First you have to use a seam ripper and remove the inner seams. You also have to seam rip up to the base of the zipper on the front, and up to the belt loop on the back (between the pockets). 
Turn your jeans inside out, and fold them in half along the center of the back / butt. Then draw a straight line from the center belt loop to the bottom of the pants. Pin them and sew along that line. I used a hem stitch. You might want to put a denim needle in your sewing machine.
Next cut off the excess fabric, fold it over, and hem stitch the raw edges down. I made sure to stitch over the first stitches so as not to make the skirt even tighter.
Over lap the front flaps how you want them, pin, and sew them using a hem stitch.
Take a large piece of paper (I used a leaf lawn bag) and lay it inside of the skirt. Lay out the front of the skirt how you want the center panel to be. Then trace around the edges.
Add at least a half of an inch around the traced edge for seam allowance then cut out your pattern. Pin your fabric to the paper and cut it out. You can look at the post from yesterday to see how I picked out my fabric. Sometimes seeing a picture of it vs in person gives a nice perspective on what you would like more. Next fold and sew the raw edges of your fabric towards the right side of the fabric. 
Insert your fabric into the skirt and pin it in place. Then sew it using a hem stitch (I'm referring to the same stitch that is used on t-shirts). 
I had a hole on one of the knees of my jeans. So I stitched over the hole several times. Then I used a cute iron on patch to cover it. I just so happened to have a matching patch in my house, which is weird since I don't usually buy them.
Next cut off the bottom seams on your jeans. They are to hard to sew over. Then roll and sew the new bottom hem of your skirt.
Voila! You have a nice new denim skirt made from a worn out pair of jeans
.
Here is the back of them. They are a bit tighter than the jeans were. However that was a good thing for me since I was constantly pulling my pants up, lol.
okay, I wasn't really interested in doing something like this because I can't sew worth beans but you made it look so easy and I found some really beautiful fabric in my closet the other day left from a former roomie. I may have to get out the sewing machine and see what I can do! That skirt is really cute!
ReplyDeleteThanks Lindy! I'm glad that it looks easy. It was surprisingly easy. I had put off doing it for a few months, because I thought it would have been harder.
ReplyDeletecan you post it on you-tube all I see is short skirts. thanks.
ReplyDeleteIf I find another pair of jeans that is suitable, then I will.
ReplyDeletevery nice thank you so much :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for this great idea! Mine turned out wonderfully and I'm not a very good sewer. Here's some tips that I discovered along the way...I didn't like the triangle "fold-over" piece in the front so I did the same in the front as I had in the back. Starting at the bottom of the zipper, I drew a straight line down until the line merged with the "V" in the front. I then sewed along the line, cut off the extra fabric and sewed the hem down (just like was done in the back). I also decided I didn't like the old hem from the inside of the legs of the jeans so I cut those off before I created the pattern for my fabric. That way, I had a clean line when I sewed my fabric into the skirt.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for the tips. This was a great one day skirt project!
Great job :)
ReplyDeleteOnce I lose more weight I will have to give this a try :)