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You can't teach an old dog new tricks.
But you can make an old dog some new pants!
So my brother used to be a Marine and I've been hanging on to a pair of his camouflages for years now. When I was super super skinny, they fit me, but in this day and age, they're like old granny hideous pants.
Time for some surgery, me thinks. First I cut off the excess length to turn these into summer crops.
Then I removed the pockets & flaps because those were overlaying the side seams and I really didn't feel like cutting through that additional layer.
Ripped out the side seams but left the difficult crotch seams (and importantly the buttons/buttonholes in the fly and front & back pockets all intact!).
Unseamed the pieces I cut off the bottoms, sewed them into long strips, and then sewed them into the side seams to give me some more room!
Did a simple 1/2 inch hem and Voila! new pants!
Sadly I cannot machine sew the side (cargo) pockets back on without ripping out the inseams which I am not about to do (military seams are complex!). I may try to sew them on by hand at some point but camo is like denim - that would be pretty hard on the fingers! I would really just be doing it "for looks" anyway as I don't find I really use the cargo pockets on other pants. So I'll try living without them and see how I feel.
oh and p.s. I finished the quilting on Mariko's quilt AND sewed the binding to the front. Now just a few hours of blind stitching it to the back and I'll FINALLY be done with the second of those. Just some advice for you: making two identical quilts, one after the next: Not Recommended. Boring!!
Off to fiddle around and see what else I can play with before this HOT HOT HOT weekend comes to an end.
Posted by Duff at July 08, 2007
Nice job, dude!
Posted by: Mariko at July 8, 2007 01:20 PM
Love em! You are so brave to rip apart a pair of pants and re-fashion them. I would be too scared!
Posted by: Julie at July 8, 2007 01:46 PM
Those look great! You are a smart sewing schmoo.
Posted by: Carrie at July 8, 2007 01:57 PM
Very clever, and quite stylin'.
Posted by: claudia at July 8, 2007 03:58 PM
way to go! very cute pants now.
Posted by: rachel at July 8, 2007 06:54 PM
Nice rehab!! Such a clever idea. But now that you're in camouflage, it will be harder for me to find you in that Chicago jungle.
Posted by: Jan at July 8, 2007 06:58 PM
Very cute! I quite like your rehab of those cargos. I'm thinking of making a camo sexy sundress out of some camo I forgot I bought...we could be camo Wonder Twins...
Posted by: Silvia at July 8, 2007 07:50 PM
I just wore my camo skirt on Friday. You, me and Silvia: camo Charlie's Angels.
The pants look great.
Posted by: Stephanie at July 8, 2007 08:14 PM
Great work! The capri length really works for you. :-)
Posted by: Jennifer at July 8, 2007 10:25 PM
holy crap, those are fantastic! I can't wait to see them live and in person.
Posted by: Mary at July 9, 2007 09:56 AM
fab!
Posted by: brenda in toronto at July 9, 2007 01:11 PM
Whoa. Very cool.
Posted by: myra at July 9, 2007 02:58 PM
You're amazing!
Posted by: Mary Mac at July 9, 2007 04:54 PM
wow, you did a remarkable job on these pants~I am impressed!
and thanks for the tip on making 2 identical quilts...I was just about to embark on that crazy journey myself, although I was planning on making them at the same time, not one after the other.
Posted by: amandajean at July 10, 2007 10:29 AM
Nice work! Don't bother with reattaching the side pockets -- those are good pants as they are.
Posted by: alison at July 10, 2007 02:00 PM
Oh, clever! I just got a whole new outlook on all the too-tight pants in my closet... (yes, there are kind of a lot of them)
Posted by: pamela wynne at July 11, 2007 06:17 PM
You rock. If the pockets are just for looks anyway, how about fusing them back on? Just a thought.
Posted by: Emily at July 12, 2007 01:33 PM