This to That: Jeans to Skirt, the OG of DIY’s

  I originally bought these jeans with something else in mind. That something else was this epic denim underbust corset. Every wardrobe needs one of these to wear over a crisp white tee or shirt. Then I thought I can’t waste the rest of the jeans, so I thought why not go back to the basic of basic and make a denim skirt. The OG of DIY’s, probably the first DIY I ever did when I was probably like 9 years old, and didn’t I think I was killin’ it. Hell, I might even wear the denim skirt with a tee with the underbust corset.

To begin you will need the following things

Materials

• an old pair of jeans that fit on the waist
• cotton thread

Tools

• sewing machine
• iron
• scissors
• pins
• washing machine

Tips

• Don’t discard the mens section of thrift stores, you can sometimes pick up vintage Levi’s for under $10.

Step 1 

Put your jeans on and measure (using pins) where you would like your skirt to come to adding 2-3cm. To double-check that it isn’t too short measure to where you have pinned. It should be no shorter than about 38cm for a mini skirt or 43cm for a more modest skirt. You can always cut it shorter later if you wish.

Step 2 

Using scissors cut the legs off the jeans as shown below

Step 3 

Next unpick the inseam of both legs.

Step 4 

Then unpick the front crotch seam to the bottom of the zipper

Step 5 

Unpick the back seam up to the panel seam junction

Step 6 

Remove all loose threads from the jeans. A pair of tweezers and a lindt roller can make this easier.

Tip* No lindt roller? Just use sticky tape.

Step 7 

Next, put the pants back on and pin the front and back down by placing the left and right legs over one another. Ensure this is done on the body and not flat as you will achieve a better fit this way.

Step 8 

Using a thread colour that matches the darker part of the denim, sew down the front and back

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Step 9 

Now you will need to level out the hem, at the same time check that your side seams are both the same length with a tape measure. 

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It was here I decided that I didn’t like the look of the back of the skirt so I unpicked the bottom part and cut some off and folded back the contrast darker part, see images below to compare.

Step 10 

Put your denim skirt through the wash a couple of times so that the hem frays nicely, then trim any fraying that went a little too wild then you’re done.

Tip* The more you wash this style the better it looks, just keep it neat by trimming the frayed ends now and then.

If you give this DIY a try, drop a photo in the comments below. I would love to see it.