Tutorial: Cut-off Jeans Turned Capris

My legs are short. So any capri I find for myself is pretty much way too long and I look more like I am wearing floods than capris. I decided to make some cut-offs. Should be simple enough, but I am smart enough to ask people with more knowledge than myself how to do things, so I called up my sister-in-law Laur (the one who designs for Izzy & Ivy) to get her tutorial. She had some great tips! And Laur isn't a blogger, so I thought I would share her tips with the world. 

Here is my before--see how long they are?

Your first step is to fold one leg up to where you want it. Laur says to put it at the skinniest point in your leg--usually right below the knee. Don't do the largest part! It will make your legs look bigger than they are. If you plan to hem it rather than leave a frayed edge, be sure to account for the hem length.

Take the pants off, leaving it folded--just the one leg. Put pins in your crease.

Fold the pants down. Cut along the pin line. I went just below it.

Next, you hem. If you want a frayed look (like I did) sew a straight stitch 1/4" away from edge (unless you want a larger fray section. I that case, go to 1/2" or whatever you want). This ensures that the fraying will stop rather than fraying for eternity. I stitched with blue thread that blended in with my pants.

Fold the pants on top of themselves. Cut the other leg off, using the first leg as your guide. This way they will be cut the exact same. Repeat the hem step for this leg.

Done! Now you have turned your pants or capris into real capris! 

And here it is after a couple of washings:

Before I did this, no one ever commented on my capris. Now I get compliments on how cute they are every single time. 

I have several more capris to do this to now...

Face-Out Bookshelves Tutorial

I put this up on my learning blog, but I thought it would be a good fit for this blog, too. You can use these for books or pictures--of whatever you come up with!

Here is our tutorial on how to do a face-out bookshelf. This is the way my husband designed so you couldn't see a back on the shelves--it looks like they are free-floating. Hopefully I can translate from Engineer-ese to English.

Materials Needed:

• 3/4"x1.5" pieces of wood cut to the length you want them on the wall. This is the actual size of the wood. They will be called 1"x2" in the store. You will need two pieces of wood for each shelf. Buy as many as you need to fill the space on your wall.
• 3" Grabber screws
• Glue if desired (we used wood glue)
• Paint and paint brush (we use foam brushes for projects like this)
• Finish nail gun nails
• Wood putty

Tools Needed: 

• Drill
• Router and/or Table Saw
• Measuring Tape
• Pencil
• Finish Nail Gun

Prepping Wood

1.First, buy your wood. If you are confused on what to buy, see the picture below. Click on it to enlarge. The wood shown in this picture would make one shelf. Cut wood to desired length.

2. Next, you need to router and notch one piece of wood for each shelf. 

Use a router or a dado on a table saw to notch one corner (all the way down the long side) as shown. Again, click on the picture to enlarge.

Use a router the opposite corner if desired. You can do it however you like things done. We used a 45 degree chamfer. You could do things more fancy if you like, or you can do nothing at all.

3. Brush all sawdust off and paint. Allow paint to fully dry. You don't have to paint the 1" (3/4") sides of the un-notched wood. 

Putting Up the Shelves

1. Measure and mark on your wall where you want the shelves. You might want to involve a level.

2. Pre-drill holes in your wall where studs are. It is very important you drill into studs.

3. You can glue one side of the shelf if desired and hold to the wall. We can't remember if we used it at this step or not.

4. Use 3" grabber screws to anchor to the studs. You want the 1" (3/4") side facing out so the long side of the wood is where your book will sit. Countersink screws so that they to just below the surface of the wood. Just make sure you don't go too far and split your wood.

Here are all of our initial pieces on the wall

 5. Uses a finish nail gun to put up the face piece. At this step, we did use glue to secure the two wood pieces together. You want the notched side in and up and the routered side out and down. See the picture below. The notching makes it so the shelf is a bit deeper while providing a lip to keep books on the shelf.

Finishing Touches

1. Use wood putty to fill in holes where finish nail gun put nails in. You want this to just go in the holes and not bump out beyond the hole.

2. Paint over wood putty once it is dry.

3. Put books up!

Pillowcase Dress Tutorial

I have a challenge for us all. Let's each make at least one little Pillowcase dress to send to Africa! When you finish yours, you can either mail it to me and I will send it on to Africa (my church is doing this) or you can mail it through littledressesforafrica.org. If you want to mail it to me, I need to have it before July 1.

It is so fast and easy! And this one dress will be the prized possession for a little girl in Africa.

You can find lots of instructions out there for how to make this dress. I followed instructions given to me that were printed from nancysnotions.com.  Here are my instructions complete with photos.

Supplies:

• 5/8-1 1/8 yard of fabric, depending on size of dress. You could also use a pillowcase for the material.
• 2.5 yards double fold bias tape
• 12"-16" elastic that is 1/4" wide, depending on size of dress
• Thread
• Instructions
• Pins
• Cutting mat (optional)
• Scissors or rotary cutter
• Sewing machine

Sizes

3: Cut to 22"x42"

4: Cut to 25"x42"

5: Cut to 27"x42"

6: Cut to 29"x42"

7: Cut to 31"x42"

8: Cut to 33"x42"

9: Cut to 35"x42"

10: Cut to 37"x42"

11: Cut to 39"x42"

12: Cut to 41"x42"

Instructions

1-Cut a fabric rectangle to the appropriate size. You could also use a pillowcase instead.

