How to Shorten Jeans and Keep the Original Hem

If you're on the shorter side like me, you may find that a lot of jeans are too long for you. Or if you're in between inseam sizes, you have to choose between jeans that are a bit too long or a bit too short. Either way, you're faced with jeans that are the wrong length or the expense of taking them to the tailor.

In this tutorial, I'm going to show you how to shorten your jeans and keep the original hem to give it a professional finish. Traditional hemming calls for cutting off the excess fabric and re-hemming the bottom. In jeans, that causes the hem to lose the signature distressed and worn in look of most denim hems. It then becomes quite obvious that the jeans were altered. I'm going to show you how to keep the hem so that the jeans look as close to the original as possible. Even the underside of the jeans will have a clean finish, so if you still wanted to wear your jeans cuffed (for fashion rather than necessity), you could still do that.

Dress to Skirt: Clothing Upcycle

Last week in my Yoga Pants to Leggings post, I wrote about how I was going through my closet and wanted to tackle some refashion projects. I must admit I started this particular project over six months ago. I got the idea for it and proceeded to take apart the zipper and detach the bodice from the skirt. And then...that was it. I shamefully left in pieces in my "to-sew" pile for months. I would like to say that it was just because I couldn't figure out exactly how I wanted to approach it the refashion. However, it was probably a bit of laziness and forgetfulness too.

After tackling the easy project last week, I felt motivated to finally do this project. Now let me begin by saying I really love this dress and I've had it for several years. It was easy to wear and went with everything. And it had pockets! But truth be told, it never fit that well and was a bit uncomfortable. The bodice was too tight on my ribcage and too loose on my bust (a perpetual problem with ready-to-wear garments for me). It hadn't left my closet in a while, but I couldn't bring myself to get rid of it. So I decided to try and refashion it and turn it into something comfortable that I would actually wear. I technically started this project in the fall envisioning it as a cute fall skirt that I could wear with tights and boots. Well, this will speak to the versatility of this fabric, because now it will become a cute spring and summer skirt that I can wear with booties or sandals.

Now let's get to how I did this. This is a fairly simple project. It will work for most fit and flare dresses that have an attached gathered skirt. The front of the refashioned skirt has a flat waistband and a gathered skirt for a polished look, and the back has an elastic waistband to make it easy and comfortable to wear. The elastic waistband also makes the skirt more versatile because I can either wear it on my waist or pull it down and wear it on my hips. So let's get started...

Yoga Pants to Leggings: Clothing Upcycle

It's that time of year again. It's springtime and warmer weather means more time outside, blooming flowers... and spring cleaning. I love how a home feels after a thorough cleaning. However, I'm not such a big fan of the actual cleaning part. As a way to put off doing some actual cleaning, I decided to go through my closet. It's been a bit warmer outside now so it was time to put away my winter clothing and accessories and take out my summer clothes. I wanted to take this opportunity to figure out what I'm still actually wearing. If there was a piece I haven't worn in awhile I like to ask myself these questions:

Does it fit well? If it doesn't, can I alter it to make it fit better?

Does it need repairs?

If it needs to be altered or repaired, it goes into my to-sew pile. Which, shamefully, hasn't been touched in much too long. If it still fits and it is in good condition, that usually means I just don't like it anymore. In that case I'll put it in a pile of clothes to be donated. If it can't be repaired or is in bad shape, then I'll try to salvage it. I remove and save any buttons or working zippers (you can never have too many!) and use the fabric as sewing scraps or cut it up for cleaning rags.

At this point, my pile of things to sew or repair has built up quite a bit. To get things started, I decided to begin with one of the easier projects. I've had these yoga pants for several years and the quality is great. However, they are just so flared. I definitely prefer a bootcut to my pants, or bet yet, leggings! Working out in flared pants just tends to get in the way. I prefer leggings when exercising, so I decided to see if I could turn this pair of yoga pants into leggings. I don't wear these anymore anyway, so it'd be like getting a new pair of leggings for free! It was so easy and successful I wanted to kick myself for not doing it sooner.

You could do this upcycle with any pair of flared stretch pants you have lying around. This would be a great project for pants that are too short since leggings have a shorter inseam anyway.

Ready to see how I did it? Let's get started!

10 for Tuesday: DIY Valentine's Day Fashion

I love Valentine's Day for all the sweets and chocolate, as well as all the red, pink, and hearts that seem to be everywhere. I also love it because it's an excuse to eat all the sweets and chocolate, as well as to wear all the red, pink, and hearts. Valentine's Day isn't complete without adding a touch of love to your outfit. Most of the tutorials below seemed based around adding hearts to everything. But it's the one time of year when you can without feeling like you're dressing like a little girl. And I <3 hearts. So without further ado, here are some DIYs for refashioning your clothes and adding accessories to get into the Valentine's Day spirit.

Easy Bikini Update: Adding metal rings

I'm going to share with you today this quick, DIY bikini update. This is great for adjusting the fit of bikini bottoms, and the rings help keep the bikini in place (i.e. less awkward ride up in the back). Since the rings add space, you could also add these to bikinis that already fit to change the look or help stop ride up. If you want to adjust a bikini that's too small, I'd recommend purchasing larger rings to help add width to the bikini.

Bermudas to Shorts: Quick Tutorial

I've challenged myself to buy less clothing this summer. I want to start sewing more of my own clothes and to spend less money. Well, those of you that buy fabric know that it's not always cheaper to actually make your own clothes. So part of how I want to save money is to shop my closest. There are plenty of clothes I own, but rarely wear. This is for several reasons: they don't fit well anymore, they need repairing, or I'm just tired of them. If the garment is in relatively good shape, I want to start finding ways to make me want to wear them again.

Like a lot of women, I jumped on the Bermuda shorts fad a few years ago. I was a little tired of shorts that barely covered my backside. I still own a pair I bought 6 years ago, but rarely wore. I really like the material and it cost a bit of money, so I held onto them. But they are not flattering on me at all. They are all wrong for my body type and don't fit correctly (I blame the fact I used a gift card to why I bought them in the first place).

The first item I need to "fix" is these Bermuda shorts. I'm pear shaped, and as they are now the waist on me seems to be a size bigger than the thighs. It caused to them bunch unattractively. So, I thought that if I could turn them into shorts it would solve this problem--and it did if I say so myself. Just take a look at these before and after pictures.