Revamped jeans at the Frankfort Farmer's Market

A few weeks ago, one of my yoga teachers asked me to repair these jeans. Here is the end result featuring a wood grain batik from my sweet bee sister:

community sewing studio class - pants to skirt, part 2

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For a longer skirt, we cut up the inseam and pulled out some stitching.

Some possiblities for an insert in the front of the skirt and some applique for embellishing.

A lightweight pair of pants and a pieced skirt:

Measuring for length and then for width of the flouce, to be sure it's the same size as the bottom of the waistband section of the skirt.

Using a pinking shear to trim the edges so they don't fray.

The next artist class is the Make your own Hat Workshop with our friends Nadia, Sonja and Amy Daniels Moehle. We are going to be making Greta Garbo inspired hats from recycled materials. Nadia will also show you the color wheel and talk about how to choose colors.

It's on Sunday, May 22, 1-4pm, at the Grow Benzie community sewing studio, $20. Let us know if you can make it! It's warm and green in the greenhouse too, so stop by and see what's growing.

community sewing studio class - pants to skirt

Here's a review of one of the first classes held at the sewing studio at Grow Benzie!

It starts with a pair of pants, or in this case, some tiny jeans. We cut off the legs just below the back pockets, and just above the crotch (not my favorite word, but for lack of a better one just now, there it is). Using the leftover legs, cut four curved pieces, 2" - 4" wide, using as much of the leg as possible.

Sew the curved pieces together to make a flounce for the bottom of your skirt. Pin the right side of the flounce to the right side of the skirt and stitch, leaving a couple of inches unsewn at the ends of the flounce. Once you have done this, you can see where the ends of the flounce can be stitched together, so they will fit all the way around the skirt. If it's not long enough, insert another piece into your flounce. Finish sewing flounce to skirt.

You can use any kind of pants for this recycled+revamped project!

And at the top, you see the adult size, with a wide flounce. This was a bit wider and more curved so it took a lot more pieces to make up the flounce, but Erin did not give up, she persisted and ended up with two great skirts after two hours of class. Way to go, Erin!
On the hem, you can use a regular stitch about 1/4" from the bottom to keep the fabric from unravelling too much. And if it gets stringy after washing, just trim as you would your favorite frayed jeans. 

Please feel free to post links to your revamped jean skirt projects, it would be fun to see them!

revamped jeans to skirt

Here's a tiny version of my favorite jean skirt. It's comfy with plenty of pockets (of course, I love them so, you know!). It's especially fun over a pair of leggings with some groovy boots. On Sunday, I'll be teaching a class at our Community Sewing Center - the dream has become a reality! We have two new sewing machines so far, and are raising $$$ for four more! Back to the class, which is at 1pm. Bring your own pants or choose from the stash we have collected. Better yet, join us tonight, Friday from 7-9pm for a clothing swap!

This one is serged on the hem, but it can be left raw, and just stitched with a straight seam so it won't unravel.

a fabulous new book about thrifting, recycling and sewing!

Once in a while you find a book or a person that is totally inspiring. That happened to me recently, when I discovered Jenny and Re-Sew, thanks to my crafty friend Kris over at Resweater who is hosting a giveaway for the book. Soulmates, I'm telling you! How incredible to know that rather than being odd, as I always imagined people thought, there are many more people who love the same things I do and they are all extraordinary! In honor of this realization and to help spread the word about this cool book, here's another giveaway, a tutorial this time. It's inspired by the concept of the book, and is for a sweet little zippered pouch. 

To enter, leave a comment here.
To enter again, become a follower (1st timers only on this round please).
For another entry, blog about it or share it on facebook.
For yet another entry, become a follower over at Jenny's blog, thewildcards.com
And finally, if you buy the book and comment here, you get five entries!

Comments will be open until next Friday, March 11 and will be announced on Saturday!


Everyone who responded will get a copy of the tutorial for the "zippy" pouch!

community sewing center success! 35 tablecloths completed for big event!

We did it! In a few weeks time, a couple of dedicated volunteers took a big pile of cotton fabric and old tablecloths and made all these tablecloths for the big Ho-Down fundraising event, which was a huge success! Not only did we keep plastic from being used, we also saved $8/table in cloth rentals. Now we have great tablecloths to use and or rent for future events.

Using bandannas for our guide, we cut out 22" squares of everything, and combined them with a few larger pieces on each cloth. Then they were hemmed and pressed for the big event.

You can see how nice it is to sew in this space, with the big windows and door to a little patio.

Classes start this fall for basic sewing, and revamping kid's clothing from adult cast-offs. I'm thinking we'll have to try these simple skirts that Amanda described yesterday.

One of my crafty friends came by and organized our shelves for us. She is an interior designer with a great eye for organizing. She also helped me with the curtains. Thank you so much, Marcy!

Starting this fall, we are having a denim drive, so bring your old jeans! All jeans are welcome whether they are torn, tattered, stained, dark, light, colors, etc... You can see the flirty skirt that I love in action here, and a preview of the long wrap skirt which is quickly becoming my other favorite jean skirt.

recycled denim jean skirt - flirty!

Just posted these in my etsy shop, I have several made from old pairs of jeans, and want to figure out how to post the sizing. Any thoughts? They ride really low on the hips. Measurements are about 3-4" smaller than your actual hip measurement. This weekend I wore them with leggings and a long shirt, tucked in, so it was quite cozy. And the pockets! I could go on and on about how I adore pockets for holding things like camera, phone, hankie, paper bits, lip balm, cash, keys, etc.  It's nice to have belt loops for a cool belt or scarf.

And this outtake from our photo shoot is a perfect glimpse into my reality.

The sleeveless turtleneck is a very large black cashmere sweater with the sleeves removed and side seams taken in a bit. It's exactly what I had in mind when I started the project. That makes me so happy!



When I was teaching in GR at the UICA for Artworks, one of my students wore a skirt like this one day, and I loved it and was inspired. It's been through a year or two of R&D and it's still at the front of my closet.

hemming jeans tutorial

keeping original hem intact!

I just used this on a pair of little pants, removing the cutesy stuff and reattaching the hem. It worked great!

repairing denim jeans

While browsing today, I found this great tutorial about mending jeans.
Amy, this one's for you!