More Crafty Thriftiness
February 25th, 2008 by SimoneWhen I was in elementary school my mother would extend the life of my jeans with a piece of jacquard trim. As an eight-year old I hated it, but now in the age of craft and retro design what could be cooler than a personalized pair of pants.
So, when my daughter began to outgrow her much loved khakis I began my hunt for some trim. Luckily our local notions store had a stack of it. I decided on three different kinds and bought a yard of each. The trim should be at least two inches wide to get a noticeable extension of length. To ensure my daughter’s buy-in, she decided which trim would go with which pants and we were on our way.
To attach the trim, you measure the perimeter of the leg bottoms and add two inches to that number. In my case the perimeter measured 13 6/8″ plus 2″ equals 15 6/8″. Cut two pieces of trim to this length.
To clean up the cut edges, fold over a half inch at each end and zigzag stitch across the width of the trim.
Then attach the trim along the line of the bottom leg hem allowing for an inch of overlap at the inner leg seam.
Once you’ve come full circle, sew together the overlapping ends of the trim.
Finish with a few stitches across the bottom of the trim overlap.
Should you have some leftover trim as we did, you can fashion a stylish and quick headband by attaching 1 inch wide braided elastic to each end of the trim.
February 25th, 2008 at 8:27 am
I did a very similar frugal fix on my little girls pants. Check it out here:
http://halleshobbies.blogspot.com/2008/01/frugal-pants-fix.html
BTW–Love you blog.
Halle
February 25th, 2008 at 8:31 am
Wow….those look great…I would never have guessed they weren’t purchased that way. Such a good idea.
February 25th, 2008 at 9:48 am
I’m going to try this! My daughter has such a hard time giving up her favorite pants–she’ll wear them until they’ve finally become capris, but that in-between stage is torture for me. I want to put a sign on her that says “Yes, my mom does buy pants that fit me. I’d just rather wear these ones.”
Maybe I’ll put a little bit of matching trim on the pockets, too.
I’ve recently discovered your blog–I love it!
February 25th, 2008 at 11:01 am
So thrifty!! Love it! She’s a cutie, too, Simone. I’ll for sure store this project away for later.
February 25th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
That looks great! And it makes me realize that I could do that for some of *my* pants that shrank a little too much after I brought them home from the store!
February 25th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Fantastic idea.
Only wish I had girls, don’t think my boy’s would be too pleased with this idea, even if I found Pokemon trim!!
But I love it, like Elizabeth I’ll store this one just in case!
February 26th, 2008 at 7:18 am
thanks for the idea… all my kids are so thin and the pants fit great at the waist when they are all too short… not anymore!!!!!!
February 29th, 2008 at 8:20 am
Oh my goodness! I was SOOOO mad at my mom when she sewed lace onto my favorite denim skirt. I was at the age when I was starting to want to wear hoochie mama clothes!
February 29th, 2008 at 9:20 am
That is a beautiful idea – and like Katie, I might do that to a couple of pairs of my jeans too!
March 1st, 2008 at 2:24 pm
What a great idea! Makes me wish I had a little girl to try it on.
March 4th, 2008 at 9:28 am
I was in a car accident back in college, wearing my favorite jeans at the time. When I regained conciousness, they were cutting my beloved jeans up the leg to assess the damage (which ended up being nothing). I was so upset! I patched them with some ribbon down the side seams, and wore them until they didn’t fit anymore. Hee hee!
March 5th, 2008 at 7:45 am
that is a great idea! and your daughter is adorable…
March 10th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Hey Girls, I’ve been reading y’all’s blog for awhile now, and I recently started a blog of my own. I added a link to y’all’s page, and I was just making sure it was fine with you.
Thanks!
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May 1st, 2011 at 9:59 pm
that is a great idea! and your daughter is adorable…