Its all true, the boogie girl is real, and you've found her. She knits, sews, spins, does pottery and writes it all down in this blog.
Friday, April 07, 2006
Decision #2
Maybe I can't be called indecisive anymore....?
I went at the jeans with my biggest scissors.
The jeans are these really old flared bell bottom legged things. I wore them around the house and I never bothered to adjust the hem so they dragged. They got all frayed and gross. They really were unattractive. The fit was in no way flattering. It wasn't just the legs that were bad. they were tight in the wrong spots and loose in funny places.
Really they were just a piece of material to cover my butt so I didn't walk around all day in my oh so sexy underwear.
Of course one day I forgot that I had these hideous jeans on when I went out of the house. Now I don't leave the house often so you think I would put more effort in trying to look semi normal and not the harried mom that I am. I seriously just forgot what I was wearing. Not a good sign. I probably had a booger hanging out of my nose for all I know.
I decided at that point the jeans needed to go somewhere but being thrifty, I hate to throw things away. A skirt it shall be!
Here's how to do it.
1.
Cut up the legs at the inseam, leaving the bulky part of the seam to the front. Or not. I just like it that way, but there are other ways you can do it. Bulky seams in the back, or one bulky seam in the front, one in the back.
2.
Cut up the crotch to a little before the zipper seam in the front and enough in the back so it lays flatter.
3.
Cut off a piece of the legs at about the same level. If you have someone around to help you measure off how long you need the skirt to be, it helps. Leave an extra couple of inches for seaming, if you want to do that.
4.
Pin. Make sure the skirt is laying flat and pin a piece of the leg to the inside on both the front and the back. This is the part where having another skirt that fits you to take measurements from and to see how wide you need it. Don't hobble yourself and you don't need too much flare.
This is a good point to try it on and see if you like the fit. Be careful or pin it with safety pins.
5.
Sew the seams down
The arrow shows the line that I choose to sew on. Take it slow, you'll be sewing through a lot of material. It might help tom ake sure you have the proper type of needle installed in your machine.
6.
Turn your skirt inside out and clip the seams so you won't have all the bulk.
7.
Trim the hem. I'm leaving mine to fray a bit, I pass them through the washer once before I wear them.
You can always fold it under and sew the hem for a more polished skirt. I swear that once it starts to fray and it's on a real person that has actual legs it will look so much better. I'll see if I can get a picture of me in it.
I've done reconstructed skirts like this using a contrasting material for the insert too. It's good especially when you don't have enough leg to make it work.
This is the very smart Janine that new the shawl was crying out for fringe - thank you Janine!