Old jeans into fabulous new skirt!

Looking for fabric for my daughter's doll project, I discovered this old pair of jeans prepped for making into a skirt.  I had taken out all of the inseam and then for some reason put them aside for another day.    I was wanting a new skirt for Spring, and this was a perfect, quick and easy project.

1.  Cut just beside (under) the seam on the front crotch on the curve so the cut away part will lay flat underneath side with the seam.  The seam can lay flat on top and be topstitched down. 

2.  On the back I pinned to get everything mostly flat and then sewed a straight seam down that line.  The open triangle in the back is lower and a little wider than in the front.  There is quite a bit of extra fabric on the inside of the back that can be cut away and zigzag or serge the edges to prevent fraying.

3.  At this point, I tried it on to check fit. Everything looked great except it dragging the floor.  While I love the floor length look, 4 kids running around makes floor lenght very impractical.  I took off 6 inches to bring my hem up to ankle length.

4. I've had this gorgeous, embroidered fabric sitting for a while, waiting for the right project.  I decided to cut my gores on the bias, so I matched a corner with the point of my triangle on the jeans and matched up the straight edges.   This made the gore fuller than the opening triangle which made a lovely flare.  I curved the gore just a bit to match the curve the legs were making. 

5.  Same for the back gore.  I zigzagged around all the edges of the gore to stop fraying. I also zigzagged the bottom of the jeans where I had cut them off.

6. Next I lined up the edges of the gore under the edges of the jeans and stitched along the previous seam lines.

7. To finish up the bottom seam I used a straight stitch to attach lace all around the bottom edge, then pressed the raw edge under and edge stitched to keep the lace facing down.

8. Sorry for the bad pic, didn't have anyone to be photographer for me.

Here's a little bit better. The skirt is very comfy and I've been wearing it everywhere.  This only took a few hours one evening.

DIY "Moby wrap"

I am an ardent baby carrier and have enjoyed carrying all three of my children in infancy. With my oldest I made a pouch carrier and used it for the first few months but found it too inflexible and switched over to the Baby Bjorne for most of her carrying.
When my son came along I discovered the ring slings and the flexibility that I was missing in the pouch. I made myself a beautiful pink striped carrier and used it often for carrying my son and then it continued to be used when daughter #2 came along. I was able to carry on taking care of the older two with baby in the carrier. Nursing in public was never a problem as the carrier came with built in coverup. The only issue I had with it is the majority of baby weight is on one shoulder and the back. Having been rear-ended a couple of times has messed up my neck and I'm more prone to soreness there and in my shoulders. I found extended carries could exacerbate the pain.

Seam in middle

This pregnancy I have seen the "latest" carrier - the Moby wrap. It's basically a long (6 yd) piece of fabric ( usually knit cotton jersey) that is wrapped around your waist and over both shoulders. Baby is tucked in the middle and it seems weight is evenly distributed across both shoulders and your back! Sounds like a solution for my sore neck.

tapered end hemmed

finished , just needs pressing

So I googled info on how to make one, decided to go with a woven (more support) rather than knit (more give). I used a flat cotton sheet for fabric. Cut it into 26" strips. It wasn't long enough for the full 6yds so I cut two 3yd strips and seamed them together with a French seam and folded over and sewn down the edge. So, although a seam is not recommended for baby carriers, I feel pretty comfortable with this as it's a very strong seam. I hemmed both edges and ends. I was going to leave like that but on more research found that the Moby wrap actually has tapered ends so there is less bulk. So I went back and tapered the last three feet on each end to a point and re-hemmed the tapered edges. It feels like it fits well, even over my big 37 week belly, so it should be plenty long. I may go get some knit fabric later after seeing how this one works. Knit is so much easier, no sewing required as it doesn't fray. Just cut and you're done!

Wrap on, with preggy belly sticking out the bottom!