Saturday, April 30, 2011

Embellishing jeans

What do you do when your little one grows up and not out.. or her jeans look like she is prepared for a flood?

That is exactly the problem my daughter has with my oldest granddaughters jeans. She grows up before she grows out. If you have little one's in your life you know how expensive those jeans can be. Recently my local sewing shop had a class on how to embellish jeans, so off I went excited to learn to make designer jeans... I decided to bring a used pair of my granddaughter's old jeans that were too short just in case I goofed up. But, what I discovered was a way to get extra months of wear out of her jeans that would normally be ready for retirement.
I wish I had photographed my steps.. anyway.. hope you can understand my directions without the steps photographed.
First thing you need to do is open the seam on the inside of the legs. I let the seam out a good 6-8  inches or more, depends on how high you want to go up the leg with your design. You don't want to struggle getting the leg under your machine.
Embellish the legs first.
My instructor had this little jewel to cut out her designs to embellish. 
If you sew you probably have heard of this wonderful invention. It is called the AccuQuilt. You can see a demo here
I got this on my want list (it is a long list). But right now a bird house has this trumped.. you know the birds need a house soon. But it is next on my want list. The AccuQuilt comes with different templates of designs, and you can buy lots more. You lay your fabric on a plate, turn the wheel and presto, a perfectly cut design. It really is wonderful. Before you cut out your designs you  you need to iron wonder iron on fusible web on your fabric.. (you need to make sure both sides have adhesive) there are different brands. If you are not sure, ask for the kind of web that has double sided iron on. One side will peel off after you have ironed on the web to the fabric, stick to the jeans and iron it again.. (whew..confused.. I am)
Now.. for those of you like me that don't own one of these babies.. you can USE a coloring book or download an image. Trace the image on your fusible web, iron it on your fabric you want to embellish your jeans with, then cut the design out. Peel off the back and iron it on your jeans. Once your designs are placed and ironed on, use a small zigzag stitch to stitch them on. Now you don't have to worry about them washing off. Once you have your designs in place, you can embellish with all kinds of things.. ribbon, trims, buttons, jewels, etc.. just make sure a little one is not able to take it off.. you don't want them to put little things in their mouth.
 
Cute, huh?
Next to add the ruffles.
To make the base or the large bottom ruffle, (the one with polka dots) I measured how much I lenght I needed to add to the jeans, to make them a good lenght for my granddaughter. I added 1.5 inches or so to allow for a hem and cut my first width of fabric (one strip for each leg). For instance, the jeans may be 1 inch to short, so you need to add 1.5" for the hem.. so you need to cut the strip 2.5 inches wide. Now for the lenght, I cut the fabric 1.5 times the measurement of the bottom of the leg on the jeans. Measure from open seam all the way around, and add at least 1.5 times that amount to your lenght. Example your measurements may be 16 inches from seam to seam. So, you will cut the length 24-32 inches long.. (depending on how much tight you want your ruffle. So your widest (bottom) strip would measure 2.5 inches wide x 24 inches long. (Confused yet)? 
Now cut a second fabric to coordinate. (this is the middle layer on the ruffle). Make sure it is not as wide, so that your base fabric will show.  Repeat the same step as one as far as the width to ruffle. Now cut a third strip (this is the green ruffle on top). This strip will only be 2.5-3 inches when finished. I cut mine the width I wanted to use and finished the edges on the serger. If you don't have a serger you will need to add fabric for a hem on both sides.
I serged all my fabric to finish the edges before I ruffled.. this will make things a lot easier. Finish the bottom of all the ruffles except the narrow one.. you will need to finished both edges on this one. Ruffle the thin strip down the middle of the fabric. (This is the green fabric) You will use this piece to cover the bottom two layers. I really think you could used ribbon if you want.
After you finish the edges stack the smaller ruffle (the middle ruffle) on top of the larger ruffle (the one with dots) Pin right sides together to the bottom of the jeans and sew onto the jeans . I left the old hem on the jeans, and I sewed around the hem. Next sew the small piece on top of both ruffles. (this hides where you joined the pieces to the jeans) Now, last step is to sew the legs back together including the ruffles. Holla.. a new pair of designer jeans! It really is not as complicated as it seems. Hope I made the instructions clear enough for you. 
They really are adorable on .. have your priced designer jeans? 
Thanks for stopping by to see my jean projects. Hope it is clear enough.. I always look forward to your visits. 

