Blue Jean Shorts to Skirt Part - 2

I finally found the time to finish the makeover of the girl’s blue jean shorts into a skirt. This project did not take a lot of time with the exception of the gathering of the two layers of ruffles to fit the new style of the old shorts. Once I had the ruffles ready the rest went very quickly and the skirt was done in no time.  Included in today’s post are the before and after shots and a photo shoot I did with my cute little model, my granddaughter.

Before:

After:

The transformation of the shorts to skirt was much easier then with the pants, just simple cuts up the inner thigh on each leg; carefully cutting through the seam in the center, with old blue jeans the fabric is very thick, a sharp pair of scissors works best.  Next I flattened out the fabric as best I could then cut off the legs to just a little below the zipper leaving enough room to attach the ruffles I made earlier. I was careful to make sure the inside pockets did not get caught up in the seams by pinning them out of the way while sewing on the ruffle. I added some top stitching to the skirt and ruffles to keep them from irritating my granddaughter when she moves around.  I stitched up a narrow fabric belt and tacked it to the back of the skirt at the waistline so the new belt would not become lost in the wash.  I added a few pretty blue buttons to the front of the zipper placket to keep it fun and I was done.  I purchased a new blue shirt to go with the skirt and hand stitched a rick rack bow with a button in the center to tie it into the skirt; the outfit was complete and ready to wear.

Both skirts were upcycled from pants and shorts into bright darling garments ready for their second life in a new form, recycling at its best.

My very happy granddaughter modeling her new outfits, what a cutie!

Thanks for letting me share my upcycling skirt projects with you; I had a great time making them, wait until you see what I can do with a pair of men’s designer jeans, that’s for a later date.  I still have a few easy DIY projects to share with you next so keep watching for those.  I know, I know…, I was supposed to show those today but I was just too excited about finishing the skirts, I had to share those first, thanks for understanding, you will see those next, unless I find a better project to share. (Giggles!!)

See you soon.

Laurette

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Girls Pants to Ruffled Skirt

Girls Blue Jean Shorts to Skirt

Sweatshirt to Jeweled Jacket

Sweatpants to Jeweled Skirt

Girls Pants To Ruffled Skirt

Last night I finished the makeover of the worn girls brown pants which I converted to a darling ruffled skirt.  I used the same process as the sweat pants tutorial to eliminate the excess fabric, I cut off the legs, seamed up the middle, then hemmed the brown part of the skirt before cutting, hemming and gathering fabric to make a good size ruffle.  I stitched on the ruffle then added some buttons around the pockets and on the bow; it came out very sweet and will look adorable on my granddaughter.  To complete the outfit I picked out a hot pink t-shirt from my stash and added some buttons to match the ones on the skirt, all ready to wear to school next week, she is going to look very cute as she goes off to kindergarten. (Sniffles, she is growing up way too fast!)

Before

After

This is recycling/upcycling at its best, a great way to stretch the budget when you have to dress two girls.  I am having a wonderful time with clothing makeovers; you can do so much with all the little pieces and leftovers, watch for the next one in a day or so.

See you soon.

Laurette

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Girls Pants To Skirt

Sweatshirt To Jeweled Jacket

Sweatpants To Jeweled Skirt 

Girls Pants To Skirt - Part 1

These are my granddaughter’s faded/worn jeans which still fit at the waist but are no longer the right length.  They have quite a bit of wear at the knees and at the hem line; can you guess what I plan to do with them?  If you are a regular reader I bet you know what I am going to do or at least you think you do, you may be right.

Time to audition some fabrics I thought my granddaughter might like; she is crazy about anything with blue in it.  I went to my fabric wall and pulled out some fabrics with the same chocolate brown as the pants color.  Most of what I chose had some variation of blues in it except one fabric which featured browns, pinks and oranges in the pattern. Which one do you think I chose to go with the pants???  I guess you will just have to wait and see which fabric I picked and what I did to re-purpose the pants.

This blog post is short on purpose; I joined the August Break inspired by Susannah Conway who began the bloggy break program last summer.  It was a program designed for bloggers so they could take a break during the hectic month of August.  So many writers are busy getting their children ready to go back to school, taking last minute vacations, getting ready for fall quilt/gift markets or they are swamped with deadlines for books or pattern releases.  I am personally getting ready for a trip to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary, a new website and some pattern production deadlines.  Since I did not want to leave my blog unattended I chose to go with short/quick posts or photos depending on what is going on.  You will see where I am or bits of what project I am working on.  You can also track me on Facebook if the blog post is not enough.  While I am away on my trip I will have a guest blogger filling in for me at least once, it will be lots of fun to see what someone else writes for me.  You may still see full posts and tutorials during the rest of the month as I find time to fit one in here and there, otherwise you will get shorter versions.

Thanks for letting me share part 1 of the Girl’s Pants to Skirt post and August Break, keep watching for part 2 as well as other project snippets.

See you soon.

Laurette