A regular Ol' Betsy Ross

So because I am moving I have been pinning like a maniac. And because I have been pinning like a maniac, I have found tons of other things to take up my time other than moving. Such as clothing!

Recently, about a month ago, I realized that all but two pairs of my jeans had holes in them. Most of these holes being in inappropriate places, and were deemed un-wearable (which I am now using for another new project I will update with on here later when I am finished) but some salvageable. In the end I got 5 new pairs of jean shorts. While a southern girl like me loves her jean shorts, I decided this was somewhat of an excess, and chose to have some fun with them!

First I went and got some lace and just simply hand-stitched the lace onto the sides on the shorts where they had started splitting. This was so easy, took 5 minutes, and completely changes the look.

Then I decided I wanted some America shorts. I had seen many online and in stores, but all seemed very expensive to me. I went to three different fabric stores trying unsuccessfully to find fabric with the American flag printed on it. In the end, I just got an American flag. I felt like the worse American ever cutting up the American flag- but it is all in the name of fashion! And I am hell bent to use every part of it for something useful.

So I started just by simply cutting the pieces out, leaving about an inch around the perimeter to have a finished edge. I then folded back the edge and began hand-stitching it. For the most part I used the natural edge of the shorts and just followed it. I chose to hand stitch it, which I would recommend for most people useless you are extremely thrifty with a machine, due to the tight spaces, especially on the inseam. I also used white thread, because I liked how it looked with the exposed stitching, but that is personal preference.

A mistake I made was not closing the fly when sewing it, which I realized later made the fabric pull so the zipper was exposed. Thankfully because I had tucked under about an inch I had some room and it was easily fixable. I would definitely recommend leaving some space, so the fabric almost bunches a little bit in the middle because when you put them on it definitely flattens out.

But here is the finished product! I am in love! Happy 4^th ya’ll!

Love always,

Elle