Linking to









Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Gardens

I have been working like a maniac this spring to increase my garden spaces. I know it will take a couple of months to see fruits from my labor but it will be worth it. Meanwhile, I am pretty happy with my flowers planted in previous years and wanted to share some of them with you. I know I don't have a perfect garden but I love it. I love getting out there and digging around in the dirt.
Some of my knockout Roses.. love those things. 
 A closer view with the Catnip in the pic.
The other side of the walk.. see the bunny peaking out? If you follow my blog you already know I love bunnies.. they are not just for Easter for me. This Iris is purple and yellow.. a beauty.
More roses and catnip.. I think they make a wonderful combination.

Clematis, catnip, iris and roses at hubby's shed.. he still doesn't understand "prettying up his shed". 
I have to get in there and dig the iris up to move when the blooms die. Ouch!
The other side is full of light peach colored iris and a couple of the yellow. More to move.   

Some white..
I think these are a salvia.  
some new blue.. hope they do well in NC..
My first pink hydrangea.. the other's are blue and have not bloomed yet.
This is a new area I planted recently. I can't wait to see all the flowers bloom. Yep, another bunny. I planted some catnip, a Carmelia and lavender in the far bed. I just planted the magnolia.. my third try. I am going to baby this thing sooo much. I really want one.. this one is suppose to get to 4x5 which is small. Smells heavenly out there.  We just put down mulch but I am going to have to add more since the heavy storms.  
Another bed.. I will show you later.. not happy with it now. Went today to get something to replace the pansies which, have not done well.. I will move them somewhere else. I have learned a lot of moving goes into a garden. These are the wave petunias which are suppose to spread and multiply well. Oops, glad I took this pic.. can't put it that close to the catnip.. yep I have a lot of catnip, it is such a pretty filler.
I forgot what this green one is called but it was only suppose to live for one season.. I moved it inside until the frost was over. Last year it had a long tall stem w/ a beautiful white flower on it. Hope it makes it.
Something sweet about new blooms, don't you think. I wish I could get a pic of the giant bee that buzzes around the gardens all day everyday. He is huge.  
Hope you enjoyed my little garden.. I know it is not much but coming from doing nothing at all for years, I am pretty proud of it.Thanks for stopping by, please leave a message. I love to go back and see what you are up to in return.

Linking to these great blogs.. check them all out if you haven't. They are fantastic.







Friday, April 22, 2011

Easter Table


Thursday is one of my very favorite party link days. I just love the entries that are entered on Open House Party Thursdays, Tablescape Thursday and Transformation Thursday. And then you run into Flaunt it Friday, Show and Tell Friday, Inspiration Friday and Feathered Nest Friday! These are all such great parties.. if you haven't checked them out you need to take a trip over. I am excited to finally have my Easter Table pictures that my daughter took for me ready to share with you. She takes such pretty pictures. I also wanted to add a couple of pics of my bunnies I have around the house. 
I borrowed the green cabbage plates from one of my daughters. I have had the napkins and cannot tell you where they came from. The place mats, napkin rings and carrots all come from Pier One. I used my everyday china Mikasa, English Countryside. 
My MIL gave me the crochet dresser scarf years ago.    
The little bunnies are vintage from the family.
This bunny came from Home Goods. The lambs also came from Pier One.  
This bunny is sitting in my hutch.
Here is the whole group of them in the hutch.  I got the candle holders and the plan bunnies came from the thrift store

I love this new guy from Home Goods.
On the porch.
Thanks for dropping by.. hope you have a wonderful Easter. As much as I love my bunnies, I am grateful for the true meaning of Easter. God bless.

Linking up to party at