DIY: Take pants in. Make them skinny. Easy!

Hello everyone!

Like promised yesterday,

I have another tutorial for you to take pants in.

The before and after picture are not as shocking, but they are still great!

I bought 2 pais of colored jeans at target in the tween section a while back for very cheap! (They are size 16 for teenagers. I usually wear a size 4 in adults, but the pants tend to be too long, so these were great!)

The Red ones

The Teal ones

Even though, they were a size 16, I still had to take them in because they were not skinny. 

One pair (the teal ones, which I forgot to take a before picture) were way looser than the red ones for some reason (even though they were both a size 16). 

So, here it is. Unlike yesterday's tutorial, today we will be taking in the outer sides of the pants..

Just like yesterday's tutorial, put them on inside out,

And start pinning the extra fabric together from the outside seam like so: (you only have to do one of the legs, unless they are extremely uneven)

Use tailor's chalk to go over the pins (or like me, use a pencil :) or washable markers). That's where your new seam will be

You can now remove the pins an re-potisions them for easier removal as you sew

This is an optional step: BEFORE sewing the new seam, remove the extra fabric leaving about 1/4 inch next to the pencil marks. DONT thow away this piece of fabric, it will be used at a later step

Now proceed to sew the new seam (I used white thread for the tutorial, but I'd recomend matching your thread to the fabric color)

If you didn't trim the fabric before sewing, you can trim it now.

You can use either one of the following steps:

Option 1: Remember that piece of fabric we just trimmed? well, place it on the opposite leg, matching the old seams and pin in place.

Mark where the new seam should go with your pencil (or  tailor's chalk, or marker, or whatever!)

Remember: you are tracing what you cut out, so your seam will be 1/4 inch in from that trimmed edge

Repeat the process done with the other leg to get your new seam

OR:

Option 2: If you don't have the trimmed piece of fabric, or if you endend up cutting off more, use the leg with the new seam as a guide for the other leg.

Instead of using the trimmed piece of fabric, place the leg with the new seam on top of the other one, aligning them like so:

You can now trace the new seam line (lift up the 1/4 inch of fabric next to the white thread seam, and trace the new seam on the unmarked leg)

Repeat the same process as the other leg 

Finish off the seam with a serger or a zig zag stitch

 Here is the finished product!

Some tips:

Make sure you blend the new seam with the old seam

If you start taking in below the pockets, make sure you re-inforce that area (it receives a lot of stress)

Look at the old seam for any other place that were reinforced

Use thread that matches your fabric color and that is for jeans (althoug, I used regular thread and it's holding up pretty well)

Use a needle for jeans 

DIY: Skinny Pants

Hello everyone!

Today I will share an easy way to take baggie pants and turn them into super cute skinnies!

Today's tutorial works great for pants that have too low of a crotch area, or just need a little bit of take in

Tomorrow, I will share another way to take pants in, so stay tunned :)

Start off with your baggie pants and put them on inside out like so,

You will start pinning on the inner thigh area.. BE CAREFUL!! don't stab yourself with pins :)

How to do it? Use your hands to press the fabric together as tight as you want it and then add pins as you go along. Do this on both of the inner parts of your legs as well as your crotch area (as needed)

I only needed to take them in a tad, that's why the pins are right by the seam area.

Now, for this technic, I like to remove the pins as I sew (without any markings). If you don't feel comfortable doing this, look at this tutorial to add markings in order to keep a straighter line.

Since you are making a new seam in the crotch area (which is one of the areas that receive the most stress), make sure you double-triple-quadruple reinforce it, like so..

I then proceeded to add a zigzag seam right next to my original stitch just for safety purposes!

If you have a serger and feel comfortable enough sewing denim with it, you could re-inforce it with you serger, if you don't, a zigzag stitch will do the work!

Trim the excess fabric next to the zigzag stitch, and iron flat

Your skiny pants are ready to be worn!

(Like the dip-dye effect? Check out this tutorial to learn how to make them!)

DIY Ombre Shirt or Pants

So, I made this little tutorial a while back (spring 2012?) and I am finally putting it up!

I will teach you how to make anything ombre (gradient). I transformed a gray tank top and a pair of old gray pants into awesome ombre pieces!
First off, for the gray pants, I soaked them in a water/bleach solution (about 1/2 cup for 4 or 5 gallons of water.. Or read the label on the bleach bottle) I let them sit over night.. They turned out fine, but since I didn't move them at all, there were some parts that were still kind of gray (a very subtle tie-dye look), so I bleached them again and they were now off white... perfect for dying pink!

Here is the rest of the tutorial if you are starting out with an item that is already white OR like me, your item is a lighter color (gray) and you want to add a darker color.

1. Soak the whole piece of clothing in warm water (making sure is ALL wet!)..
2. Now, soak about 3/4 of the item in the bath, and pull it out slowly so about 1/2 of it is still in the bath.
Like so... This will give it a nice blending line

Let stand for 5 mins, mix for a few seconds (move the bottom of the shirt around in the dye bath, so you wont get fake "wrinkles" of dye)..
Dip 3/4" of the shirt once again..

Repeat these few steps 4-6 times..

Rinse, and wash..
If you like the result, you are done!!

And tada!
From a boring gray shirt, to a cool obre black and gray shirt...


And a brand new pair of pants!! Now I just have to take them in to make them skinnies..