Kids/Toddlers Pants or Jeans Upcycled into Shorts for the Summer

I first turned about a dozen pairs of my kids pants into shorts last year.  It worked out so well I did it again this year!

When I swap out my kids winter clothes for summer clothes, I sort them into 5 piles: 

1.) save for Autumn - clothes that will still fit in a few months

2.) too small & bring to the swap shop at the dump

3.) too small & hand-me-down to friends

4.) too small, good brands in great shape, & save for Autumn to consign

5.) well-worn (not consignable) pants or jeans that still fit or may be a tad too short & won't fit in the Autumn

Pile #5 goes to my sewing area.

Last year I also did this with my daughter's pants & made several pairs of capris & bermuda shorts for her, as well as regular shorts.  All of her shorts from last year still fit her well so I didn't have to make any for her this year.  The pictures are of my son's pants being turned into shorts, although the concept is the same, no matter the size.  In fact, next I am turning 2 pairs of my old jeans into capris!  :)

Want to make some of your own?  Here's what you need:

Materials

• Pants (to turn into shorts)
• Sheers
• Sewing machine
• Denim needle for sewing machine
• Thread, color of your choice (I used tan for all of them)
• A pair of shorts that fit your child well to use as a guide
• measuring tool (I can never find my measuring tape, I just use my index finger as the unit of measurement doesn't matter, as long as it's the same every time)
• Fabric-marking tool (a pen will work too, you only use it once to mark the first hem & it gets folded over on itself so you can't see it)

Instructions

1.) With each pair of pants, lay out flat & place the shorts flat over the pants.  Choose 1 pant leg.  Using the sheers, cut the pant leg off approx. 2" below the hem of the shorts.

2.) Set the shorts aside.  Fold the pants in half, lining up the waist line.  Using the sheers, cut off the other pant leg, matching the cut of the first pant leg.  (I did set the pant legs aside, when I have enough to come up with a project, I'll blog about it & share the link here ;) )

Repeat with all of the pairs of pants.

Above are all of the pants with the pant legs cut off & the shorts I used as a guide.

3.)  Using a measuring tape or ruler (or your index finger ;) ),  measure (approx.) 3/4" from the raw edge, mark with a fabric marking tool or pen, on both sides of each legs of the shorts.

4.)  Roll over at the mark.  Pin (if you want to, I find it just slows me down ;) ).  Set the sewing machine stitch length to 3 (I have a Singer) & sew a straight stitch about 1/2" from the fabric edge.  Repeat on second shorts leg.

5.)  Roll over fabric again.  Again, sew a straight stitch about 1/2" from fabric edge.  Repeat on second shorts leg.  Repeat with all of the shorts.

These 6 pairs took approximately 2 - 2.5 hours to turn into shorts.  Say I'd gone to a consignment shop & found 6 pairs of shorts for $6 each.  That's $36 right there that I just saved, not bad for less than 3 hours work.  :-D

Enjoy!!  :)

Hanging Rack - Easy to Label, Wipe, & Re-Label (upcycled from scrap wood)

Previously, I'd hung 4 hooks on my daughters wall but that quickly proved to be too few hooks for her many items that I wanted for her to keep off of her floor. I wanted to hang more hooks but didn't want to add more holes in the Sheetrock. I had a scrap piece of wood leftover from another project that I attached these 7 hooks to & hung on her wall. But it didn't look "finished" enough, plus I wanted to be able to easily label her hooks & easily change the labels if I needed, hence the chalkboard paint.
Want to make your own? Here's what you'll need:
Scrap wood, cut to size if needed
Hooks & screws, as many or as few as you want
Wall hangers (I used 50-lb rated hangers)
chalkboard paint & brush
Chalk - various colors make for a fun, cheery board

This is the hook board without chalkboard paint, looking woefully unfinished.


After the paint dried, I hung the board & used a variety of colors to label and decorate it.

Here is her hook board with her jewelry organizer. Click here for the jewelry organizer tutorial.

Over-the-door shoe, hat, glove, & tights organizer, hook board, & jewelry organizer. She has no excuse for this stuff to ever be messy & disorganized again. ;)
If you've enjoyed this tutorial, please follow my blog. I love to share upcycling tutorials with folks who appreciate making nice items on the cheap. :)

"Welcome Friends! Please No Solicitors" Chalkboard Door Sign

Every day this week has been one of "those" days & yesterday was no different.  I was in the middle of laundry.  Half-done with a sink load of dishes.  Working on 3 organizational project simultaneously.  Had just taken a 25 second bathroom break (stay-at-home-parents - you understand ;) ) & left my son downstairs for 45 seconds watching something on Netflix.  Had to get paperwork together for our audit (grrr) in two days & bake bread.  And there's a knock at the door.  It sounded like my next door neighbors knock so I didn't think anything of it.  Looked outside.  Nope.  *Sigh*  Random woman I don't know.  Fabulous.  Our 15 lb miniature schnauzer is already barking her little head off (she's quite the little guard dog ;) ) so I scoop her up in my arms & answer the door.  It's a salesperson.  *Sigh*  I listed to her sales pitch (with our dog squirming & yipping in my arms & licking my face) & politely tell her that I'm busy this week & she politely leaves.  I warn my local Facebook friends that there's a door-to-door salesperson going around.  I get that people are just trying to make a living, hence my polite response (I could have just slammed the door in her face mid-pitch), but seriously... I find door-to-door sales so rude!  Yeah.  Cause I have nothing better to do than drop what I'm doing (usually 5 things at once) & invite a stranger into my house (!!!) & spend money on something I don't need.  

