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.

Cloth Diapers -AI2

I finished a couple of All-in-2 diapers for a customer this weekend. Got to try out the new Zorb II.  It's very thin and has a nice soft jersey outer layer so it can be used alone without needing to be encased.

All-in-2 diapers can be used just like an all-in-1, everything gets washed when wet or dirty, but the absorbent pad comes separate from the cover to speed drying time some. You do have to pair them back up after laundering, but no pocket to have to stuff.


First Step: Using diaper pattern of your choice (I made this pattern to match measurements, sort of based on the shape of Fuzzi Bunz). Cut out one each of PUL fabric, soft lining (velour), and cotton cover (optional).
I used a waterproof layer of plain white PUL with a cute cotton print layered outside of it just for looks. The white PUL is fine by itself if you like white diapers.  Inside I used jersey velour.  Very soft stuff that helps to wick moisture away from skin.




I layered them together the way I want them in the finished diaper. So that's cotton on the bottom, right side down, then the PUL shiny side facing up (into the diaper), lastly, the velour, fuzzy side up).

I stitched the three layers together with a straight stitch close to the edge just to keep them from sliding around while attaching FOE.  

Remember: when sewing PUL you want to avoid making unnecessary holes, so no pins, I usually use paper clips to hold layers together.

Next for gussets, sorry I didn't get a picture.  You just need a semi circle piece that matches the curve on the leg.  I just keep the curve that is leftover from cutting out the PUL layer and cut a straight line across to match two points about 1/4 of the way down the curve on each end.  We then sew on fold over elastic while stretching across the straight edge.   This gives you a gathered straight edge with the curve unbound.

Attach the gusset pieces to the inside layer of the diaper, matching the curve they came from. Wrong
side of the gusset should be facing the inside of the diaper. Now we're ready to attach the FOE to the diaper.





I like to start at the back, stretching the FOE across the middle of the back and around the leg curves.  To start the FOE use a zigzag stitch, backstitch a little at the beginning and then you can use the thread tail to pull   Be sure to catch the gusset edge in the elastic also.  Stretch just enough on the rest to conform to curves.

When you get all the way around, just overlap the elastic a bit. No need to fold under the ends or anything, it doesn't fray.







Last is the velcro. I usually attach the loop side on the tabs, since it could come in contact with skin. About 1 1/2" square is usually sufficient and I just zigzag all around to secure it down. Then the hook side is on the front of the diaper. Usually, a long strip across the front about an inch down from the top and an inch or two from each side to give plenty of room for size adjustment.  

To make the cover into an all-in-2, I added a strip of velcro to the back inside of the diaper a couple inches from the edge.  
I made an rectangular insert (1" less than the width of the cover in the middle and 1 or 2" less than the length of the cover) from 3 layers of Zorb-2, zig-zag stitched all around the edge. If using regular Zorb, it needs to covered in another fabric like the velour used for the inner diaper or flannel. The Zorb 2 has jersey on the outside and is pretty soft.    Attach a strip of hook tape to one side of the insert an inch or two from one end to hold it secure in the cover.

Washing Instructions:

To seal up holes from stitching, you can put the cover in a hot dryer before use. Avoid using the dryer for regular laundering as it weakens the PUL.   Wash in hot water, no bleach and definitely no fabric softener and hang to dry. I always use white vinegar in my rinse cycle. It helps remove odors and helps all soap rinse away.

With any absorbent diapers, you need to wash and dry them a few times (preferably in nice hot water) before use to "fluff" them for maximum absorbancy. Expect to get a bit of shrinkage in this process.
Never use fabric softener on cloth diapers, it causes fabric to repel liquids, definitely not something you want diapers to do!

Fabric plans

Just a teaser.

Tea dyed some cotton last night for this project that my daughter picked out. :)

Roast Veggies recipe

Fasting (no meat or meat products) for the lenten season brings out my cooking creativity.  Needing a dish for potluck I dug through the refrigerator and tossed together a beautiful looking dish of roast veggies. I just used what I had available and you can too.  So here is what I did.

