Pink shorts fix, refashion 54

Today, no dyeing is involved in this refashion. I need more shorts. I have put on some weight after being gluten free for a number of reasons. I am healthy again and I am happy for that. But I need more shorts. Found these actually in the men's section. But actually are ladies shorts from LL Bean. Too big, too mom-ish per se but I just love pink.

First I un-did the hem and cut off the bottom. I was about 3 inches. Poof- gone!

I serged the bottom leg and hemmed them.

Even though I hate high waist shorts, I decided to go with it. I took in the sides after I removed it from the waistband. Sew. The bottom Right corner shows how I fixed the waistband afterwards.

Ladies and gentleman, these shorts are done. Yay! Fits now in the waist. 

Not too long and not too short. 

Nice fit in the bum. 

Done! So I got a new pair of shorts! I wonder how long it will take for me to spill coffee on them....

Cheers,
Lauren

Blue & White Polka Dots Shorts- My first time sewing shorts!

I decided I was going to attempt to make a pair of shorts. I had this cute pattern from McCalls M6328. Which, btw is out of print. I went for the ones with bows, view E.

I had some sort of polyester/rayon material blue and white polka dots that I thought would look cute as shorts with bows.

Now I have no pictures during or even cutting. I cut them in Mobile before I left but didn't have time to sew b/c of the move. I thought I lost the back pieces. Then I found them. Then I had issues understanding how to put in the zipper in-I did OK. Not my best. These shorts were hard to make and I had problems understanding the pattern for some reason. I was in stage 4 and very agitated for about 2 days. For the sake of my sewing sanitty and argument, I proved a point and sewed a dress in a fraction of the time (post coming next week). That's how pathetic I felt about making these shorts. I wound up cutting off 3 inches from the bottom of the shorts b/c the material was thin and my boyfriend (and I concurred) they looked like granny shorts. No idea why. I also opted to not do the bow.

Not my best sewing project but a decent start. They could be a lot worse! Here are the end pictures! It was so weird to see my legs! It has been so cold that I only wear pants. Well hello legs!!

I tried it with a tighter sweater since they are a bit big on me. I liked how it looked. 

And oooh a blue sweater! LOL!

I cut a 14 thinking they would fit just right and really I could have went smaller to a 12. Not bad, again first time with shorts and a front zipper. I still need some work with that! Must find some good youtube videos or something!

xoxoxo,
Lauren

Day 10: Granny wants her shorts back!

Wahoo survived to day 10! 50 more days of my 60 days to dc blogging torture goal. Well I got these shorts when I was home from Christmas (yes Christmas, that is correct). I love polka dots. And I loved the red accents on the pockets. But sheesh! These shorts were hideous!

So what to do? It actually had this cool hidden zipper among the pocket which was really cool. I thought this would make a fabulous skirt since it sort of had a pencil-esque sort of appearance.

Here is what I did!

First I removed the inseam seams with my thread ripper. Actually here is an easy way to remove serged seams.... Serging involves 2 loops of threads with a stay straight stitch. You want to pull out the stay stitch first! Using your seam ripper, pull out/cut the straight stitch but don't start at the very edge of a garment. I say this b/c it will not work b/c usually the very ends are usually fixed so the seam won't unravel with some sort of adhesive. So start a little bit aways from the edge of the garment.

Grab the thread and pull it out. Yes it really is that easy. Sorry I thought I had taken more pictures. Then the loops literally just fall apart and poof you are done with the seams.

Now sometimes you will have a 4 thread overlock (serger) stitch, the same exact thing can be done with pulling the other thread out. And occasionally you will have both a serged edge and then a regular sewn seam. Which makes pulling seams out fun. Next, we need to turn the shorts into a skirt. Now I only removed up past the "J" shape of the shorts.! ;)

I did the same for the back. I cut off the excess. Here is the finished result. 

yes I am having formatting issues today with blogger. Le sigh. I am too lazy to go and take everything out and start over again. Its only day 10 and we are having issues with blogger. LOL! 50 More days to go! For the rest of the days blog posts click here.

Cheers,
Lauren