DIY Lace Trimmed Shorts

Last post I told you how I went to Goodwill on a quest to fill my desire for colored shorts. I came home with a pair of bright blue/aqua mom jeans that I turned into cuffed shorts and these red shorts. They are No Boundaries brand (Walmart?). I tried them on at the Goodwill and liked the fit and the color, but thought they were a bit short. Thus, I got them with the mindset of adding another inch or so with some lace. 

Here is a step by step of how I turned these "booty" shorts into much more modest lace trimmed shorts. 

Turn your shorts inside out.

Find your lace. I had this eyelet lace in my stash. Lay your lace on top of your shorts, making sure that the right amount is showing from the front view, and start pinning.

 Pin your lace on both legs of the shorts

 Just like so, making sure to fold under where the edges meet so that they won't fray and will look finished.

Then take your shorts to your machine and sew along the hem that already exists. Don't forget to match your thread!

 After your lace is sewn to your shorts, take out the pins and figure out where you want to trim your lace, if you need to.

Start trimming away, being careful not to cut your shorts.

And here they are all trimmed! Now, for the finishing touch, hand stitch the lace ends to each other, so that they don't flap around. Again, with matching thread.

 Now turn your shorts right side out and admire!

 I personally love mine!

So cute! I think the lace adds some length and a feminine touch, don't you?

Time for you to make your own!

DIY- Make Your Own Cuffed Colored Shorts

I love that colored shorts are "IN" right now. So fun! But being the overly $$ aware person that I am, I am always looking for ways to get things for less. And one of those ways is DIYing styles or decorations, or pretty much anything. =)

So instead of heading out to a mainstream store (meaning JCPennies, Dillards or Target, here) to grab myself some new colored shorts I headed over to our HUGE HUGE HUGE Goodwill store (God bless that place).

I had in mind to make some shorts similar to these  shorts found at GAP. And to find some other colors to make into shorts. I ended up finding exactly what I needed!

Today I'm showing you how I took some bright aqua blue mom jeans and turned them into cuffed shorts.



I started out with these.... um, not the most flattering "mom style" jeans. Meaning- they come up a good inch or two above my belly button, and they were high waters!

 Laying the jeans out on the floor, grab some shorts that are a length you are comfortable with (and hopefully flatter you) and lay them on top. Adjust, so that the inseams of the jeans match up.

 Now, grab your sharp sewing scissors and carefully cut about two inches below that point (if you want an inch wide cuff, which I did.) AND be aware that however tapered your jeans are, they might not cuff very well. If the jeans taper too quickly, they will be very bunched up and not look nice. So if you are going for a cuff, you need to look for a pair of jeans that are the same width from the thigh to the knee. Or as close as you can get to that.

Then take the leg you cut off and lay it atop the other leg. Cut accordingly. This helps to make sure that the shorts are the same length. 

Then you will have some shorts that are ready to cuff!! And some left over jean legs to keep and make into something else!!

 Make the cuffs by folding your shorts legs up by one inch and then fold the fold you just made up another inch. Pin in place.

 Now you want to try on your new cuffed shorts to see if you like the length or if you want to adjust it. I liked mine, so I finished them off by hand tacking the cuffs down.

 After you finish tacking your shorts cuffs down, try on your new shorts with a fun top and admire!

You just made some stylin' new shorts for a fraction of the cost of store bought ones!

Becoming My Budget's Friend

I am really trying to be better about our food budget and how I use it. We are saving up for a house, and I can easily have food money left over at the end of the month to put towards the house if I just plan a little and spend some time cooking. I would say that I have normally been "money conscious" with my food budget. Much because it was SO easy considering all the really great, inexpensive options we had in our old town. But after moving out here to this one-horse-town.... I pretty much only have one option for grocery shopping. And it is Safeway. That, or sending the Hubs by Walmart,Target, or Costco on the way home from work. I am sure the are other options out there (we do have a Dollar General and a Discount Grocery Store), but I have yet to have time to explore them. All that to say--- Both of those reasons (saving for a house and Safeway, which I think is expensive) encourage and challenge me to get more creative, stretch our foods, and not waste. 

Today I made corn chowder for lunch, as opposed to yesterdays PBJ's. And surprise surprise, we will be having it for dinner, as well. 

I took this recipe from Near to Nothing's blog and revamped it using what we had and made it so that I could eat it. 

I used leftover ham rather than chicken, and 3c. almond milk/ 3c. water. It turned out very tasty, but really runny. So, I added probably 1/4c corn starch and let it simmer for a few more minutes. After it thickened, it was PERFECT!! 

And for dessert tonight, we had a bag of marshmallows that needed to be used up, so I stove-popped some popcorn and made a pan (rather than balls) of marshmallow popcorn. YUM! 

And the best part? I had all the ingredients to both= free meal. Well, kind of. If you ignore the fact that I bought them to begin with... but I was using leftovers completely to make the meal. So, again- Hurrah!