Upcycle Tips and Tricks

Tools and materials:

• Scissors
• Pins
• Needle and thread
• Sewing machine
• Old clothes

The first piece that I will be refashioning is this pair of jeans. This pair fits me so well and I love that they are bell bottoms. The only problem is that I have to wear them with a pair of heels because I am a little on the short side. 

I also decided to fix up this fun and colorful shirt. I thrifted this piece but it’s just a little too big so I wanted to take it in and make a few changes to get the perfect fit. 

Shorten the jeans 

Let’s start with the jeans! I decided to shorten them to above the ankle. A great tip is to always make them a little longer than you want because once you cut you can’t make them longer again. I cut the second leg to where I had made the fold. I then cut the folded leg to the same length. 

Take in the bottoms 

The bottoms were a bit too wide for my liking so I pinned darts on the back panels of both legs to take them in a little. 

I then hopped over to the sewing machine to pin the darts in place. I cut off the excess fabric and zig-zag stitched to hold the dart in place. I threw the jeans in the wash to give them a nice frayed edge. 

Cut out the shoulder pads 

Moving on to the shirt, it had a very simple fix. First, I started this revamp by cutting off the shoulder pads. 

Shorten the sleeves

The sleeves of this funky shirt were a little too long for me so all I did was fold the hem of the sleeve upwards creating a cuff. I then used my iron to help hold the cuff in place.

To ensure that the cuff would stay in place, I hand sewed a few stitches on the top and bottom. 

I love how these small changes gave me a totally revamped and gorgeous outfit! What items of clothing could you refashion to create new closet favorites? Let me know in the comments below!