Thursday, January 19, 2012

Denim Skirt

I have wanted a simple denim skirt for some time. I had a lovely pair of organic Mavi jeans that became too short once I washed them, and they were the perfect opportunity to give the "skirt-from-jeans" redux a try. There  are all kinds of helpful tutorials out there for you to look at, each with a slightly different take on how to make your skirt. Since I wanted something I could actually wear more places than not, I opted to try and finish all seam lines and inserts and hems. In the end I ended up with a skirt that fits well and looks good too.
This is what I did:
Take one pair of jeans

Figure out how long you wan your new skirt to be and cut off the pant legs, adding an additional inch (for finishing the hem).
Open the inner leg seams, both sides to the crotch and then back and front to the base of the zipper and to where the back no longer curves for your derrière.

Turn your jeans/almost skirt inside out and fold in the open edges and press into a "V", front and back.

Turn right sides out again and lay on a flat surface. Place pins to hold pressed seams.

Open the same seam (inside leg) on the pieces of pants leg that you cut off. Press open.

Place a cutting mat, or cutting board in the area of the "V" of the skirt and lay the (now) rectangle leg piece into the opening. Using the cutting mat as the pin stop, pin the skirt "V" opening to the pant leg material filling the opening. Pay special attention to the area around the zipper making sure the additional material is tucked neatly under.


Stitch a double row of stitches along each side of the "V".

Turn inside out and trim excess material leaving 1/2 of denim to the side of each seam.


Repeat on the back.

Trim hem line to an even edge and her you make a choice. You can either turn under the hem and again, double stitch, or you can leave the hem be and it will fray softly with repeated washings.


Enjoy your new skirt. {If you are totally confused, go check these tutorials here and here}.

8 comments:

  1. great idea! i have a bunch of jeans i could try this with.

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  2. Oooo this is so going on my 'to do' list. Great idea, and I have just the pair of jeans that have gone at the back of the heel where I tread on them. Thanks for sharing x

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  3. Cute skirt! I wear my jeans into the ground though, so maybe I'll not try this just yet!

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  4. Awesome, they look great and are a perfect use for those to short pants!

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  5. Wow, you make it look so easy! It looks great!

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  6. My young friend Anna (13) and I just followed this tutorial during our sewing evening today.... and she has gone home wearing hew new (and rather short) denim skirt. Great tutorial, thanks. We made a few basic errors by getting the wrong bits of fabric caught when stitching up the 'V', but did well for a first attempt - I will be trying it with my old jeans soon x

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  7. I had another go at this tutorial last night with a pair of my own jeans. It worked a treat, and I am wearing them today! When I came downstairs wearing them my three year old thought it was very funny that my trousers had turned into a skirt.!! Thanks for this tutorial, x

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  8. Stephanie, I made one of these today and it turned out awesome. Like I'm never taking it off comfy cute. Thanks for an easy tutorial! I have two more pairs of jeans to try this out on!

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