Sunday, February 23, 2014

Sunday Sew-Day: Denim, Part I

I had such a blast making over all the blazers in my refash closet, but all good things must come to an end. Luckily, I have no shortage of garments just waiting for their turn under the needle. So without further ado, let us now turn our attention to: DENIM!

I don't know about you, but I live in my jeans. All these skirts and dresses I make, sadly, just don't get the amount of time in the spotlight they deserve. Some time, sure, but not as mush as they should. My jeans, on the other hand, get so much use they often end up ripped, stained, and/or threadbare. Such was the situation in which I found myself recently. It's time to retire a few pair to yardwork or the scrap fabric pile, and call up some replacements. Enter three pair of pants from last fall's clothes swap. Okay, so one of them's not denim, but I figured I'd tackle them while I was doing the others.

Skinnies! - Before

They were all a tad short for flared jeans, but for skinnies? Absolutely! So I put each pair on inside-out and pinned the sides of one leg.

Skinnies! - In Progress

Then I took them off and pinned the second leg to be symmetric. Since the jeans have a welted seam on the inner legs, I took in my extra fabric just behind the seams. That way, the seam can barely even be seen from the outside.

Skinnies!Skinnies!

For the khakis, I picked out the cuffs and chopped off the extra fabric before I took in the legs. And after taking them in, I gave them a new hem.

Skinnies!Skinnies!

And done. Three new pairs of pants to add to the rotation.

Skinnies! - After



Skinnies - Before & After

11 comments:

  1. Oh!!! Your solution to took in the extra fabric just behind the seams is FANTASTIC!!!
    I never would have thought!!!
    Thanks al lot for sharing!
    Love, Irma from Italy

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    1. You are very welcome, Irma! Glad I could help!

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  2. omg I have to try this its looks so simple.
    I tried once but I didn't go so well but this way looks simpler

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    1. I've also tried using another pair of skinnies that fit well as a sort of pattern, laying them on top of the flares and pinning around the legs. But depending on how the two fabrics stretch, sometimes it's a crap shoot. I've made some waaaay too skinny that way and couldn't even get them on. I definitely prefer the pinning-on-my-own-legs method. Just be careful not to stick yourself!

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  3. I don't think I understand what you did with the seams (I'm a total beginner). Can you re-explain? By the way, I love all the refashioning you do! You're amazing!

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    1. Thanks, Nico! If you look at the pic above of the inside jeans leg, on the left is how I took in the outer leg seam, by pinching the fabric along the seam so my line of stitching is equidistant to the seam on either side. On the right, you see the inner leg seam. Instead of folding along the welted seam and taking it in there (which would have left a weird bump on my inner thighs in addition to not looking like a "normal" pair of jeans anymore), I folded the fabric just to the side of the welted seam, so my line of stitching runs right along next to the existing seam and all the fabric taking in came from the back of the leg.

      Does that make more sense? If not, I can try to take some more pictures and post a better explanation. Just let me know!

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    2. I still don't understand 😭

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  4. Hey, Carissa, I wanted to let you know I nominated you for The Sunshine Blog Award! You can read more about it in this post: http://gladness-of-heart.blogspot.com/2014/02/a-dos-of-sunshine-blog-awards.html

    You really have been a source of inspiration and creativity in the blog world! Thanks for all you do. :)

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  5. I've noticed the different properties of material as you mentioned in your reply to Kay. It's too bad, because it's a lot harder (for me anyway) to pin clothes on yourself properly! Thanks for the tip about the seam right behind the welted seam - never would have thought to do that.

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    1. Indeed, it is trickier (and more dangerous!) to pin clothes on your body. I really need to get/make a dress form, not that it would've helped with these pants, of course!

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