How To Tuesday

There was a time when Tuesday was my favorite day of the week! During college, I had a 3 hour lunch on Tuesday (yay!) and I got to hang out with a good friend and eat good food (Iguanas! My favorite!). When I was teaching, Tuesday was the only day of the week when I had more than 20 minute break. Now.... I hate Tuesdays! 

Okay... maybe "hate" is too strong of a word.... I dislike Tuesdays... a lot! When my husband went back to work, I took over his eBay business and Tuesday happens to be the day he picked for me to ship. That means my morning is filled with addressing and packaging items purchased while trying to contain my very active 1 year old. We then pack up the car or stroller and head out to the post office where we wait in line for what seems like eternity (while still trying to contain my very, very active 1 year old...). Since the post office and grocery store are right next to each other, we head to the store to do our weekly shopping. Child is now contained with a bagel! After shopping, we go home and I try to get all groceries and baby from our parking lot to our condo (which is not right next to the parking lot!) in one trip. I figure since I already dislike Tuesdays, I might as well do everything else I dislike (change bedding, vacuum, dust, steam clean floor, laundry) just so I don't have to ruin another day of the week! 

Soooo I decided last week that I was going to add something fun to Tuesdays! Every Tuesday I will be making something easy and sharing how you can do it yourself. Today I altered a pair of jeans I bought on clearance last week.  

I found these jeans at Old Navy last week for $4.19. 

They weren't my size exactly but I really couldn't turn them down at that price! They were a size too big and two sizes too short (I usually wear 'long' and these were 'short'). Remember that as long as the rise fits you correctly, you can alter the rest. 

First thing to do was fix the length. Since the were too short, I cut a few inches off the bottom and hemmed them to make them a long capri. I wasn't fond of how they flared (they were originally bootcut) so I did take them in a bit to make them straight-legged.

Tip for hemming: Unless you don't really care where your hem hits, Have someone else mark your hem while you stand straight. If you bend down to mark your hem, it will not end up where you want it!

I left the waist how it was for now because I can wear a belt but I will probably take it in soon. I am just going to take the side seams in a bit with a basic stitch on my machine. Nothing fancy.

I normally like my jeans plain but I wanted to add some things to make them more interesting (and this "How To" longer....) I busted out my BeDazzler! That's right... a BeDazzler! 

My mom gave this to me not long ago and I haven't really gotten to use it yet... until now! I went with studs over rhinestones and started BeDazzling my little heart out!

I was tempted to cover the entire pocket with studs but I was pretty sure I didn't have enough studs to do that. So I went with a design instead. Here how my new BeDazzled back pockets turned out:

Tips for BeDazzling: Draw a line shape of what you want so that you have a pattern to follow. If you have two sides that need to be identical (ie pockets...) make yourself a template so you can transfer from one side to the other. If you are going to the edge of a pocket, the BeDazzler will not fit. Not to fear! You can still get your bling to the edge! Just push the jewel or stud into the spot you want, hold it in place while you turn the pocket, and carefully, with a small tool (pen... flat head screw driver... I used my nail... ) bend down the grips. 

Happy altering!

<3