Jeans to skirt up-cycle

This is a big post it may make you go a little cross eyed. 

Don't run away.

Because in the end you will have a great, easy to make skirt!

Or, if you love them as much as I do two skirts.

To start you are going to need an old pair of jeans.  Ones that still fit around the tummy but are to short or have holes in the knees.  And the fabric to make the skirt out of.  I am showing the pink skirt here.  I used handkerchiefs in both of these skirts.  I have made it from regular fabric as well.  The original insperation for this skirt can be found here.

Cut your jeans right above were the crotch meets. Make sure you don't cut the pockets.

 

Iron the handkerchief  in half and cut along the crease.

Pin the sides together and sew.

Iron seams.  Now you have your tube.

Now if you are paying attention here you will notice that I put wrong sides together and then pinned and sewed.  DO NOT DO THIS! 

Or your skirt will look like this.  We all make mistakes! All of the following photos are wrong sides together so if it looks a little backwards you know why.

On a side note the universe of crafting has been against me all week so I am happy that I got it together at all!!!



So with RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER you will start to pin your pleats.   Your fabric will be much wider than your pants top.

I like to start with one pin in the front and back middle and one on each side.  These are easy to find on your pants because all the seams will be there.

Once you pin in the middle you are going to start folding your fabric to make your pleat.

Now lets take a second to give you a disclaimer.  I am not a seamstress!  I don't know the proper way to make a pleat.  I did these by trial and error.  If you are a seamstress and you would like to let me know how to make a proper pleat please do so in the comments!

This is with one pleat. On each side of the middle.  I found it much easier to make it come out even if I did one on each side.

Folding your fabric like this for the second pleat you will make 4 in front and back.

Pin the heck out of it!  You don't want any of the layers shifting and not getting sewn.  Yes,  I did that too.  It is a simple fix just unpick and re pin and sew.  But it is nice if you don't have to.

Iron them.  It sews easier and lays nicer.

Sew away!

Remember to take your pins out and hold your pleats together as long as you can.  Also make sure your pockets are out of the way.  Yep did that too.  I used my seam ripper a lot the last few days!

I don't have a serger so I zig-zaged all the seams to finish them.  Of course you could do either.

When I finished all my work I noticed their was a hole in my fabric/handkerchief!!!! 

Good thing I had some cute applique cupcake I could put over it!

Back and front turned out pretty good.  Nice finished edge. 

Then I thought I like the way that jeans fray.

So I cut these jeans the same way.

Then putting the wrong side of the jeans to the right side of the fabric pined and sewed the same way.  Sewing on the fabric and staying as close to edge of the fabric as you can seemed to be the easiest way to do this.  Yes your jeans fabric will probably be crooked, that is ok.

Just cut the jean along the seam to even it all up.  Make sure you don't cut the seam.  I then made one seam a 1/4 of an inch higher.  Then I ran one down the middle just because I liked the way it looked.

A cute alternative to shorts.  And lady bug loves skirts.
 If you have questions e-mail me or leave them in the comments and I will do my best to help.
Thanks for hangin' out.





I will be linking up to these great party's and the others in my side bar.

My thumbs may be turning GREEN

 Lets take a moment and smell the flowers together.

 This is the first year, out of 4, that I have really taken the time to try to grow some pretty flowers in the front of the house.

 They are quite lovely!  They make me smile every time I drive up to the house.

 My begonias are looking good.

 The roses are about to bloom again.

This is what they looked like last time they bloomed.

The rosemary is beautiful. (yes, I had just finish watering everything.)

 The peas are coming on finally! The beans too. The shot of those didn't turn out.

 The corn should be on soon.

 The very few blueberry's we have are ripening.

 The blackberry's too.

 My gardening buddy is pointing out the beans. They are his favorite because of the big green leaves.

Yesterday, when we were finally able to pick a few beans, Oak ate one and spit it back out.  Saying that is NOT yummy!  So then I gave him some peas and after chowing down on 4 pods.  He declared now these are yummy!!

Our favorite part of making our thumbs green is cooling down after.

Thanks for smelling the flowers with us and taking a tour of the garden.