DIY- Jeans into Bell Bottoms

This weekend my friend had a 70s themed birthday party.  I shopped extensively to find just the right outfit.  Sadly, there wasn't a lot to be found.  Of course, I managed to find clothes for my husband, but it seemed like the ladies options were fewer and further between.

So, I made the decision that I would just make my own!  I went to Jo-Ann's and found some great fabric.  I was determined to make jeans into bell bottoms and to make a matching shirt.  I am not one to use a pattern- they make me crazy. Instead I looked at various DIYs online and came up with a hybrid mix of these to suit my needs.

I found some cheap jeans at a thrift store- this particular pair began their life as skinny jeans.
The first step was to rip out the outside seams up to the knee- about 20 inches, depending on the length of jeans you have.  I also ripped out the hem as well- this was so I could hem the added bell fabric to match the pant hem exactly.  In this case it also lengthened the jeans a bit.  The seam ripping was only difficult in that there were three sets of stitches in this seam, so it took more time than anticipated to get through all of the stitches!

The next step was to cut the fabric to insert into my open seam.  I measured the opening on my jeans- 20 inches.  I decided to cut the fabric longer to make sure I had plenty of fabric.  I cut a triangle 24 inches long with the top being about 2 inches wide and the bottom being 10 inches wide.
The fabric I chose was a little on the floppy side which gave me reason to question if the leg would just fold in on itself making the bell disappear.  To avoid this, I used a fairly stiff interfacing on my fabric- cut to the same size as my triangle.

Once I had these two fabrics fused together I turned the jeans inside out and pinned the pants and fabric together.  All that was left was to sew!  I went up each side and then made small adjustments at the top of the triangle to try to make sure there wasn't a pucker at the top.  This is just something you have to fiddle with.  Some people hand stitch this part, but I was able to do a pretty good job with the machine.
Lastly, I put a hem back in the bottom of the jeans.  I chose to leave them a little longer so that I could wear them with taller wedges.

I don't have a picture with them on- I forgot!  But I will post one one I have a chance to put them on again.

I also made a shirt- actually 2 shirts.  The first one I made from a pattern- it turned out super cute, but was snugger than what I prefer.  Since I wanted to have a good time I decided to make a second shirt.  This time I avoided pattern usage.  I cut out a square of fabric and worked it into a halter top with the help of my mother!  With a little elastic, a couple of darts, and some ingenuity, I had a shirt!

It's Been One Week Since You Looked At Me...

I am claiming one week gluten-free even though it is really only six days.  Can I just tell you that this has been the worst week to make this change!?  Holy moly.  It was Teacher Appreciation week, and how did we celebrate?  Well, with food of course!  Here is the rundown of how this week worked:

Monday: First day of my experiment.  Potato bar at work. This actually was okay- I had the potato with cheese and tiny bits of sour cream and butter.  Now, I know that sour cream and butter could be suspect, but I went really light and crossed my fingers.

Tuesday: Fazoli's was served for lunch. This girl went back to her classroom and at the salad she brought from home.  The wafting smell of breadsticks was like torture.

Wednesday: Dilly bars from the cafeteria and sweet treats from STUCO.  I ate the Dilly Bar since DQ's webpage proclaims them gluten free, and took water from STUCO- no soda, and no chips.

Thursday: Donuts and Fruit courtesy of the PTA.  I got friendly with the fruit and bypassed the donut.  You wouldn't know this- but this is a BIG deal.  I LOVE donuts! Holy crud... but, it wasn't that hard.

Friday: Okay, so this one may sound silly- Texas Roadhouse dropped off about a million hot rolls at school.  Um, these are like flippin' kryptonite.  I faced my kryptonite and walked away from it.

So, I survived a tough five days!

Today, I went with my mom to get coffee- she wanted to get lunch while we were there- sadly, I didn't get anything.  The place was local and while they said I could probably eat the chicken salad on lettuce... well, without knowing the ingredients for sure, I didn't want to take their best guess.

This hasn't been as hard as I thought it was going to be.  I have found some amazing products that I really enjoy. Here are my recommendations from this week:

*Glutino Pretzel Sticks- super yummy, and went fabulously with banana.
*Pamela's Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies- oh man!  170 calories for 2 cookies- this is high, but all cookies are in my opinion.  I was able to eat just one at a time.  (Also an accomplishment!)
*Gluten Free Cafe Pizza Crust Mix- this was a weird consistency after being mixed.  I used glass bakeware instead of a pizza pan.  It turned out pretty decent, but was too dense or something- the crust overwhelmed the flavor of my toppings!  I would still use it in a pinch though!

Gluten Free Since...

So, tomorrow is the day that I try living gluten free for 30 days.  Why on earth would I do that you may ask...
I haven't been diagnosed with celiac disease, and no, I am not using it as a diet.

A co-worker and I had a conversation where I mentioned in passing that my husband and I weren't having children as quickly as we had hoped.  His response was that his wife was only able to get pregnant when she went gluten-free.

Now, there has been some indication that there may be a problem elsewhere in the clockwork that produces babies, but without a firm diagnosis, I am willing to give up bread for babies.