If you can re-purpose old clothes for this school year, I highly recommend doing so, think of the money you will save.

These three pairs of jeans were from last year. Two pairs are too short, and the third, well, the holes just too big.

boys jeans to shorts

It’s still summer, we live in San Diego, and these are not worth sending to the Thrift Shop, so I decided to turn all three pairs into shorts for the little man to wear to school. However I wanted them to look nice for school (as opposed to backyard, play in the mud attire), so I didn’t want there to be frayed bottoms from not hemming, and I wanted to make sure that the holes were patched.

I began by using an old pair of shorts as a guide for the length:

how to transform jeans to shorts

I tend to just eye-ball things but if you prefer, measure and use a fabric marker to make sure you get your line straight before cutting.

Turn kids jeans into shorts tutorial

As you can see two pairs of shorts still had holes in them but the third didn’t, so I tackled that pair first.

I cut a piece of scrap fabric to the size I would need to make a hem for the shorts, then stitched it on.

How to hem jean shorts

I then turned the edges of the hem up, hand stitched the sides to keep the hem up, and ironed it in place.

jeans turned into shorts

back to school money saving tips

The second pair I tackled were the tan pair. I cut a small piece of patterned fleece from a roll I found in my fabric stash from when the kids were babies.

how to repurpose clothes for back to school

Using the sewing machine I stitched it to the inside of the pants and then cut off the excess. Then I hemmed the pants and I think they look pretty darn cute with the peek-a-boo green, blue and yellow checked fabric patch:

how to patch jeans

how to add patches to pants

Lastly, I tackled the jeans that still had two holes, even after the bottom of the legs were cut off. I knew these ones would need to be hand-stitched as the holes were quite high and the legs tighter so feeding it through my sewing machine was going to be difficult. I cut rectangular pieces of tan cord and hand-stitched each to the inside of the pants and cut off the excess. Then I hemmed the pants and trimmed off any extra long pieces of thread that were hanging in the patched area.

save money on kids clothes

jean patches

Now he has three new pairs of shorts to wear to school and I haven’t had to spend a dime. Now that’s saving money!

Do you have a little girl who has jeans that are just a little too short too or that have frayed bottoms? Add some flowers and frills and transform them into long shorts she will love.

Share your back to school money saving advice below for a chance to win a $500 Back to School Shopping Spree from BlogFrog!

Want to exchange more tips and ideas with other moms about back to school topics such as healthy snacks, school supplies, and saving money? Visit the Horizon® Healthy Families Back to School Community!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Horizon. The opinions expressed by me do not necessarily reflect the view of the Horizon Organic brand.



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