Black Culottes Tutorial

Black Culottes Tutorial

Black Culottes Tutorial If you cannot find a pair of culottes you love, then this black culottes tutorial is perfect for you as you can make your own. It's super easy. The only slightly technical thing to do - is fit a zip. And I have a tutorial for that on this link...

Culottes Tutorial

Culottes Tutorial

Culottes Tutorial I can't get enough culottes at the moment hence this culottes tutorial. If you like the look of the top you can find the free sewing pattern and tutorial - in this link. So let me say up front I make my own patterns for a LOT of my stuff. But with...

Let Out Pants

Let Out Pants

Let Out Pants You know how life gets in the way and you don't exercise as much as you should. And then the next thing, your clothes are a bit tight. And then they get even tighter. I wish I didn't love making and eating food as much as I do. Now that my other half and...

Custom Fit Leggings

Custom Fit Leggings

How to make leggings You need: - So Sew Easy leggings stretch fabric unbendable elastic sewing machine matching colour thread sewing scissors pins large piece of paper tape measure ruler marker pen paper scissors Making the pattern Most of my patterns are circles,...

Denim City Shorts

Denim City Shorts

How to make denim cut off shorts I am not going to wear denim cut-off shorts. The look fabulous on supermodels. I just don't want to Denim shorts wear them. Admittedly I am a lot older than girls who look fabulous in them. And I'm not super slim, But even when I was...

Print Patch Jeans

Print Patch Jeans

Printed fabric patch jeans tutorial Print patch jeans I love patch jeans. Junya Watanabe patch jeans look divine. How about the dusty pink Omeo jeans Isabel Marant has been doing? And check out the DIY blog Fripe Fabrique for more inspiration. I'm not usually a boho...

7/8 Trousers

7/8 Trousers

Raising trouser hems 7/8 Trousers I'm always on about eco fashion. Two great books to read explaining why we should strive to be as green in our fashion choices as possible are Over Dressed by Elizabeth L Cline and To Die for by Lucy Siegle. On to this week's...

Patchwork Jeans

Patchwork Jeans

Patchwork jeans tutorial Old pair of jeans This in one of the trends I've been a bit slow to connect with. Luxe casual is great, but distressed and tatty? I'm not so sure. Certainly not at first glance anyway. I did a bit of distressing to a pair of black jeans quite...

Adding Stripes to your Trousers

Adding Stripes to your Trousers

Side stripe trouser tutorial The plain black trousers before the make over The best thing about up cycling old clothes is they become new. Sure they may be a bit worn, but stuff that has been lurking in the back of my wardrobe for a while, is now being worn again. I...

How to Restyle Bootcut to Skinny Leg Jeans

How to Restyle Bootcut to Skinny Leg Jeans

An evolution has gone on with jeans. Where to take in the leg of your trousers Way back when, you got jeans. More or less the same style jeans, made by a handful of manufacturers. Since then a whole bunch of designers and celebrities have jumped on the jeans bandwagon...

Harem Pants with Buttons

Harem Pants with Buttons

How to make harem pants Add buttons to make harem pants Here is another easy way to make harem pants out of existing trousers. I already had these workout pants in my wardrobe. All I did was make a fold to decrease the volume at the hem on the outer leg side of the...

Jodhpurs and Knee Patches, India

Jodhpurs and Knee Patches, India

DIY jodhpurs Original H and M Jodhpur style treggings A couple of posts back I showed how I gave a vintage tweed jacket some elbow patches. These H and M treggings on the right have the distinctive Jodhpur reinforced inner knee area but not the flared hip design. Good...

Satin Harem Pants

Satin Harem Pants

Easy DIY harem pants Harem pants I have shown this idea before. It's an easy way to make regular trousers into harem style trousers. In this link how to make Turkish pants I used a pair of citi shorts. The idea is to insert elastic into the casing of the hem and...

Three Quarter Leg Trousers

Three Quarter Leg Trousers

Upcycling trousers I am so loving Isabel Marant's winter rockabilly look. And what's even better is the three quarter leg look is dead easy to achieve. Fold a deep turn-up in a straight or narrow leg trouser. Et voila! If you are sure you will love the look forever,...

Using Velvet Ribbon to make Tuxedo Trousers

Using Velvet Ribbon to make Tuxedo Trousers

DIY side stripe trousers In the picture is some of the velvet ribbon about to be sewn to the trousers to turn them into Tuxedo style trousers. You could also stitch the ribbon along the outer side seam for a more authentic Tuxedo trousers look. Not much explaining...

Denim Shorts from Jeans

Denim Shorts from Jeans

DIY denim cut off short In the picture is a pair of jeans about to become a pair of shorts. I have a few too many pairs of jeans and wanted an extra pair of long shorts. The method is simple. Cut the legs shorter. But there is one caveat. Make sure you line up the...

Skinny Leg Jeans from Wide or Boot Leg Jeans

Skinny Leg Jeans from Wide or Boot Leg Jeans

How to make skinny leg jeans Got a wardrobe full of bootleg jeans? Love skinny leg jeans? Change them. The inside leg of your jeans is usually a flat easy seam unlike the outer leg seam. Pin the inner leg as per the big white stitching in the picture.  Fit the...

Meet Greenie

My name is Karen. I live in Cape Town, South Africa. This blog is about how to make your own, how to recycle, restyle and up-cycle.

Archives