn't be getting part of the front pockets in the pieces I used.

I started cutting the white jeans. I cut about 3 inches from the side seam. You can see I did not cut through the pocket, I cut underneath it. I wanted to keep the pockets intact and reattach them later.

I used a seam ripper to detach the pockets from the cut off the part of the jeans I was cutting away.

 

When I was done, my white jeans looked like this. The back pockets are kind of hanging off so that I could sew the blue denim pieces in on the sides of the white jeans. Then I will reattach the pockets. 

I sewed the blue denim to the white denim with the right sides facing each other. I started at the waist.  I moved the pocket over to the left so it was out of the way while I was sewing.

 

Here is a look at the blue and white pieces sewn together. The pocket is kind of flapping loose here. 

 

It was easy to sew the pocket to the blue denim using a straight stitch. 

 

I used the seam ripper again to remove the belt loop from the white denim I had cut off the jeans. I could reattach it to the blue denim. 

 

I wanted to sew it here on the side. It might help distract from that elastic waistband. 

 

I also had this tiny front pocket from the cut off white denim too. I could attach that somewhere.

 

Here is a look at everything sewn in place. 

 

 I love these new jeans. They are so fun and different and colorful. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

***Year End Update***- I loved these jeans! I got something on the white part and tried to bleach the spot. Then I got bleach on the blue part.... it was a laundry disaster.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm a (Seer) Sucker

 Hello Readers. I hope you are enjoying some summer sun and fun. I know it is vacation time for a lot of people but most people are still working during the summer too. It is hard to get fully dressed on hot days and I am always looking for ways to stay cool. I thought these seersucker pants would be great. They are light and airy. A matching top was all I needed to be ready to go to work.

 

Before and after.

This outfit had potential but it was pretty bad as it was. I love hand-me-downs and I was ready to make this into something fun but professional enough to wear to casual work environment. I work for a greeting card company and it is business casual so I never get too dressed up.

To fix these beautiful seersucker pants I had to resize them. I tried them on inside out and marked where the side seam should be on the pants. I stitched down the side of these pants to make my new seam. You can see the thread of this new seam in the white pocket area. 

I tried the pants on again to check my new seam and then if I like it, I cut off the extra fabric. If the pants are too tight I can unpick the seam and and do it over. If the pants are too loose, I can make a new side seam and make the pants tighter. I can adjust certain areas that need to be smaller or bigger. When I am all done I cut away the excess material and sew the side seam again to make it stronger and keep that cut edge nice and neat.

This shirt was a little big and and a little long. It was also sleeveless. I cant wear sleeveless shirts to work so I had a plan to remodel this shirt.

I used the same "Try-It-On" method for the shirt. I tried this shirt on inside out and marked the shirt where I needed to sew a new side seam to make the shirt fit. The armholes were hanging too open and it was revealing too much bra area. I made the shirt a little smaller, with attention to the armhole are in particular. My bra is my business. I wanted to keep it that way. Especially at work! 

Again, just like the pants, when I had the size right, I reinforced the side by sewing it again. I used my serger to make a strong side seam and finish the cut edge so it wouldn't fray.

The shirt was very long on me and I decided to cut that excess length off. I wanted a shorter shirt. I also wanted to use that extra fabric to make some sleeves.

I traced the side of a dinner plate to get a curved shape. These are going to be small cap sleeves. It's too hot for full sleeves. The shirt is folded so I could get 2 sleeve shapes from the fabric.

I cut out my sleeves at the same time so they would be identical.

The sleeves are going to fit into the armholes like this. They will just cover the top of my shoulders. They are like a minimal sleeve. I put the sleeve in and stitched right on the white stitches that were already at the edge of the armhole.

I gave the shirt a hem and it was done.

Video summary.

I liked how this outfit turned out, I still had to go to work but that's life. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

*Year End Note From Chickie- These were great in the heat of summer to wear to work. They will come back out of storage when it gets warm again.