Teach Me Something Thursday, Volume One.

Welcome to the very first feature in the Teach Me Something Thursday series (TMST for short)! Our first post comes from one of my first friends in the blogosphere, Callie. Her blog, Coffee and Cardigans shows readers how to dress like a total babe on a budget. She also has lots of fun DIY projects on the blog as well. For TMST, Callie teaches us how to upcycle the worlds ugliest shorts + turn them into a beautiful skirt.

Let me introduce you to the world's ugliest shorts. I thrifted these months ago, and I think they only appeared on the blog once - but they look a little better rolled up and cuffed. I almost threw the out last week while cleaning out my closet, but the green linen is a beautiful color and they fit perfectly around the waist. I knew they couldn't live in my closet as shorts, which means it was time for a little refashioning... From shorts to a skirt!

This is the first time I've tried upcycling a pair of shorts, so I don't intend for this to be the perfect step-by-step tutorial. But I did want to share how I did it! For this project, I used...

- The world's ugliest pair of shorts 


- A sewing machine and matching thread 


- Fabric scissors or shears 


- Sewing pins 


- A washable fabric marker

Step one. I started by turning my shorts inside out and cutting up both the inside seams of the legs to open the shorts up. Obviously, this is the most important part of transforming a pair of shorts to a skirt. I didn't shorten the garment at all, which meant saving time since I used the original hem.

Step two. Next, I folded the skirt at the front and back seams and laid them on a flat surface. Using my washable fabric marker, I followed the front seam from the zipper and traced straight down. This will get rid of the awkward flaps of fabric that were originally the inside legs of the shorts. I did the same to the back of the shorts as well.

Step three. Next, I stitched a full line that met the zipper seam and continued straight down the line I just traced. I repeated this on the back and then clipped away the flaps of extra leg fabric from both the front and back of the skirt. I opted to leave about a 5/8" 

seam allowance between the new seam and the fabric that I cut away.

Step four. Finally, I pressed the seams open - as shown in the photo above - to make sure everything laid flat. I also trimmed away any extra threads and pressed the rest of the skirt for a neat finish. Linen wrinkles like no other!

This sewing project took me a little less than half an hour. Not too bad, seeing as through it completely transformed that nasty old pair of shorts - as you can see! Even though it already wrinkled by the time I got to taking the pictures. I paired my new linen skirt with a peter-pan collared top and brown wedges, but I think it'll be cute with boots and tights this fall. Have you every tried upcycling an old garment instead of throwing it out?

Check out more of Callie's fantastic fashion adventures over at Coffee and Cardigans.