Onesies into T-shirts

A couple of weeks ago, my aunt asked if I have a sewing machine. When I said yes she asked if I could do a project for her. She explained that her daughter, who is 2 and now starting to potty train, has a lot of cute onesies, but those snaps just don't work with potty training. She asked if I could make them into shirts for her, and I said yes. 

A couple of days later, the package arrived in the mail with five long sleeve and five short sleeve onesies.

She also sent a shirt for the length she was looking for.

When I laid the first onesie down with the Americana shirt on top, I realized that even with cutting the onsies right at the hips, there would be no room to hem.

I made a cut straight across, as low as I could and decided I would work from there.

With the bottom cut off, I thought about the different ways I could fix/hem the shirt. I had the idea to just use another type of fabric to make a hem, when I realized I had all the fabric from the bottom part of the onesie that I had just cut off! It was the same fabric, so it would of course work perfectly. 

I cut along the dotted line (below) to use the edge of the bottom of the onesie as a hem for the shirt.

Laying those pieces straight out, there was plenty to work with! 

I cut the pieces about 1 inch bigger than the width of the shirt and pinned them together, right sides in.

Using a 1/2 inch seam allowance, I sewed the pieces together on both ends, making sure to stitch back and forth a couple of times. I then turned this new "hem" right-side-out and starting with matching the seams, I pinned it to the bottom of the shirt.

Using my longest stitch possible, I sewed a straight line all the way around, attaching the hem to the bottom of the shirt...all finished!

I repeated this process for all the shirts and was quite pleased with how they turned out. 

10 shirts ready for potty training days. 

~K.A.N.

Jeans to Shorts

This summer I discovered that I didn't have a lot of shorts/capris that I liked, so rather than buying some, I decided to make some...not from scratch. 

I have several pairs of jeans because most of them are from thrift stores or hand-me-down. I love jeans that are only a dollar or two! When they are free, even if they don't fit perfectly, I take them because I know I'll find something to do with them. 

I have a few pairs of jeans that are too short. In the winter, I tuck my jeans into my boots so it doesn't matter if they are too short. However, I have now purchased some skinny jeans which fit much better into those boots. This gives me some jeans to work with.

Turning jeans into shorts:

This is actually a very simple fix and is perfect for the hot summer weather! 

Both of these jeans were given to me and they both fit in all aspects except length...perfect to turn into shorts.

I first put the jeans on and mark the length I want. 

I then took the jeans off and laid them down, making sure both layers were laying flat. Using my rotary blade and cutting mat, I cut a straight line (parallel to the original hem of the jeans) about an inch below where I marked. 

I then used my measuring tape to make sure I was cutting both legs to be the same length and cut the other leg. After the legs were cut, I tried the jeans on again to pin to the length I wanted. I pinned all the way around both legs, and carefully took the shorts off. 

At this point, I adjusted any pins as needed. 

Using a jean needle and thread, I added a double line hem around the bottom of both pairs. On the pair on the left, the lines are about an inch apart and on the pair on the right, the lines are about 1/4 inch apart. 

And that's it! New shorts to wear!

~K.A.N.