Making Pants' Pockets Longer- The Easy Way

Sometimes it's the little things. Over the years, I've found many different ways to hack clothes and make them more functional. Today I made my husband's awkwardly shallow pants pockets, into very roomy ones. It was quite simple and quick. So whether your cell phone is falling out of your too small pockets, or you just like to stand all cool-like with your hands in your pockets and are being foiled by the jeans manufacturer (What were they thinking!?) follow along and I'll show you how I did it.

1. Using a seam ripper undo the seam at the bottom of the dysfunctional pocket. Also undo a bit of where it is sewn to the side seam of the jeans.

2. Cut a donor pocket from another pair of pants. I used jeans that I'd kept for crafting because they had too many holes. Make sure that the donor pockets are as wide or wider than the ones you need to add length to. Cut as much off the end of each pocket as you can while keeping the cut straight all the way around. Also cut the end of the pocket loose from the side seam, and un-stitch the inner jean pocket from it with the seam ripper if needed.

cut off as much as you can of a donor pocket

make sure it is wider than the pocket you need to extend.

3. Match the 2 pocket edges together, with inside sides together, and sew with zigzag stitch close to the edge. Trim extra. You can iron the seam flat or iron and hand tack it down with some stitches if you're concerned about it bothering you.

frankenpocket...

4. Trim off any extra pocket at the side seams, then sew the pocket to the edge of the side seam again.

Done! It won't look pretty when your pants are inside out, so use another pair if you ever go somewhere where you need to wear all your clothes inside out... like a crazy inside-out party or something... I don't know. But now your cell phone should stay put and your hands will be happier.

Just a quick debate here you may be able to help me settle. I was shocked when my husband agreed to model the jeans for me, but even more shocked when he put his hands into his pockets like this:

Who does that?! Hands all the way in the pockets? No thumb out? So, let me ask you to help settle the question. He claims only models stand like this with their hands in their pockets:

Who is right? What do you think?

Also, I have been wanting but waiting to blog about the machine I'm sewing on today. It's my latest vintage find and has many bells and whistles. But I'm still working on a couple of it's more fun features. :)

Hooded Shark Towel

Hooded towels are one of my favorite projects right now. In case you missed them here are some I made for my kids and for presents: cat, monkey, dinosaur. My latest version was for a baby boy destined to be pretty cool. So, this shark towel was perfect for him! I love having a big towel to wrap baby in, and they will fit when they grow old as well. It's also super simple to make if you'd like to try your hand at it. Looking for something even more simple? Try buying one from my store. I've been told I should sell them so I'm trying my hand at it. The dinosaur, cat, and monkey versions should be coming to my store soon. But now, on to the how it's made portion.

What you need:
Standard size gray towel
Gray hand towel
Small amount knit white fabric (I used some white cotton knit from a t shirt) It is knit fabric so it will not fray much.
applique/fusible web to stiffen fabric for the teeth
pattern for fin and teeth (free print out here)
Small amount of black yarn/thread to embroider eyes

Cut out a 9" by 13" rectangle from a side of the hand towel. Make sure one of the 13" sides is on an edge. It will be the front edge of the hood. Plan out the fin shapes to ensure you'll have enough space for everything. The straight side of each fin should be on a finished edge. Cut two of the fin shapes from the hand towel.

You can see how I planned out my cuts from this picture:

Put the fin pieces right sides together and stitch around the unfinished edges leaving a 1/2" seam... leave the finished (straight) edges un-stitched and turn it inside out.

Lie down the rectangular piece right side up. Place fin along the side opposite the finished edge, 1/2 inch from the lower edge (step 1 in the picture below). Fold the top part of the rectangle down, in half, over the fin (step 2-3 in picture below). With the fin sandwiched in this seam, sew along this side. Zigzag stitch, or go a few passes with straight stitch, to cover most the raw edges and then trim any extra.

Fold the hood as shown and sew straight across the top point (where the ruler is at in the top picture. Make sure it doesn't sew through any of the fin.

Turn right side out.