Heat up your oven to 450 degrees F. You don't want to have to wait for it to heat up later when you're done chopping.  Get out a baking dish and use appropriate number of vegetables to fill your dish. (The amount in the parenthesis is for a large casserole dish)

I started with potatoes, carrots and onions. Can't go wrong with that combo. Add in some crushed garlic, lots of crushed garlic (or less if you're not a big fan of garlic). Garlic & onions add a lot of flavor. Purple (red?) onions are even better if you have them. (3-4 potatoes & carrots, 1 full onion, 6 cloves garlic)

Next I went looking for color.  I added in a red bell pepper chopped up. Tossed in some sliced mushrooms and quartered brussels sprouts.  So now I've got red, orange, white, green, purple.  Oh yeah, yellow squash and we've got rainbow roast veggies!! (1 pepper, 1/2 cup mushrooms, 6 brussels, 2 yellow squash)

Throw all your veggies in a baking dish as you are chopping. Fill it up and make it a feast for your eyes.

Hungry yet?

Toss everything with a few tablespoons of your favorite oil and salt and pepper as you like. I love Real Salt, it has a great flavor and lots of extra minerals too.  A little dash of pepper (or more if you like it spicy) adds a bit more flavor.

Cover your pan with foil and bake in the hot oven for about 30 minutes.  The onion and garlic smells  will be wafting through your house causing your mouth to water even more. I know it's hard to wait when it smells that good, but make sure your potatoes & carrots are tender (should break apart with a fork easily) before you take it out.

It's done, it's done.  Don't burn your mouth!! Enjoy!

Banana bread

I recently found a cool new recipe site called My Recipe Magic. The site owners have set it up so that when you post a recipe on, you get a percentage of the advertising proceeds. I think this is a really cool idea and could use a little extra cash, so I'm going to be posting a few recipes as I make them at home.

So this is my first recipe to post there. I found a pretty decent recipe for banana bread years ago called Ovaltine black bottom banana bread. It was intended as a cake style, with chocolate bottom. I really liked the taste of it though and have been using it and altering it through the years as our diet has changed.


I've added in some whole wheat flour, made it egg and dairy free and lowered the sugar amount. It's still a delicious, moist bread that gets devoured as soon as it's cooled. When I take it to potluck, I never have leftovers to take home. That makes me sad, so I have to make 2 loaves at a time now.
Here's a link to the recipe on My Recipe Magic.

Try it, you'll like it!

Baby Showers

We have lots of baby and wedding showers coming up soon, and me with no money to spend. I like to give handmade gifts anyways! I just have to be a bit more creative in using supplies I already have or find a nice upcycling project.  

I have plenty of yarn, especially cotton and I love baby shoes. There are so many amazing free patterns on the internet.  These are the ones I liked.
Some really cute loafers (with video tutorial) from Crochet Hooks You for the boys and some adorable slippers for the girls from Moira Crochets.

I have been working on thinning out my fabric stash, but still have enough for some baby footwear. They use such small pieces. I also think denim for baby shoes is super cute & and great way to re-use worn out jeans.  Again, some nice free patterns. I love the pinstripes on these little man shoes from Schwin & Schwin or these nice basic baby shoes from Stardust Shoes to personalize with fabric or embellishments.

For friends I know are going the cloth diaper route, and if I have appropriate fabrics, I can do some diaper covers or inserts.  But, that'll have to be another post. I don't have pictures ready.

For weddings I like to do nice napkins.  I am striving for a greener lifestyle and cloth napkins help to cut back on paper use and they're nice for fancy dinners too.  There are lots of ways to finish the edges on napkins, I like the mitered corners shown nicely by Skip to my Lou, they look extra fancy.


PS. Need to get someone to teach me how to do picture links!!

Tent Hair

What do you do in early spring when you have a hot, sunny day but the trees haven't filled in enough to provide shade yet??  Put up your tent, of course!

 This, of course, was last week when we had several warm, sunny days in a row. Not this week with blizzards east & north of us, cold, rainy and windy weather. But, it was fun and we enjoyed getting out to get some gardening started.

 The kids enjoyed it so much. They even brought out some blankets & pillows and "took naps." 

 Long, fine hair and tents made some impressive static hair. Madeline did not want me to take her picture, but even with her head hiding, you can still see how much her hair was clinging to the sides of the tent.