Make Jeans Into a Skirt Tutorial

A few months ago, a girl at my church handed me a bag with about 10 pair of jeans in them and said you are creative, maybe you can make them into skirts for me.

Yes, I have made jeans into a skirt, but I wasn't ready to invest that much time into that many skirts that looked the same. I didn't know if any of the jeans even fit the girl as they were all given to her. 

I made a deal with this girl, I would teach her how to make the skirt, but she was going to come over and do all the work. She agreed, but I didn't know how long it would take to actually make it happen. 

One day, she got out of school early, so she came over and we got to work. By that evening she had gotten three skirts made. One light denim, one dark denim, and one black. I was impressed!

Do you have a pair of jeans that you would like to make into a skirt?

The first thing you need to do is to cut the inseam between the legs. Cut right beside the seam. You will need to cut a little above the inseam into the crotch in order to get the skirt to lay flat. 

Decide what length you want and cut off the length. 

You can also keep them full length, and then you will need more fabric to put in the middle. What you cut off will help fill in the skirt if you cut it off to about knee length,

Pin together the crotch area. I would encourage you to try on the skirt at this point to make sure that what you have cut lays flat. 

Take the legs that you cut off and add those pieces of cut off jean into the triangle hole. You will sew these together. 

Decide on your hem. You can just sew around the bottom and let it fray or you can fold up the bottom and hem.

Here is Ashley in one of the skirts she made. 

I know these are brief instructions, so feel free to ask questions and I will do my best to help!

How to Patch Pants

One of my goals for this week was to patch my pants. A part time job that I just started will not allow me to have holes in my jeans. My favorite jeans have holes in them.

I have had these trusty jeans for a while and I got them with holes in them. I love how they fit, so I wasn't ready to part with them, but I needed to do something about the holes.

I really liked this idea, but I knew it wouldn't be very professional.

source

I found this idea of patching pants and went along those lines. 

The picture below shows my hole in my pants.

I put some fabric behind the hole inside and started stitching. I went forward and then reversed. I enjoyed just sewing and not really caring where I sewed. 

This is my final result. I like the result! I think it seems a little more polished than the big hole! And it was much cheaper than buying new pants. 

Friday Finds Under Five: Old Quilts

My grandmother in law was given lots of fabric scraps. She passed the ones that she did not want on to me. They are taking over my closet, but I am having so much fun in using the free fabric to make other things! 

Among all of those scraps were some quilt tops. Nothing too elaborate or extremely well done, but I still could not part with them. 

I have been hanging on to them for a few months with no great idea of what to do. Ok, I have some ideas, but nothing that made me want to cut them up to do.

On my dining room table, I had a winter bowl full of pine cones, burlap, and pine branches. I had to get rid of my pine branches on the table, because the branches were very dried out. I couldn't leave my table bare, but wasn't sure what to do.

And then I remembered about those quilts. I took one of the strips and put it on my table as a table runner. 

I also took the bowl that had the pine branches in and put in apples. Of course I washed it first :) Makes me think of fall.

I could probably sew the edges and make it look more professional, but I like the look that it presents. Reminds me of what we can do for free if we just look around.

I would love to hear your ideas for my other quilt tops. I have individual squares all the way to whole quilt tops. 

Stop over and see what So the Cook Said has done for under $5 this week. 

Upcycle Sweater to Infinity Scarf Tutorial

My grandma had been given this sweater a while ago and she didn't want it. I did not like it as a sweater, but something about it drew my attention. 

I wanted to make something out of this sweater. Stockings and a hat crossed my mind, but neither of these had been exciting enough to me to do them. I then decided on an infinity scarf. And off to work I went.

The first thing that I did was cut off the sweater right under the arm pits.

Next I sewed a zig-zag stitch around the edges that I cut. If you have a serger, this would be even better. Just trying to keep the edges from raveling.

I cut up one of the side seams. Then I folded the material in half, right sides together, and pinned it together.

I then sewed it together and turned the scarf right side out.

I then took the ends and put right sides together. I sewed these together as far as I could with my sewing machine.

I was left with a little hole.

I sewed this hole together by hand.

There you have it! Great way to make an ugly sweater come to life.

Make sure you pin this project to use in the future!

Linked to Romance on a Dime, Craftionary, Ladies Holiday, Serenity Now, My Repurposed Life

DIY Ruffle Tote

I had this canvas bag tucked away calling for attention. None was being given. I tend to have a lot of those items just lurking in my closet...

A friend of mine, Lauren, posted a project that she made for her daughters. I decided that this would make a great project for my niece for Christmas. Don't tell her if you see her :)

I started the project, cutting strips of fabric from three different fabrics. My width was determined by the scraps that I had. My grandma-in-law passes on a lot of fun scraps to me. Mickey became my inspiration for this project!

I made these strips just a little longer than the width of the bag. 

I then basted across the tops of the fabric strips and then ruffled them to get them to fit nicely around the bag.

I lined up the strips and then sewed them on the bag, overlapping them to cover the sewing. 

I also used pinking shears to cut the bottom of the strips. Hopefully this will keep the strips from fraying. I also added some glitter ribbon around the top to hide where I sewed on the top ruffle. 

I am pretty pleased with how this bag turned out! The only thing, I might add a little flower to the top of the bag. 

Curtain Ideas

I need your help! I have two windows that I would like to cover somehow. I am not always the best at coming up with ideas on my own though. I can see pictures, but then have problems translating them to my windows. My friend has given me suggestions, but I am curious what others think.

In the following two windows, what would you do to them? I still want to make sure that light is coming through when they are open.

Curtain 1- This is in my kitchen. 

Curtain 2: This area tend to be a little dark.

I would love for you to comment and let me know some idea that come to your mind!