Fun and colorful patches in jeans

We all love our jeans to pieces, don't we? I mean, literally, we often wear them until they're ripped and torn and stained because the more worn-in they are, the more comfortable they are!

When faced with a pair of jeans with a rip, I generally just machine darn the hole to repair it. (Here's my tutorial on machine darning.) But sometimes you just get the urge to add something fun to your clothing, or you need to cover up a stain. In these cases, you can let your imagination go wild and jazz up your jeans with these creative patches made with reverse appliqué!

First, grab all your jeans in need of some TLC.

Cut out some strategically-placed shapes.

Prepare the patches. I like to overlock the edges so that they don't fray.

Pin the patches under the hole on the inside of the leg. Then sew them in place by machine.

So much cooler now!

It can be a little tricky to machine sew patches in the center of pants legs, especially if they're kid's pants, so you can also hand-sew the patches in place. When I do it by hand, I use embroidery thread to add to the colorful effect.

If you want to learn all the details and tricks on how to make these creative patches, just head on over to my blog, Cucicucicoo, for the full tutorial!

Patch up holes in jeans with fun and colorful reverse appliqué! A Cucicucicoo tutorial for Refashion Co-op!

Cover ugly logos with appliqué circles

I never say no to hand-me-down clothes for my kids, but sometimes they have some pretty ugly logos, stains or tears in them. But it's a shame to get rid of them because of a small detail, so I like to cover them up in some way or other.

For example, this shirt with a sparkly silver logo across the front. The fabric is a nice thick jersey, so I definitely wanted to keep it. So I dug into my jersey scraps and chose some different shades of blue. (I tend to have a lot of used blue t-shirts, so I often use an ombre effect, like I did with this other solution to cover logos or stains.)

And I whipped up some quick overlapping circles and sewed them on over the logo. The trick to sewing nice even appliqué stitches on jersey fabric is to use a tear-away stabilizer.

And now the shirt's better than it had ever been in the first place! For more information on this quick fix (and a tutorial on how to appliqué on knit fabric with tear-away stabilizer), visit my blog, Cucicucicoo!

Taking in a huge sweater with just two seams!

A while ago I wrote a tutorial on how to take in a t-shirt to make it fit better. In order to do it, you need to take the sleeves off and trim down those and the main bodice piece before reattaching the sleeves. But what happens when you have a shirt -- or a sweater or cardigan, as was my case here -- with sleeves that are already the perfect length? You use the "cheating way" and take in the sleeves and sides with just two seams!

First off, you put on the sweater (or shirt or whatever upper body garment you have that is too wide), inside out. Pinch the fabric under the armpit and put a safety pin where you want the new armpit to be. (The red dot in this picture shows more or less where my armpit actually is.)

In one go, you stitch from the sleeve to the new armpit, turn the fabric, and continue down the side until whatever point you want to stop slimming down the garment. (I took it in down to my butt.) If the fit is good, trim the excess fabric, fold the garment in half so you can mark where to sew the second side (as seen in the above photo) and sew the other side. I highly suggest using a walking foot if sewing bulky sweater fabric!

Again, trim the excess fabric and clip the corner in the armpits.

To keep the trimmed edges from fraying, sew down them with a zig zag stitch (again, preferably with the walking foot). Iron the edges on low heat with a protective ironing cloth to get rid of any waviness from the zig zagging.

And in a flash, your maxi cardigan (or sweater or t-shirt or blouse or shirt) fits you great, without smothering you in excess fabric! Yah! See Cucicucicoo for the full tutorial with all the details!

P.S. By the way, the shirt I'm wearing in the pictures above is another refashion: Reverse Appliqué t-shirts!

One Cardigan pattern from an old sweater and t-shirt

Something I love about sewing for kids is that you can fit the necessary pieces on upcycled adult clothing so easily! So when I sewed up the One Cardigan pattern by Serger Pepper, I managed to cut the hood and sleeves, as well as an extra little bodice detail, from an old sweater of mine (which never fit me very well) and the entire lining, tie and scraps to cover the buttons from an XXL t-shirt that was handed down to me. (The bodice came from a scrap of organic cotton velour.)

So from these unwanted clothing items, I was able to create...

...this absolutely adorable cardigan for my little gal!

So cute and lots of fun to wear! I don't have a tutorial for this project because, like I said, I used the One Cardigan pattern (which you can find in One Thimble, issue 6). But next time I post here on Refashion Co-op I'll have an actual tutorial!

For more pictures and more information about this pattern, head on over to Cucicucicoo: Eco Sewing and Crafting!

Saving a leggings fail with... a belt?!

Last month I decided that I needed some neutral-colored leggings for work. (All my leggings are very bright and don't always match well with work clothes.) So I took out my leggings pattern (if you don't have a leggings pattern, here's how to draft your own!) and started sewing. (And here's my tutorial on how to sew leggings, or really any pants.) But guess what major boo boo I made? Apparently suffering from a massive brain blockage, I'd used regular cotton jersey for my leggings. Which obviously don't have enough stretch for leggings. After sewing together the leg and crotch seams I attempted to try them on, but couldn't even get them past my knees, they were so tight. Eek!

