Pants No More

Hello everyone! Believe it or not, the skirt I am wearing was once a pair of jeans on the $1 rack at Salvation Army. They were very sad and lonely on that rack, so I being the seamstress that I am, bought them intending to use them for fabric. The jeans were very unflattering and uncomfortable and I was reminded why I never wear jeans. I decided that they could be made into something much more cute and wearable...a skirt!

Although I failed to get a picture of the jeans beforehand, just try to imagine a pair of long, baggy and sad looking jeans. They needed a refashion and I was inspired in the middle of my weekend studying. Creativity strikes at the best of times!

Here's the back with the added triangle panel. 

I was inspired by this tutorial, however I did not like the look of the crotch seam sewn down. It wasn't the look I was going for and I wanted the finished product to look like a skirt, not like old pants with an extra panel sewn in. I used the tutorial as a loose guide, and changed things up as I went. I used the lazy method and cut down the inner leg seams instead of ripping them out with a seam ripper. 

I cut the pants to the length I wanted and then used the leftover leg pieces to fill in the gap. To get rid of the crotch seam/curve, I just cut and folded it out of the way until it would lay flat into a triangle shape as you can see in the above pictures. I wasn't very technical with making this skirt and didn't really measure when putting the panels in...I went with it and eyeballed the seam. It worked out fine and I just cut off the excess seam allowance at the end and finished the edges. Works for me!

I added a 2 inch band on the bottom for the hem using the leftover pieces of denim. It added a bit of length and gives it a clean finish without having to deal with actually hemming! Hembands are one of my favorite methods for skirts.

I love how the skirt turned out! It's a great basic piece that I've been needing to match all my printed tops. The waist was a little big, but I added a belt and it fits great. I think I will try this again with more jeans. The possibilities are endless - I think contrasting panels would look cute or maybe a contrasting hemband?

Ta-da!! A successful refashion! Sad pants turned into a cute skirt! I can see myself wearing this skirt weekly in the coming spring and summer. I am so happy that the snow is finally gone (for now) and that it was warm enough to wear this skirt barelegged outside! 

I will be linking this up with the sew along for this week's Challenge Create: Adult Edition over at Skirt Fixation. The theme is Refashion, so this skirt is perfect!

~Elizabeth