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Friday, January 27, 2012

Old jeans into a skirt.

My daughter and I no longer wear pants.  After reading in the Bible that a woman shall not wear anything that pertaineth to a man, our family decided that us girls wearing pants was a no-go.  I converted her pants into skirts!

I'll get pictures up as soon as I can for this but for now here's how I did it:

Just above the crotch area on the pants, I cut in a slightly curved line.  and I do mean SLIGHTLY!  (below the zipper, in a very slight curve.)  did I mention it was slight?

SO I measured my daughters hips while she stood with her feet at shoulder length, where the former pants came down.  (the bottom "hem" of the pants line on her hips.)  I decided I wanted her to have a 3 tier skirt that goes to about her shins, below her knee.  I measured from that hemline to the shin length.  divided it by 3 and added 1/2 inch.  (you'll need that 1/2" buffer for sewing!)

So the length is the total length from jean hemline to bottom, divided by 3 and add 1/2 inch.  HYPOTHETICALLY if I wanted it total to be 27 inches long from the hem to her shin, I'd divide it by 3 and it would be 9",  (plus 1/2 inch seam allowance- 9 1/2")

width of the fabric is done this way:  measure around her hips.  mulitply it by 1 1/2.  so if her hips were 20 inches (yes, she's a skinny minnie!) I would multiply 20 x 1.5.  leaving me with: 30 inches.

second tier, multiply the 30 x 1.5 and again with the bottom tier.

Now, this skirt is easiest made from the bottom up.sew the fabric and ruffle it to make it the length of the one above it.  sew them together and repeat to the top layer.  You'll end up with a 27" (in this example) panel of fabric that is ruffled more and more toward the bottom.  once all the layers are pieced together, sew up the end side, making a tube of fabric with the ruffles on teh bottom.

attach your fabric to the jeans so that right sides are facing each other.  sew together.  turn right side out and sew hem, or add seam binding.  Frankly, I prefer to sew a hem or serge it.

Tada- recycling old jeans, using up fabric stash and having the satisfaction of my daughter having a skirt that is long enough for her to play in!