DIY skinnies: a sewing adventure

I asked for a sewing machine for Christmas, but I have to admit even before I brought it home and took it out of the box I was intimidated. I can sew a bit by hand, but I'm so very out of practice. And tackling my new machine without lessons, help, or someone to even explain to me about upper and lower threading was enough to discourage me from attempting to try it out. But last week I finally sat myself down and figured the thing out. I wound a bobbin, threaded it, and did some practice stitching on a piece of junk mail with only one minor breakdown and confused call to my grandma thinking I had broken the thing already.

For my first project, I needed something so simple as to be almost embarrassing. My first thought was to carry out an idea I'd been toying with for weeks: converting a pair of stretch bootcut cords into skinnies. They were bought secondhand, and though I loved the fit and color I could never seem to work them into a successful outfit. Taking them from bootcut to skinny would make them feel more modern and fun, but if I messed them up I wouldn't miss having them in my wardrobe. I knew the stretchy fabric would be forgiving if I miscalculated. I wouldn't have to get the measurements just right. So I bravely pulled them on inside out, pinned the inside seam close to my leg, took them off, marked them, and got stitching. Not much later I had sewn both legs, cut off the excess, and had a semi-shoddy but passable finished product.

Look out, skirts and dresses of my closet. You're all about to get a lot shorter.

Old Navy denim jacket, Target t-shirt handed down, Abercrombie kids restyled cords, Converse Outlet kids shoes (I wear a size 4!), antique store pendant on two old necklace chains 

P.S.  This is what they used to look like...