And this is where I managed to save my leggings fail with a belt. Yes, a belt! See that long black thing in the photo above? That is nothing other than a long sewn strip of stretchy black viscose (or some other super stretchy fabric) that was a tie-around belt for a dress of my sister's. She never actually used the belt and so she gave it to me. I'd thought that I'd use it to make a massive fabric flower or something, but during then I realized that I could attempt to save my leggings disaster with it by sewing it into the legs as side stripes! It would provide extra fabric, but it was also stretchy so I hoped that it would be enough to make its way around my thighs.

I cut down the outside of both legs and sewed the belt fabric in. I was then able to pull the leggings up, but they were still too short. I didn't have enough fabric at the bottom to hem and the edge of the fabric just barely covered my butt, so sewing the elastic casing was out of the question.

I had just enough belt fabric left to go around one ankle, so I cut the remaining belt strip open (luckily it was two layers), cut it in half, folded each rectangle in half, and sewed them onto the bottoms of the leggings as cuffs. This way I didn't have to sacrifice any leggings fabric in hemming.

I would've used the same belt fabric as a stretchy fabric waistband, but there wasn't any left. So I just made a loop of wide black elastic and sewed it on directly to the fabric edge as an elastic waistband. So I was able to raise the top of the leggings, once again, without having to sacrifice the fabric with an elastic casing. Hooray!

The leggings are not perfect and the unstretchy jersey does make for slightly uncomfortable and tight leg wear, however I'm happy that I did manage to salvage the project. And I love the look of the stripes! So, even if this project didn't start out as a refashion, I was able to save it with a little refashioned touch!

For more details on this project and other refashioning and sewing tutorials, check out my blog, Cucicucicoo!

How to cover up ugly graphics with slashed t-shirt reverse applique

A few years ago I started seeing an interesting t-shirt slashing technique, just opening up little holes inside stitched rectangles with a different colored fabric underneath for a pop of color. Then I saw this post here on Refashion Co-op using the same technique as reverse applique on a shirt. However there was no tutorial, so I had to figure it out on my own. I discovered that it's a great way to cut out an ugly graphic from an otherwise perfect t-shirt.

You take your t-shirt with an unacceptable graphic, logo or stain on it...

...and some t-shirt scraps.

Create a rectangular panel with two layers of t-shirt scraps that is large enough to cover the graphic to be removed.

Sew it onto the inside of the t-shirt front.

Cut out the front of the t-shirt, making the rectangular panel visible.

Draw some lines across the rectangle with chalk and then sew along them.

Cut straight across the center of the spaces between lines of stitching, wash the shirt (or at least wet, agitate and dry it)...

...and you've got yourself some awesome slashed t-shirt reverse applique instead of whatever ugliness had been there before! My daughter calls this her "oven shirt" and I can see why! We both love the effect of this technique!

If you want to try this out, I suggest you read my full photo tutorial with all the details on my blog, Cucicucicoo, because there are some things regarding grain, fabric stretch and dimensions that will make this project more successful. And after that, why not take a look at my other embellishing tutorials? There's no excuse to get rid of a perfectly good piece of clothing just because it's horribly boring or it has a stain or other ugly something on it!

Cover Logos, Stains & Graphics with Applique Stripes

Doesn't it drive you crazy when you have a perfectly good t-shirt with some horribly ugly logo, graphic or stain on it? For me, it's a great opportunity to do some brainstorming of how to either cut it out or cover it up. Today I'm sharing a fun way to cover up unwanted elements of a t-shirt with appliqué ombre stripes. I love this technique because 1) you save a piece of clothing from the donate pile, 2) you just use scraps of t-shirts you already have hanging around, so it doesn't cost anything, 3) the ends of the stripes are inserted inside the sleeve seams, making for a perfectly professional-looking finish, and 4) it's a great embellishment for boys! (or men, too!)

So grab your t-shirts...

...and your t-shirt scraps...

...cut out some strips...

...and sew them into panels.

To apply them to the t-shirt, you first need to open up a bit in the sleeve seams...

...sew the stripe panel onto the shirt...

...sew the sleeve seams back up with the edges of the stripe panel...

...and nobody would ever guess that there's something underneath those stripes! I just love applique, but I love even more this version of applique that looks as if it had been made like this in the first place, not just doctored up!

Be sure to visit my website, Cucicucicoo, for the full detailed photo tutorial as well as lots of other refashioning tutorials!

How to make a men's t-shirt more ladylike

I just love a good t-shirt, but unfortunately it's not always easy to find them in women's sizes, while there are always loads of good ones in the men's section of stores. And I can't stand the extra fabric under my armpits and at my sides. What to do? Take the shirt in at the sides and rock it!

Here are the original shirts.

As you can see, they didn't fit very well.

In a nutshell, you trace a t-shirt that fits you onto the inside of the big shirt, both the body and the sleeves.

Attach each sleeve to the shoulder of the shirt, right sides together, and sew.

Then unite each side and sew together, starting from the armpit.

If you want, you can re-hem the bottom, but you can also skip it if because t-shirt fabric doesn't fray. So this was before...

...and this is after! Big difference, right?!

For more details on this and other refashioning, sewing and craft tutorials, head on to my blog, Cucicucicoo!