Fixing Jeans

I had two pairs of jeans that needed some fixing, so I'm going to show you what I did to both in this post. 

The first pair had a rip which I didn't notice and wore to school one day...that's embarrassing!

The second pair had back pockets that I didn't like. I would always try to wear long shirts to cover the pockets because I love how the jeans fit. Instead of always trying to find long shirts to wear, I decided to replace the back pockets.

I pulled out my box of extra jeans and found a pair with pockets that closely resembled the color of the jeans that needed new pockets.

 The first step was to unpick the pockets from the new pair of jeans. I did one pocket and laid it over the old pockets to make sure they fit and didn't look strange. 

I decided they were good and unpicked the rest of the pockets. 

I then pinned the new pockets in place...

And sewed them right down. I used a jean needle, sturdy thread, and went slow, making sure to get the edges nice and secure. And that was it...I now have a "new" pair of jeans!

As for the jeans with the rip, I decided to just use a small piece of jean to just patch up the hole. 

I cut a piece out from another pair of jeans, just bigger than the rip and following the same general shape.

I laid it down to make sure it was the right size. You don't want it too big, but it's better to be a little big than too small!

Carefully, I pinned the piece in place.

Then, I just zig-zag stiched all the way around the fabric! From the outside of the jeans, you can barely even see the stitching and with the fabric secured in place, the rip won't be moving around or getting any bigger. 

~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.

The Jean Quilt

This was by far my biggest, most frustrating, and most exciting project I have completed yet. This was also the first idea of my craft adventures...so what I consider to be 'the one that started it all'. 

I had the idea to make a jean quilt because I had a couple of pairs of jeans that just didn't fit right anymore, so why not recycle and make something out of them? After deciding on square sizes, the size of quilt I wanted and collecting several pairs of jeans, I started cutting...and I continued cutting...for a long time. Finally, I had enough squares. 

I was so excited, but also now realized what a project I had gotten myself into. Oh boy. The next step was to lay out the squares in an arrangement I liked. All I wanted was a good spread of the different shades and the small squares spread out relatively even.

This looked good to me! Now...to piece this monster together. I started with the small squares in groups of four: sew two together, sew two together, sew the two sets of two together to make a large square made up of four small squares. 

(first small square complete)

When those were complete, I began with the rows, sewing the vertical sides of the squares together. This gave me 14 rows total, which I sewed together. I then added belt buckles, labels and other decorative things to add some dimension. This finished the top of the quilt! At this point I felt like I had done so much and yet I had so much left to do!

With the top of the quilt complete, I was ready to put it together with the batting and backing. The batting was graciously bought by my grandma and the backing was the flat sheet from a sheet set. Buying the sheet set was cheaper than buying that much fabric and was also all in one piece. It also gave us a matching fitted sheet and two pillowcases! That is a steel. My wonderful husband helped unpick the edges of the sheet and I ironed those down. The backing, batting and top of the quilt were laid down flat and pinned all over to hold it together. 

Now, to quilt it. I had decided to just quilt in the ditch between all the squares, both directions. This was the hardest, most frustrating job of the entire quilt. The first time I tried was a complete fail and I was so frustrated that I didn't even want to do any more. I left the room. After a long time, Nathan came and found me to tell me that he had unpicked it for me (he is so good), it was going to be put away for that day, but as long as I relaxed, I would finish it. He was right. With enough time, some muscle (jean quilts are very heavy), and lots of patience, I finished the quilting. Using my new rotary set, I was able to give the edges a nice clean cut. 

The only step left was the binding. I used some navy blue cotton fabric that I already had and followed the steps given here to bind my quilt. Finally, finally, finally it was finished. 

Joy and relief flooded my whole body. I was so happy to be done and so excited about how it turned out! 

~K.A.N.