what to do with hubby's old jeans..

Apart from make sure that he no longer needs them first! Obviously. When I first started I did a tutorial making a bag from a pair of old jeans, this one's a pinny. Many thanks to norfolkhomemademum's other half for the donation of his jeans. I hope she approves of what I've turned them into, well one leg that is. Haven't decided what to do with the other one yet.

(Modelled beautifully by my ironing board, the only volunteer in the house at the time. Too frilly for Mr B!)

This is ridiculously simple. First, cut up the side seam of the jeans and open out. Cut off the bottom hem then cut a square to the desired length. This one was 56cm long. Even up the width so that the seam runs central- the back of the leg is usually wider, then round the bottom corners.

Next cut two 10cm strips from a piece of standard with material which you join together to make one continuous length. Then you need to hem one of the edges, fold it over by 0.5cm then fold again, iron and pin before straight stitching.

Next you need to gather the other edge. Either do this by sewing a running stitch on the widest setting the pull the bobbin thread to gather it. Or do what I did, buy a cheap gathering foot off the Internet and the job is done in minutes. I think a smiley face is appropriate here :-)
Then you pin the frill on to the apron. Match the seam on the frill with the central seam on the apron, then right sides facing, pin it around the edges.

Sew it on with a 1cm seam allowance, then zigzag the edges to prevent fraying. Iron the frill open with the seam folded back against the denim then you want to top stitch it to hold the seam down flat. its at this point I had everything crossed for the safety of my machine and my life- maybe that's a slight exaggeration; but the old girl doesn't like denim and certainly doesn't like many layers of denim, but she did it. Bless.

Pocket next. cut two pieces of what ever shape you fancy and pin right sides facing. I copied the shape of a jeans back pocket. Stitch around the edge, leaving a two inch gap for turning. Clip the corners so that they turn to a sharp point then turn out and iron. Honestly, my iron has never seen so much action since I started this crafting You can either slip stitch it close or just make sure that you catch it when you sew it onto the apron.

You're on the home straight now. All that's left to do is the waistband tie. You need a strip of fabric that measures about 160com x 10com, you'll probably need to join two pieces together to get this. then iron both the edges in 1cm and fold in half. Find the central point of the waistband and place your apron in the middle, so that the waistband folds over the front and back. Pin it all together and sew along the open edge of the waistband from one end to the other, Tidy up your edges and you're all sorted.

This is the first year I've been doing this crafting thing, and it's quite scary how suddenly the run up to Christmas starts. My craft shop has been stocking Christmas material and ribbon for weeks now. As someone who usually blankly ignores Christmas until December, I found myself leafing through my Christmas crafting books yesterday evening. Ahhhhhhhhh! That was still only August!
BTW, thank you very much to Pink Chihuahua Kisses who mentioned me in her blog yesterday!
Take care.
xx