2-Fold fabric in half, meeting selvage edge with right sides together. Stitch or serge seam. Press seam. This seam is the center back of the dress. I then serged along the top edge.

3-Cut armhole on upper side edge. Repeat for other side. You will need to go to this link and print out the page to get the pattern for the armhole.

4-Fold under top edge to form casing. You can fold under 1/4", press, then fold under 1/2", press and stitch close to pressed edge. You can also serge raw edge (as I did above), fold under 1/2", press, and stitch in place.

 

Here is a photo of edge stitching the casing in place:

 

5-Cut two pieces of elastic. For sizes 3-5, cut it to 6". For sizes 7-9, cut to 7". For sizes 10-12, cut to 8".

 

I then put a safety pin on one end of the elastic.

 

6-Insert the elastic into the casing and thread it through.In this picture, my thumb is holding the safety pin.

 

7-Stitch ends of elastic to outer edge of the casing so they won't pull out. Now, insert other elastic into the other casing you have made.

 

8-Cut two 38" lengths of double fold bias tape. Open tape out and turn under 1/4" on each end. Refold tape.

 

9-You will now encase the arm hole using the bias tape. Center tape on arm hole so that equal amounts of tape to come of each end so it can be tied at the shoulders.

 

I like to pin mine in place. Then edge stitch open edge of tape closed.

 

10-Hem lower edge of dress by turning under 1/4" and then 2", press, and edge stitch. You can also serge edge, then fold under 2", press, and edge stitch.

Now it is done! So cute!

 

Trim Ideas:

If you want to fancy it up, you could add pockets, add a band of contrasting fabric, add lace or other trims, add an applique, add machine embroidery, or whatever else you can come up with. Don't feel like you have to go any fancier. It is cute how it is!

Wood Block Pictures

This is an art project you can have your child help out with and give to Mom or Grandma. They are blocks that spell out the word "Grandma" (or Mother, Mom, or Grandmother, etc.). I dedicated one block per person and put pictures on it. I did one block for my Mom's Grandmothers. One for her mom. One for my Dad's mom. One for my mom with Brayden. And one for her with Kaitlyn. Since I gave her these, two grandchildren have joined the family, so I will have to update them! 

Now, you can tell from this picture that she doesn't actually show the "Grandma" spelling. She really just likes it for displaying pictures. If your Mom/Grandma would be like that, then you can skip the letter part of the blocks.

SUPPLIES

• 
  
  Wood blocks the size of your choice. We bought a 4x4 piece of wood from Home Depot and cut the blocks to our desired length. I am sure you could find something similar in a craft store like Michaels.
• 
  
  Decoupage or Mod Podge. You can also get Mod Podge Satin All-In-One Decoupage Sealer. Please note that different Mod Podges have different finishes, from Matte to Lustre.
• 
  
  Foam Brush
• 
  
  Photos of your choice, cut to the appropriate size for your blocks.
• 
  
  Paint
• 
  
  Vinyl Letters or you could paint letters on
• 
  
  Sandpaper if you want a "distressed" look

METHOD

1. 
   
   Paint the blocks using the paint and foam brush. This is something your child can help with. Most of the block is covered by photos, plus if you distress it , you will have little need for a "perfect" paint job. Plus, we love things made by the children we love.
2. 
   
   Let dry.
3. 
   
   If you want a distressed look, gently sand the each edge of each block. You can decide if you do this part yourself or with help. Wipe all dust off.
4. 
   
   Put some decoupage or mod podge on the block.
5. 
   
   Put some decoupage or mod podge on the back of a photo.
6. 
   
   Place the photo on the block.
7. 
   
   Continue for all sides.
8. 
   
   Once you have photos all around the block, move on to the other blocks and put photos on those.
9. 
   
   Let dry.
10. 
    
    Decoupage or mod podge over the top of each photo. This will help protect the photo from scratches, water, etc.

You are done! And you have a lovely gift any mom will love.

How To Make Leggings

I get a lot of questions on how to make leggings, so to make the explanation process easier, here is a little tutorial.

SUPPLIES:

• A pair of socks (woman's size)
• Scissors
• Sewing machine or serger
• Thread

INSTRUCTIONS

On the left, you see a sock. On the right, you see a finished legging. Let's make the second.

Step 1: cut the foot off just above the heal as pictured above

Step 2: cut the heal off of the foot as pictured above

Step 3: cut the toe off of the foot as pictured above

You can throw away the loose toe and loose heal pieces.

Step 4: turn the foot piece inside out as pictured above

Step 5: turn the foot piece right side out as pictured above. You want the raw edges together. Notice how the black stripe was in the middle of the foot and is now at the bottom of the foot piece. We will now call the foot piece the "cuff"

Step 6: place the cuff over the leg piece. You want the raw edges together (notice where the balck stripe is on the cuff). You want the cuff on the outside all the way around--not just on top of the leg piece.

Step 7: sew the pieces together. I prefer to use a serger, but if you don't have a serger, a sewing machine will work, too. When you do this, you are opening the sock as you would to put it on you.

This is how it will look when you are done

You can now pull the cuff down. The sewing is now on the inside of the sock

You are done! How simple is that!