WFMW ~ Hiding Stains

Most of us have had this happen, right? You buy a new pair of pants for your little girl (or boy, for that matter), and instruct them to NOT PLAY OUTSIDE in them. I bought my daughter a beautiful pair of pink Levis a few summers ago, and said the same thing. She wore them once, and there were instant stains. I could not get them out. I was about to put these pants into the play clothes drawer, when I got this idea.

First cut the pants into crop pants or capris, if you want. The stains on these pants were pretty bad around the ankles, so I cropped them.

Then I took some cute fabric I had that had bugs and flowers on it, and made them into appliques. You have to iron the fabric onto some stablizer. Then cut them out, iron them onto the fabric, and use a sewing machine to applique them on, using pretty color thread that coordinates with the colors in the fabric.

I also had several cute iron-on lady bugs that went nicely with the fabric. I ironed those onto some smaller stains.

Then I used some ribbon and trimmed the pants below the knees and...

up out of the back pockets for a cute effect. These didn't hide any stains, but I thought it really brought the whole look together. Don't you?

One thing I didn't get a picture of was the cute belt I made for this. I just used the rest of the red gingham ribbon, put it through the belt loops and tied a bow. That's it!

You can really use this idea for many many things....like hiding small stains on nice shirts or dresses. You could hide small holes, too. Younger boys might like something like this, without the ribbon, of course (and the pink!). Also, if you don't use a sewing maching, you could maybe just cross-stitch the applique's on, or just use iron on patches. Either way, it works for me!

Check out more WFMW ideas at Rocks In My Dryer.

Lisa