Anyway, I decided I needed a "No Solicitors" sign, but something cute & friendly, not one of those black, white & red plastic "NO SOLICITORS" signs you can buy from the hardware store.  ;)  

This is a scrap piece of wood that I was going to use as a bill & paperwork organizer on the side of our cabinet, but upon more thought, I decided I need a bigger piece for the organizer & decided to use it as my sign instead.  

What you'll need:

• a scrap piece of wood
• small paint brush
• chalkboard paint, a can opener, & a paint stick
• 2 eye hooks
• a length of ribbon, twine, thin rope, etc
• sandpaper
• chalk (a variety of colors make the prettiest sign)
• over-the-door "wreath" holder or something to hang the sign on

1.)  Lightly sand the surface & edges of your scrap piece of wood.  The smoother your surface is, the more like a real chalkboard it will be after it's painted.  

2.)  Use paint can opener to pry lid off.  STIR WELL!

3.)  Paint the surface & edges of you piece of scrap wood using long, even strokes - try not to "over-work" the paint (as per the instructions on the paint can).

4.) After paint dries, attach eye hooks & twine/ribbon/thin rope/etc.

5.) Decorate your sign.  

6.)  Hang & enjoy!  :)

Because it's a chalkboard, you can change your sign as often or as infrequently as you desire!  :)

I'd love your feedback!  Please follow my blog & LMK what you think in a comment.  :)

Chalkboard Paint & the Scrap Metal Pile at the Dump - My New Loves :)

I have a confession. I have a new love... Chalkboard paint!! ;) Stay tuned... I'm working on several new organizational projects made on the cheap using scrap wood we had left over from other projects & upcycling found objects. 

That reminds me. I have another new love - the metal pile at the dump. ;) In two days I've found sheet metal, a tray, and a mirrored medicine cabinet. Stay tuned to see how I give them new life on the cheap by upcycling! :)

(Above)

Lens: Libatique

Film: AO BW

Flash: none
Click here to check out my tutorial for a "Welcome Friends, Please No Solicitors" sign made with chalkboard paint.  :)

Click here for a tutorial for a jewelry organizer.
Click here for a tutorial for a hanging rack.

Jewelry Organizer- New Life for old Frame (upcycled from old frame who's glass had broken)

I have several frames, large ones, that have broken glass that I've been holding onto knowing I could use them in the future. My mom had given a table-top jewelry organizer to my daughter. It worked, but my daughter would load up each arm with 4-5 pieces of jewelry in order to fit them all on it, some of them would drag on the shelf when it was turned because it wasn't tall enough, & it took up a lot of shelf space for the minimal efficiency it provided. I'm all for using empty wall space so using an old frame as a jewelry organizer was perfect. Also, each jewelry piece would be able to have its own hook, so she could quickly look at everything & decide what she wanted to wear as well as easily get rid of anything she didn't want anymore.

Here's what you need to make your own. :)
Old frame with broken glass removed
Staple gun & extra staples
Needle or long-nosed pliers or tin snips
Hardware cloth, 1/4 inch mesh
Chalkboard paint & brush (optional) - if your frame has a flat surface & you want to use chalk to label and/or decorate your frame
Chalk (optional) - a variety of colors makes for a more cheerful frame
Paint & brush (optional) - if your frame has textured surface & just needs a "freshening up"
Hammer
Old rag or sponge (optional - for applying paint to the hardware cloth)
S-hooks or metal wire & long-nosed pliers (to make your own s-hooks)
Measuring implement (optional)
Wall-hangers









1.) I could have used the needle-nosed pliers & wiggled out the metal pieces that previously held the frame backing in place, but since no one is going to see them when the organizer is hanging up, I just bent them over so they're flush with the wood.




2.) Use the edge of the staple gun to crease the hardware cloth into a 90-degree angle into the corner of the frame back & staple - I had to staple the hardware cloth into the side of the frame because the front of the frame was too thin to take the staples without the staples coming out of the front of the frame.




Here's the front of the frame with the hardware cloth stapled to it.




3.) (Optional) Use paintbrush to paint frame. Use old rag, dabbing it lightly with paint onto the hardware cloth.




4.) After the paint dries, hang, attach s-hooks (make your own with wire & long-nosed pliers if needed), organize jewelry, decorate and/or label with chalk, & enjoy!




Jewelry organizer shown with her hook board. Click here for hook board tutorial.




I happened to have some random plastic s-hooks around.




Clearly I haven't had a chance to make her s-hooks yet (& I didn't want to spend $20 on them). ;)





If you've enjoyed this tutorial, please follow my blog. I love to share upcycling tutorials with folks who appreciate making nice items on the cheap. :)

Mellow Yellow Upcycled Scarf (upcycled from ugly yellow cotton vest)

This had been a horribly ugly yellow sweater vest that I got from The Salvation Army for $1-. I unraveled a good portion of it & made this simple scarf. I used a simple twirly scarf pattern. The only stitches you need to know to do this are single, double, & you need to know how to increase & decrease stitches - increasing & decreasing will create the twirl. Can be made with any gauge yarn to create a scarf of any length and width. Fully customizable & unique. :)