Pin the remaining unfinished edge of the hood to the middle of towel, right sides together. I find the middle of the towel and match it with the middle of the hood (at the seam) and then pin the sides. Pin and match the rest of the unfinished edge and sew. Make sure to keep the fin folded out of the way and not to sew over it. Again use zigzag to sew over raw edges and trim any extra.

matching the center seam of hood to the center of the towel

pin the rest of the raw edge of the hood to the towel

sewing the hood to the towel on my vintage '50s machine

Next, make the teeth. I ironed some fusible web for applique between two thicknesses of the fabric I used for the teeth.

ironing applique to stiffen fabric

Then I cut out the tooth pattern. Lie the straight line on a fold. The teeth need to be about 12 inches long and the pattern goes for less than that so you will trace along it about 1 1/2 times. I made a total of 20 teeth. See the picture.

Sew along the edge of the teeth if you'd like. Then sew the teeth onto the opening of the hood.

Embroider eyes.

Done!

You may notice some loose threads after the first one or two washes. Just trim them and it shouldn't happen again if you sewed over the raw edges well.

The Cookie Game/or How to Teach Your Kids Self Control

Lately I've been in thought about some of the eating behaviors I've seen around here. The little ones have, at times, been stuffing too much food in their mouth to fast, whining at any delay of a meal, and even sneaking food without asking. They can throw a royal fit if not given what they want. I am the kind of mom that disallows such behaviors. It's a work in progress. We take them on every time they surface. Deeply etched into my memory are the starving people that I've seen on mission trips and I don't let my children forget them. I can't wait until they can gain this kind of perspective from their own experiences helping people in true need. But today we did an easy little exercise rather than my usual discourse on the starving people of the world that can get repetitive. And what started as a lesson about food, patience, and self control ended on a much deeper note.

We made cookies. I'm not afraid of cookies, or any other food. We really enjoy eating healthily and eating treats in moderation and not being too uptight about food. But today we chose not to eat the cookie dough. And we didn't eat the first cookies the instant they were cool. I left the cookies on the counter and we waited for snack time. At snack time I let them each pick their cookie(s) and I got them milk and we sat at the table. I brought out a timer and I challenged them. "Can you wait 3 minutes before you eat your cookie?"

Their eyes got big, they took the challenge, and with mouths watering they sat there. My oldest plugged her nose and covered her eyes at first to quell the temptation. My 4 year old wasn't sure he could do it. My 2 year old didn't know quite what was going on but she was game. We've been working on "wait" with her in little baby steps already. When the timer went off, they savored their cookies like I've never seen them do before. My 4 year old even decided to save some for later. He has most certainly never done that before.

I asked why they thought we did that and of course my smarty oldest said, "So that you could blog about it, Mom." She has me pegged. But after we laughed about that that, we had a discussion about patience and self control. We talked about how hard it is to hold yourself back from something you want and how important it is to be able to do so. In the end we talked about sin and self control. They were amazed at their own capacity to restrain themselves when what they wanted so badly was right in front of them.

I'm so blessed by these kids and by their willingness to learn life lessons from me and with me. This lesson illustrates powerfully and quickly that they can choose what they do and when they do it. We each have in us this same type of struggle between what we want and choosing to live rightly. I want them to realize fully the decisions that they make everyday and not make excuses for themselves. Self control has fallen on bad times in this modern era. You've heard, no doubt, about this "fast food generation" and all that. But there are real implications for our children who have had near every need and want provided for quickly and have been apologized to profusely for any delay or lack. They told me that they want to wait longer next time. "Maybe 5 minutes next time, Mom. And after that, 10." They are so willing to challenge themselves and grow that patience. I love it. And I love that when they... and I... fail in life there is grace.

Shortening knit sweater sleeves

There are a wealth of unused things in the world, that (with a little bit of tweaking) can be transformed into useful items. When I find something that catches my eye I have a habit of thinking about how it could be re-purposed. Sweaters seem particularly suited to re-purposing and I've made them into yarn, a footstool, a skirt, wool diaper covers, and a dress. But today, I just kept the sweater as a sweater and altered it to fit.

It was a few dollars at the thrift store and I love the lovely soft deep green which matches my little girl's eyes which have flecks of green. The sleeves' length make me think it must have been made for a monkey however and so I planned to unravel them and re-knit the cuffs. After a few rounds of knitting with size 2 needles and a tension so tight my hands ached, I gave up rethought this strategy. After all, the other reason that I buy knit sweaters instead of knitting them myself is because I lack patience for projects that take forever.

monkey arm sweater- BEFORE

AFTER

I decided I should be able to cut off the existing cuffs and reattach them higher on the sleeve. Sewing thick knit sweaters can make a bulky seam so I decided to weave them on, mimicking the knit pattern of the cuff. It ended up being a lot of fun and I learned a lot about knitting. I love dissecting just how things work, and this was great for a thorough understanding of this craft. If you want to do it sometime, here's a bit of an instructional and some tips from my experience.

