Good morning! I'm excited to introduce Ros from Sew Delicious as a guest poster for the shorts on the line summer sewalong. She sews beautiful clothes and accessories for her little ones and her shop. I can't wait to make Jude his very own toy car mat and this Peggy Skirt Pattern is super adorable. Today she is going to teach us how to take cutoffs to the next level with a cute jean refashion.
Thanks again Ros!
Hi, I'm Ros from Sew Delicious and I'm an Australian blogger from Melbourne who is a bit envious of your lovely summer weather right now! I'm a Mum to two little girls, so many of my sewing creations are designed with them in mind. Today's project was made for my big girl Anna who is three, and will be perfect for her for the Aussie summer later this year.
This is an easy project for confident beginners and beyond - all you need is:
a pair of jeans (mine were $2 at the thrift store)
a small amount of fabric -1/4 yard or fat quarter (an FQ will require piecing together to make the belt)
a scrap of contrasting fabric for the bow
a button or snap
basic sewing equipment
Fabric details - I used fabric from the Verona range by Emily Taylor for Riley Blake for this project.
Ready? Lets go!
Fold your jeans in half. Cut the legs off at the desired length (err on the long side - if you go too short, you can't go back!) Measure around the cuff.
To make the cuffs:
Cut your fabric the length of your cuff plus 1cm for seam allowance and 7cm (3") wide. My jeans were a size 3 - if you are making these for a child or adult you may wish to increase the width of the cuff. Press in half.
Sew short edges together to form the cuff and iron open seams.
Fold back in half along the pressed crease. Turn jeans wrong side out and place cuff over each leg, aligning then pinning raw edges together.
Sew all the way around each cuff. Serge or zig zag stitch as denim has a tendency to fray. Turn your jeans right side out and flip your cuffs up. A good press with your iron will hold the cuffs into their correct position.
To make the belt:
Measure the waist and add an additional 10cm (4") for overlap. My fabric for the belt was 10cm (4") wide.
Cut your fabric strip, fold in half and press. Sew along the raw edge length. I used a 1cm seam allowance. Turn inside out and press so that the seam is hidden along the pressed edge, Tuck the short raw edges in and press. Top stitch around the entire belt. Set aside.
To make the bow:
Cut your fabric into two rectangles - 25 x 11cm (10 x 4.5") and 8 x 4cm. (3 x 1.5")
Press the long edges in as shown in the picture.
Take the large rectangle and fold short edges in so they overlap.
Pinch the down the middle to create your bow shape.
Wrap the smaller piece around the middle of the bow to create the bow centre. Secure with fabric glue or pin and hand stitch in place.
Your finished bow should look like this. If you would like it to be more sturdy, you can iron on some fusible interfacing to the main piece of bow fabric before you assemble it.
To finish off - mark your belt where you would like the bow to be situated, and hand stitch the bow to the belt.
Stitch a button onto the wrong side of the belt, so it aligns with the middle part of the bow. (or do two steps at once by sewing the button and the bow on at the same time!)
Mark the other belt end with where you would like your button hole to be, then sew a button hole, so the belt can be done up.
Done! Time to play!
Don't be fooled by this very summery looking picture - despite the sunshine it was a frosty 10C (50F) during our photo shoot! My little model did a fabulous job but soon after this picture she gave up and ran straight for her polar fleece coat.
Happy summer my northern friends and thanks so much for having me to share this tutorial for Shorts On The Line! If you have any trouble with this tutorial or any questions, or you'd just like to say hi, please get in touch! You can find me here:
