How to remodel jeans into a skirt

Ladies, let's be honest. Have you ever had this happen to your jeans?

Yeah, not pleasant. We won't go there with how they get like that. It's always the jeans that fit you perfectly too. So, this post is about how to turn this:

Into this:

For this project, I used a pair of jeans that fit perfectly (actually, perhaps a little big in the butt or the thighs), thread meant for jean sewing in gold, jean needles for a sewing machine and the sewing machine of course, a seam ripper, pins, scissors and a measuring tape. I also used a sharp needle for hand-sewing.

Cutting

To start out, you will need to cut the pants open. I did this the lazy way by cutting out the seam going up the legs. I cut it on one side then the other to remove it completely.

Next, it's time to cut the crotch out (sorry, there isn't a better word for it though). I turned the pants over on the side and smoothed them out, making sure that the edges of the waistband down to the legs were completely lined up. Then I cut out the back and the front - just enough so that the pants are in a straight line.

Next, it's time to cut the pants into a knee-length skirt. To get the right distance, I took another skirt that fit me perfectly and laid it over top of this one to get an idea of where I needed to cut it. I made sure that both the pants and the skirt were perfectly lined up then I cut them with about 1 inch of seam allowance.

Ok, so now I reused the leg fabric to make an insert for the front of the skirt. I cut away the ratty seam and cut the leg into two pieces. I folded one leg piece in the middle and used my measuring tape to get a good line. I pinned the fabric down so that it didn't shift while I was cutting then I cut up the cut side (not the folded side).

Sewing

Time to get sewing. First, I sewed the panel into the front of the skirt. On the wrong side, I pinned the top over the crotch seam to keep it in place then I pinned the panel down one side of the jeans. I sewed that in place as far as I could go (it gets more difficult at the top so I'll do that by hand).

Then, I lined up the other side, pinned it and sewed it from the top to the cut edge at the bottom.

Now there is only an inch on either side of the crotch that needs to be sewn up. I did this by hand with a needle and thread.

 

Now time to tackle the back. On the wrong side, pin the seam going up the back up slightly to the waistline (for a smooth line down) down to 2 inches before the new hem with a very small seam allowance, less than 1 cm (as these fit you already). This skirt has a small pleat in the back for movement. Sew the seam down using the jean thread and jean needle on the sewing machine.

After trying it on and making sure that it fits right, I went over the front and back seams again to reinforce them. Now, I had to sew up the hem. I trimmed the hem to even it out then pinned the hem with less than 1 cm seam allowance. I should note that if I had a serger, I would have serged at this point and then sewed it down as jeans fray so I recommend doing that if you are able to.

This is the skirt on the wrong side:

And here is the finished product!

Estimated time for this project: about 3 hours. It took a little while to cut everything out, pin the seams, reinforce them and do the hand sewing. A good estimate is between 2 and 3 1/2 hours. 

Notes:

• If you have a serger, this is definitely a project to use it on. I would have serged all of the seams after they were done and the hem before sewing it down. 
• I did plan on having two panels -- one in the back and one in the front for a nice wide skirt but it didn't look right after I had sewn it into the back so I ripped it out and sewed up the back. That is an option though. 

Ideas:

• Why not do this with a pair of jeans that is faded, ripped or torn and dye them indigo again (or perhaps slate grey, black or such) before giving them a new lease on life as a skirt?
• The instructions in this tutorial also work for any pair of pants, not just jeans.

How to make a fooler top

I hate this shirt because it's too short and it doesn't fit right anymore after going through the dryer one too many times:

I hate this shirt too, also because it's too short.

By chance, I washed both of these shirts before I was going to take them to the Salvation Army then I realized something: they are both the same color. Hmmm...I wonder if I could make my own  fooler top out of these two shirts? A fooler top looks like a button-up shirt and a sweater with the collar, sleeves and tails under a nice simple top but the fool is that it's only one top, not two.

So, I planned on making this the ultimate shirt: make it longer by sewing the "tails" from the button-up shirt onto the hem of the v-neck sweater to extend it, add cuffs to the ends of the sleeves and add the collar (like a dickie) to the neckline.

For this project, I used the two shirts, matching thread, scissors, a tape measure, a white dressmaker's pencil, a seam ripper, and my sewing machine. I also used a basic needle for hand-stitching.

Cutting:

To start, I cut off the first cuff. I went about 1 inch above the first cuff, smoothed out the fabric and cut it off.

I used the cut cuff to measure how much I needed for the second cuff (like a pattern) and then cut the second cuff.

(pardon the cat hair in some of these photos: my cat decided to sleep on both shirts last night)

Then, I looked at the hem. I measured (by sight) the approximate amount of fabric that I wanted from the button-up shirt.

Using the measuring tape, I measured 4 inches on both side seams and marked it with the dressmakers pencil. Then, I held the measuring tape horizontally between the two sides and marked a line. 

I smoothed the shirt out well as I was going to cut through the two sides and then cut.

Last, was the collar. This was more difficult. I marked on both sides of the shoulders where I wanted to cut then went straight down to the first button from both shoulders. This cut through both sides.

 Sewing:

Once I had all of the cut pieces, I used a zigzag stitch around all of the cut edges. If I had a serger, I would have serged them.

For the actual sewing, I started with the cuffs. I pinned the cuffs to the wrong side of the sweater on the sweater band so that it would blend in with the style of the sweater. I started with the buttoned side of the cuff.

At this point, I discovered that the cuff didn't fit on my sewing machine, so I sewed both cuffs on by hand with a needle and matching thread.

Once both cuffs were sewn on by hand, I did the collar. I pinned the fabric collar to the v-neck from the outside so that I could follow the line of the knit cuff on the sweater.

Once the collar was sewn on, the hard part began - the hem. I found it rather difficult as the button-up shirt was slightly bigger than the sweater. So, the first thing that I did was I lined up the side seams from both the sweater and the button-up shirt and pinned them together with about 2 cm seam allowance.

Once both side seams were pinned, I worked my way around the back then the front. I kept the same seam allowance so that it wouldn't be uneven. 

Once it was pinned, I turned the shirt over to see how well everything lined up. I didn't want to be uneven on the sides and such. I made sure the the front was pinned so that it came out slightly, like a real shirt. 

Then I sewed it down. Once I took the pins out though, I noticed that I had some overlap on the back:

So, on these "tucks", I took out the seams with a seam ripper and repinned them, this time with some give.

Then I sewed them back down again, stretching the fabric with my fingers as I went. 

Lastly, I had to do something with the collar "dickie". It wouldn't stay in place when I put it on. 

So, using the needle and thread again, I sewed it to the sweater along the lines. I didn't do it all the way down, just in key places I added a stitch.

I pinned it and added a stitch where all of the pins are.

Done!

(now you can really see how short the sweater was on me before this project)

Estimated time for this project: 2 hours. It was actually more for me due to the fact that the cuffs were sewn on by hand. The cutting took about 20-30 minutes (measuring and all that) with the sewing a bit more than that. 

Notes:

• Next time, I will cut the collar closer to the seam so that I don't have extra fabric. 
• A serger would be very useful to sew down the cut edges before sewing begins. 
• When sewing the cuffs, be sure that the buttoned sides line up - either both facing out or both facing in. 

Ideas: 

• This could easily be done with a patterned shirt and a solid sweater, or vice versa. It can be done with old cardigans as well.