Oh Dear...I have renFLU

Unfortunately no amount of bed rest or fluids is going to control this flu and in my experience it is highly contagious.  One does not need direct contact with renFLU to catch it but it can also be caught visually through the internet, much like an online virus.  I have an unusually bad case which is unfortunately going to take some time to shake.  In the meantime, here is my latest version.

For this particular Renfrew, I was inspired by Carolyn's lovely panne velvet dress.  I had my sights set on this lovely blue panne velvet that had been sitting in my stash and came from some unknown source.  Unfortunately, I only had 1 metre which necessitated a bit of creativity.  A quick trip to Spotlight and an investment of $8 and I had some more in a contrasting colour.   I originally envisaged a colour blocked dress and had this in it's final stages of construction, using my Renfrew pattern as my jumping off point.  I showed my daughter and she likened it to something that may be seen in an 80's night club!  Oops, that silver had a bit too much sparkly in the natural light, this is not what I wanted to achieve and at 4pm on a Friday afternoon when I was intending to wear it out that very night, no less!  Luckily, I had a small amount of the grey left and with a quick change of plans, my Renfrew was back as the pattern intended it....phew, crisis averted!

While I was out shopping for fabric on Friday, I popped into Kmart and picked up a pair of jeans on clearance for $5.  They weren't my desired fit but for $5 they followed me home.  The first problem was that they gaped in the back.  I had seen this tutorial on Sew Brunswick on how to fix gaping jeans.  In the past, I had sewn darts in the back of pesky gaping jeans, but this gave me an idea. 

I am not usually a fan of elastic waisted jeans.  They felt a bit mumsy for me but, I reasoned that jeggings are everywhere at the moment and often these were elasticated around the middle.  My new jeans had a side seam in the inside waistband which I carefully unpicked and threaded through some elastic.  I stitched each end and hand sewed the opening closed.  Problem solved....

My second issue with these jeans, was the fact that they were straight legged and I was aiming for a more modern jegging look that I could wear with ballet flats. 

 I laid my favourite jeans on top of my new jeans and pinned the non top stitched seam (there is always one of these on the legs of jeans) to a more satisfactory width, taking care not to deviate too far from the grain of the fabric.   I did not want the legs to look bandy which is why I wouldn't suggest trying this on jeans any wider than straight leg.  I carefully stitched  my new seam, cut off the excess and over locked before stitching a new hem.   Job done!  I am wearing my new jeans with the Renfrew in the top photo and they are super comfortable.