pants to skirts

The air is getting cooler, and I find myself digging deeper in the closet for the warmer, heavier clothes. I reached in last week for these pants - my favorite short pants of last fall - only to find they had succumbed to the terribly contagious and vicious shrinking disease that has taken over my entire closet now. You might remember - the favorite vintage dress? Anyway, I have no room for sassy pants in my closet, and so - snip, snip went the legs.

And out came some skirts. With a little trim at the hem, serged top, waistband casing made, elastic inserted, and voila - 30 minutes later - two new-ish, fall-ish little skirts.

One for my babe, and one for her cousin. I'm trying to teach them the fine art of matching. So far, so good.

Comments

[Michelle]

My clothes are all shrinking, too. What gives?

[annette]

sooooo cuuuuute!

[Sue]

love your solution to the shrinking pants!
it's totally a lemons to lemonaid kind of thing..... :)
darling skirts btw!

[TinaTx]

The skirts are just too cute. That shrinking disease has been all over my closet too - wish I had an easy cure!

[Jen]

Very sweet and a great idea to transform sassy clothes.

[diana]

Now that's a fine example of repurposing!
I'm freezing over here so I'd need to make 1 piece out of 3 existing ones to get anywhere...

[Jessica K]

What a great idea! And such cutie girls wearing the new skirts. :)

[Nelly]

Wonderful clothes for wonderful babies. Have a nice day.

[kristin]

splendid repurposing indeed. the skirts turned out really sweet.

[mary]

Ohhh, such a great idea. I've done the same with a very large thrifted knit skirt. Matching skirts for my girls.

[Knitterella]

So darn cute!!! Great idea to turn something old into something new!

Jill

[Melissa]

love the new skirts!

[bigbucketgirl]

For a minute there I thought they were both for you!

[Grace]

cute!

that shrinking disease seems to be spreading west as some items in my closet have now caught it as well! ;)

[Grace]

ooops! I almost missed that new banner! that pink bucket is too much!!

[erin]

cute skirts and cute kiddos!

[sarah]

Adorable skirts! Yeah we've had that disease over here too, affecting even the "chubby chick" clothes now! Ugh...

[Stefani]

Oh sweet Twinkies!!! They are so cute together in their new little skirts.

[Crisanne]

They are just too cute!! Love the skirts.

[Wendy]

30 minutes later! You gotta be kidding me. It would have taken me 30 minutes just to cut the legs off.

I have got to sew more often. A 30 minute project sounds great.

[brandie]

cute skirts! the girls look adorable!

[Julie]

How cute... they look adorable!

[Sharon]

Ooh! Great idea! I love the trim! I've got some that I need to use up ("some" is not exactly the right word--it's more like "tons"). Thanks for the idea!

[margaret]

What a great way to recycle old clothes. Very cute!

[Michelle]

So cute!

[blair]

How clever! You never cease to come up with original stuff, and look how cute those girlies look!

[susaninfrance]

ooooooh! soooo cutie!!

[Beth H]

So cute and oh so easy...wish I had a girl!

[Anne]

Too cute! I also love your new banner.

[Gift of Green]

Grrr...I have the incredible inching up hemlines. One season the skirt is cute and just hits my knees, the next it's mid-thigh (not such a good look for me). Waz up with that?! :)

[Marisa]

These babies are WAY too cute. I makes me want to have a little girl. How fun that you are now matching, and that the babies match eachother.
I call that earth friendly sewing. Reuse and Recycle! Very very nice.

[Amy]

I love making big clothes into little ones. I turned a $1.99 Gap clearance shirt that never fit me right into a dress and a hat for the babe the other day. So satisfying and so cute!

[Libby]

Fabulous idea! Those rotten pants- no sassiness allowed. I am glad that you got them out of your closet before the disease spread!

[dawna]

i love this! any chance you'll explain how do made the adult skirt? i've been trying to figure out how to do that for a very long time... without success, i'm afraid. love your work amanda, thanks as always for sharing with us.

[Jessica]

Ak! So very cute! Love the matchy matchy! So fun! Also LOVE that scrolly hook!

[Beth]

How sweet they are! And how nice that Ms. A has a cousin so close in age!

For a second I also thought the skirts were for you and I wondered how exactly you proposed to fit into two skirts made from one naughtily shrunken pair of pants...not to doubt your crafty magic, but... the math didn't work ;)

[amanda]

Those are really cute little skirts. I also have some sassy pants in my closet. You've given me an idea :)

[Amber]

Cute, cute, cute! I have yet to try on my winter jeans for fear of them attracting that disease, too. In fact, I'm fairly sure they probably did so I'm waiting for them to recover before pulling them out...

I also have to say I just love that wrought iron hanger display you have. Is it made specifically for hangers or did you just serendipitously find that it works well for display?

[heather wilson]

love it! now I just need a little girl to make clothes for out of my shrinking clothes!

[Dana]

for the love of all things adorable! what a brilliant idea.

[Lora]

How cute!!!! I have two sons..think it would go over well?????

[Heather]

Cute, cute, CUTE!!! Did I spell it right? It looks funny when you type it over and over. That pic reminds me of my daughter and her cousin. They are 6 months apart and growing up like sisters. They are 4 yrs. now, and see each other a little less, but they're still so tight that they fight and love just like sisters. You're making me think it's time for another matching outfit for them... so fun. I wonder how long I'll be able to get away with it?

[amy]

lovely lovely!

[Marie]

Absolutely to die for!! I always have the leftover jeans that are ready to die. Great find for the little ones!!

[Lauren Hawley]

So flippin' cute! A brilliant solution. At 32 weeks pregnant with my 4th...I'm feeling your pain. Will I EVER fit my old clothes again?!

[Jade]

very, very cute! how'd you make the skirt for yourself?

[Zelia]

Great idea:)

[SOULEMAMA]

To all those asking about the mama-skirt - they're actually pants, and I didn't make them. They're from H & M.

And the wrought iron rack is from Anthropologie!

[Kat]

Those are so cute!! I love them :) I did the same with some shrinking jeans once, but the skirt didn't work out as well as yours :)

[Haley]

how utterly adorable! just discovered you via blair at wise craft.