Happy Birthday and a Jeans makeover

A BIG Happy Birthday to my dear mother!  83 has never looked so good.  I love you Mom!

I'm so glad we got to see her on the 4th. :)

And then a quick tutorial on how to make women's skinny capris out of mens jeans.

1) Find some men's jeans that fit you well around the waist and bottom area.  NOT sloppy or baggy, (unless you like that sort of fit...) as you may not be happy with them and adjusting the fit there is just awkward with denim...

2)  Cut the length with a little extra, where you want the hem to be.  Don't hem it yet.

3) Try them on and mark the outer seam with pins on where you want the fit to be.  Then sew the seam.  It should be as straight as you can or you'll have jodhpur style legs.  No one likes that. 

Unless you ride horses and you do actually like that...

She looks angry.

4) hem them.  You can add a vent on the sides.

And since I didn't have a full length mirror handy that doesn't also show off my messy home, here are the legs first.  The vent on the side seams towards the bottom hem.  

The (mostly) legs to show off the fab rips above the knee.

People pay good money for ripped stuff.  weirdos.

And the waist and hips.  There were some nice rips around the pockets and hip area, so that worked nicely.  

One mistake I've noticed (because sewists ALWAYS tell their mistakes) is that I should have finished the bottom hem better.  I did a quick hem without the proper finishing touches, like folding over twice, or serging the edges and now it's fraying from behind the hem a bit.  I'll either give them a haircut every time I wear them or just live with it.  OR actually fix it.  

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But not today.