Tutorial... for the lack of sewing.

I was forced to stay away from my sewing machine for the whole week. It is Friday and after work we were supposed to go out with our friends. I still had about an hour and so before I needed to leave. Soo, I had these jeans that I wanted to wear, but they were about 2"-2.5" too long. I am not too big on the high heels to solve this problem and the place where we were going is very informal. Well, I decided to use up the little time I have and get closer with my sewing machine once again.
This is how I hemmed my jeans.
1. I tried them on and with the shoes on, I marked how long I wanted them. Then I folded them up and measured 1 and 1/4" from the original hem. I sewed 1/4" away from original stitching. See pictures...


I've seen people sewing right next to original stitching, but I was afraid that it would be too bulky.




2. After all stitched I folded it back and pressed. I changed my thread to black, so it was matching the original thread (if yours is yellow, you can actualy buy jeans brownish/yellow thread in most fabric stores) and sewed over one more time right side up. There are going to be areas where you would have a lot of layers of jeans to sew over. Just slow down or sew it manually (you turn the wheel on the side of your machine.





3. All done! I was too lazy and in hurry to cut the extra from jeans that you hemmed in. I might still do it. I would use zig zag stich to make sure they wouldn't frey.


I think that most of you probably know how to do this, but i felt like the tutorial today, so there it is. Maybe it would help some of you.
I am missing on those specific terms, but I hope that the pictures will be helpful. Let me know if you have any question.
Oh, the night out with friends was nice. The old/new jeans are so comfy, great for the Friday night.

I caught second breath.../ Tutorial for a super quick scarf.

I was certain that I won't be able to do any more sewing before my trip. I also got over the fact that some presents will be given after Christmas. And then, this weekend, I packed my suitcases (Yes, I am taking two, but one is straight Christmas presents - making me feel like Santa) and did loads and loads of laundry and ....

I went to pick up " My sister's quilt" from the quilt shop this weekend (I love it quilted, but will post about it from Slovakia, OK? )and stopped at Jo Ann's on the way back to search for binding fabric. I found three, so I need to make some decisions. But I also found very cool fabric in red tag fabric shelves. It's kind of silky, batik in green/ brown shades and turquoise/ browns. Front is a bit shinny and a bit fancy, back is just batik. Fabric is all crinkled too. I am sorry that I don't know the proper name of it.
Well, idea was born and I was working on the super quick shawl out of both (two for presents and one for me.
This is what I did:
I bought one yard of each. From the first one I cut it lengthwise (1 yard length)into 8 strips (width is approx. 44" divided by 8, since I made two out of this fabric). This fabric was crinkled, so it was hard to measure exact width. I sewed two of the together to make it long enough for shawl/ scarf.



Then, folded them over and sew one more time along the edge. Next, turned over and sewed the ends in. Super simple, but I am no tutorial writer, so please ask if you have questions.



I made the two bluish/brown scarfs thinner to wear with a nice dressy shirt or with a simple sweater to make it look more dressier.



I kept the green and brown combo for me. Well, I have a very cute hat that I need to wear more, but was missing a perfect scarf to match it. This way I satisfied my desperate need for more presents and also I had a nice scarf to wear in my hometown. I made mine a bit wider - I only cut it four times the width - 44". I also made mine reversible I may say. One side is more shinny to wear for fancy occasions and the other is simple batik to wear daily. That's on the picture.
Please, imagine that the splotches on the mirror are snowflakes. Thanks! :)

I made more presents, but I will leave this for tomorrow.