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..