Nessesity is my motivation to sewing

As you see below, a three year old naps. This is a rare occurrence so I jumped on my sewing machine since baby 2 was also asleep.



Some of you might know and be experiencing warmer temperatures. Since summer is coming, my daughter is in need of capris. I couldn't wait to do a refashion on a pair of jeans for her. I found this pair of jeans last year in a garage sale for 25 cents! She wore them a couple times in the winter and now the snowman was ready to go. I am determined to get my 25 cents worth out of these pants. You can do the same with a pair around your house, from D.I./Goodwill, or garage sale. Not only can you make them into capris but for the winter you can add material to some high water pants and make them last a little longer.
Here you go.

1) Get a pair of jeans and cut them at desired length or skip this step if you are wanting to lengthen the pants.

Goodbye snowman!

2) Cut fabric 4 1/2 inches (toddler size) by WOF (Width of Fabric). For a baby size go 2 1/2 inches by WOF, little girl 61/2 inches by WOF.
Then trim WOF 20 inches on the the fold (make sure you line up the fold on the left side and cut off from the right side). Your strip of fabric should be 40 inches long when opened up.




3) Take one strip and line up the fabric right sides together and sew the 4 1/2 inches. Then zig zag stitch the raw edge to prevent fraying (sorry the below pic isn't good). You want your zig zag stitch as close together as possible.


4) You should have one big loop/band. Zig Zag stitch the bottom of the entire loop/band. Fold the zig zag stitch so that the fabric is wrong sides together and top stitch for a finished look at the bottom.


5) Now do a gather at the top of your band. I used Pink Fig's tutorial on gathering.

It will look like this when you are done.

6) Take your gathered ruffle and line it up with one leg of the jeans right sides together.

You can't see it but the jeans are directly underneath the ruffle. Remember, right sides together.

7) Finish raw edges. Then fold the finish edge upward on the inside and top stitch on the front (look at pic below). Repeat Steps 3-7 for the other leg.

I chose to add some ribbon (optional).

8) Last, I appliqued some fabric on top of the jeans. This too is optional.

TA-DAA!!!!

When my daughter woke up from her nap, she was so surprised! She said, "For me?? Thanks mommy!" Totally worth it!

My inspiration came from Pink Fig's Darling Jeans and this boutique I stumbled upon. Check out this boutique. They want $70.00 for a pair a jeans that you can make in an afternoon. Have fun! Send me your creations to strictlysewing@yahoo.com. I guess this is my first tutorial. I'm new at this so I am sure there will be lots of mistakes/questions. E-mail them to me and I will try my best to answer them.

Just had to share cat number 2.

No, it isn't a giant cat hiding behind trees. Unfortunately, those are weeds that were in our backyard. They are gone now. I'm referring to the weeds.

Have a great 3-day weekend!

Bloopers

As promised...

And for a little randomness. The few people that do visit us say, "Oh, you have a cat." The answer is no. We have four cats that belong to neighbors that like to call our backyard home.

At least we don't have to feed them. We just get the joy of cleaning up after them.

Goodies from St. George

We just got back from visiting family and friends in St. George. We had a wonderful time despite our girls getting very sick towards the end of our visit. Unfortunately, it has gone full circle. Me on the ride home and now my husband. I did get to do a little shopping and really enjoyed it. There is a place called Lazy Daisy Cottage that carries wonderful fabric, patterns, and boutique jewelry. It is located on a street of old houses that have been converted into businesses. It is so cute! The customer service was great!

Below is a pic of fabric that I have and I purchased another coordinating fabric to go with it that is on the bottom of the pic.

Again, coordinating fabric. I purchased the above orange fabric to go with the below blue fabric.

This was a freebie fat quarter of fabric for making a purchase at Lazy Daisy Cottage. It also came with a free pattern to make a bag out of 6 six fat quarters. Check out their blog, it's so cute!!

This fabric came in a kit to make a Pillowcase Dress.

I bought this fabric to make another pillow case dress.

These are cute flower clips that can be worn in the hair made from fabric. I bought some because I hope to make some of my own.

Last, a beautiful Barbie dress that my friend Amy made and gave me. She has an etsy shop called Modest Barbie Style. Check out her blog. She makes Modest clothing for Barbies. I have reconsidered having Barbie in the home now that I can purchase Modest clothing for her. Her work is superb!! The clothing she sews is very detailed!! You may think it is easy to sew for Barbie but it's not. She has already worked out the kinks with many trial and error pieces. Barbies hips are very wide and she can make pants for Barbie that don't show her butt crack when she is sitting down. I wish they made pants like that for us grown-up women.

She's even created Barbie's unmentionables. Oops! I just mentioned them.

I checked at Target and they charge $5.00 an outfit for Barbie that is made from cheap material and there is a lack of material. I think the pricing at Modest Barbie is very reasonable, especially since I have seen the work that goes into each piece of clothing. My oldest daughter is going to get her first Barbie for her B-day in a few months so I plan on getting Modest Barbie clothing. Just wanted to share this neat new business. I really think my friend Amy is doing a great thing!

Thanks for reading.

Back from Vay-K

Can't wait to show the goodies I bought in St. George. Will post soon. In the meantime, check out McKinley's Closet. Cute crocheting patterns!!! There is a drawing so enter by May 23rd and you could win a cute pattern!!!

The Gift of Time

That is what my husband gave me for Mother's Day. Yesterday I finished an apron out of this yummy fabric below for my mom for Mother's Day. Also, I finally pulled out fabric and a pattern for my "Easter" outfit and decided it would be for Mother's day. I stayed up late Friday night sewing and cutting out fabric for both projects . Then on Saturday my hubby was great and helped watched the kiddos so I could finish my skirt and apron. It feels so good to check off a project on my long sewing list.

Yummy and Calorie-free!

My new skirt (finally, something for me, ahhh!!)

Up close.

I used Moda Lila Tueller Santorini fabric and the Belle skirt pattern by My Favorite Things.

I would like to reflect and share a couple of sewing lessons I learned and relearned.

Lesson 1: Those triangle notches that you are suppose cut outward from the pattern piece really mean something.

Lesson 2: Just because I've sewn a project once doesn't make me an expect. Read the directions over again just to be on the safe side. It saves you from unpicking.

Next

I finally got pics of my girls in their Lydia Dress. We really should have taken the pics before church but there wasn't time. Our church starts at 9:00 and if you don't get there 30 minutes early, you end up on the fold-out chairs. Fold out chairs are no fun with kids so we really try to get there early. The girls weren't in the best of moods when we came home. I'm definitely posting bloopers later.

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Flashback project

I hope you aren't sick of Pink Fig Patterns. My apologies if you are. My girls wore these dresses this past Sunday. B is wearing the green dress (made two years ago) and C is wearing the pink/green dress that I made for Easter last year. Both were made from the Lily top pattern.

I love this pic. It is always a matter of luck when the camera catches the right moment. These kiddos move so much, you never know what you are gonna get.

"Sister, sister....."

Maybe I'll work for J Crew.

Digital cameras are the best! I have so many bloopers. Wanna see them? Maybe next time. People at church often ask me, "When do you have time to sew?" Answer: Some of the dresses and pants were sewn before baby two was born. If I have completed a new sewing project, you can bet that my house is a mess and that I have baggy eyes because I sew when the kids are asleep. That is how I have time to sew.