(Warning: This was a project and a half... Mostly taking the pictures and trying to make it all make sense. So there are about a thousand pictures here to illustrate and make it easy for you. If you need to, you can also double click any picture to make it bigger.)

First thing, undo the seam of the arm, starting at the cuff. What you want to see at the seam is two finished edges of knit, joined together with slip stitch. If the seams are serged (sewn with masses of thread over a lot of loose edges of yarn) this method will not work, and the only option would be to cut and sew the cuff on. I describe the specifics of taking apart the seam easily on this post where I took a sweater apart for yarn. Basically, though, I snip a few threads in between the seam at the cuff, then I un-weave it a little until when I pull on it, it magically unravels. Undo the seam to the base of the cuff for now and don't cut or weave in this thread. You'll use it to resew the seam later.

snipped some threads, pulling the seam apart...

had to snip a little more...

...and un-weave a little. (Yes, that's paint on my hands. Too many projects...)

...and I finally found it. The magic thread to undo it.

Then, detach the cuff. Pay some attention at this point just to get a better grasp at how that string weaves back and forth between loops. I used double pointed needles to put the loops on but circular or even straight ones (if you have a few) will work. When this is done, you'll end up with the cuff detached and on needles, and a tail on one side.

Next, have your model try on the sweater and mark how long the sleeve should be. Then account for the length of the cuff and undo the seam to that point. Snip a loop of yarn at that same mark. Just as you did at the cuff, un-weave the thread and slip the sleeve loops onto needles.

the black safety pin was marking my length

seam undone to mark.

snipping loop at mark

putting loops onto needles

 The extra leftover section of sleeve I ripped into yarn by pulling on the working tail. (Just pull on both tails to discover which unravels it and which just tightens a knot...)

Now, you can line up the sleeve and cuff. Here's a little tip that I learned the hard way. Count the cuff loops and sleeve loops to make sure they are equal. I had 45 sleeve loops and 40 cuff loops so I had to work in some decreases. I spread them out evenly so for every 8 cuff stitches I decreased once on the sleeve side. I'll explain the specifics of how to decrease in a bit.

(I shortened my cuff to the length I desired so it didn't just shrink from the last pictures.)

Don't laugh at me but it took a ridiculous amount of time for me to understand how to purl... and how to knit... with my yarn on a needle. I began at the seam where the working tail was, which was on the right side for me. Hopefully this will be simple for you to understand though, with explanations and illustrations.

I matched the pattern of the cuff which was k2 p2, but it I'll give an explanation of how to knit and how to purl in this manner, so you can follow whatever pattern you wish. First, though, a most important rule. As you take each loop to use it for a stitch, turn it to make sure it is not twisted as you go through it. Your stitches will look wrong otherwise.

not twisted knit loop example

not twisted purl loop

To knit a stitch:

1: Go up through the next cuff loop 2: Then down into the last sleeve loop stitched in 3: Up through the next sleeve loop 4. Down into the same cuff loop as at the beginning of this stitch.

To purl a stitch:

1: Go down into the next cuff loop 2: Then up through the last sleeve loop stitched in 3: Down through the next sleeve loop 4: Up through the same cuff loop as at the beginning of this stitch.

To decrease: Go through two loops at a time. For example, on this knit stitch I went up through the cuff loop, then down into the last sleeve loops stitched in, up through the next TWO sleeve loops, and down into the same cuff loop as at the beginning of this stitch. You can decrease on a purl stitch too. Just go down through two sleeve loops on the third step of making the stitch. Make sure those two loops are not twisted when you go through them. I turn them to untwisted and stack them up together and go through both at once.  It may be easiest to go through them while still on the knitting needle.

decreasing on a knit stitch (note that I went into the far loop first, then the closer one)

decreasing on a purl stitch

Once you've got the whole row stitched, work in any loose ends, and re-do your seam. You should be able to use the yarn from pulling out the seam and just sl st through both thicknesses.

That's it. Done. I have to say that figuring out how to communicate this project and taking pictures of it was actually much more difficult than doing it. I hope that someone out there finds it informative and useful though. I know my girl likes her new sweater for the chilly spring mornings and evenings.

cuff done

Sweater done. And it even fits! (Thank goodness!)