Mabey She Made It

  Updated 5/19 with better instructions for how to make a skirt out of jeans.

If you’ve wanted to learn how to make a skirt out of jeans, this refashion is for you! Everyone needs a jean skirt in their closet–they’re so easy to wear and back in style.

Refashioning Jeans

When I finally had had it with a particular pair of jeans (you know that pair–you love to hate them), I got out my scissors to make a skirt out of jeans. The jeans fit well around the waist, but the rise was just too low for me to be comfortable in.

I knew I wanted to do something with them, but I couldn’t turn them into shorts or capris because that wouldn’t solve the rise problem. But jean skirts don’t have a rise…

I followed the main idea of my Panelist Skirt Tutorial, but with a couple of tweaks I’ll walk you through. Here’s what I did!

Make a Skirt Out of Jeans

1. 1. Use a seam ripper to open the stitching on the inseam of the jeans. Make sure you don’t rip into the main fabric.
   2. Follow the tutorial until you’ve finished the back of your skirt (the front should still be open at this point). The back should look like this:
   3. For the front, lay out your skirt so its flat. Pin the crotch piece flat, placing one point over the other. If you want the front edges to be finished, fold and pin the seam allowance under following the existing crease.
   4. Using a pant leg that you previously cut off, lay it under the front pieces so it fills in the gap. Pin it in place.
   5. Sew down the crotch flap and then sew the extra panel to your skirt, following the existing stitching line. Go slow and make sure you use a longer stitch length to mimic the stitching on the rest of the jeans. You may want to use a contrasting or topstitching thread for fun.
   6. Decide whether you want the bottom to fray (i.e. whether you want to hem it or not). I chose not to hem it because I liked the more casual style, but I did zigzag stitch the bottom so it wouldn’t get too frayed. I don’t personally like the frayed strings hanging off. If you want to hem it, go ahead now.

Once I washed it a couple of times, there was some minimal fraying along the front where I cut the pant legs open, but a little trim solved the problem since I’d cut so close to the existing seam. Now it doesn’t fray at all, and I have the original seams that make it look a little more professional.

It’s slim, comfortable, and best of all, I didn’t have to get rid of the jeans I loved so much.

Ta Da! A pants to skirt refashion that solves the rise issue!