Sunday 10 February 2013

Challenge: Mini jeans skirt

Ok, so this challenge has taken me a long time to complete.... I started it sometime towards the end of 2012 and just finished today - so maybe 4/5 months? I think the important thing is that I finished it though!!

Challenge: Change an old pair of jeans into a jeans skirt.

Before - old (but favorite!) pair of jeans that have seen better days...

I really thought that this would be more simple than it actually was! But I guess my year 9 sewing skills from 14+ years ago (omg, am I really that old??) had kinda expired, and the fact that most tutorials I found online were for long (think 70s hippy) denim skirts, I was working blind!

In saying that, I´m pretty happy with the result! I´m not going to win any fashion awards, and I certainly won´t be rushing out to make another skirt anytime soon, but at least I know I can do it!!

I decided to make the skirt after I realised my favorite pair of jeans were kinda old (ok, very old) - so old that the fabric was starting to wear through in places. Places where you should not be able to see skin when you are wearing jeans. Converting them into shorts (which I actually need far more than a skirt!) was not possible due to the.... ummmm..... ´sensitive´ location of the biggest hole, so a skirt it was!

This is not an appropriate place to have a hole in your jeans....
I took the time to unpick the inside seams, and although it was a lot of work, I´m glad I did - I think the contrast seams add something. And I´m not sure how well the fabric would have matched up again if I had just cut the seams.
With seams ripped. I cut a lot of the legs off - anyone have ideas for the leftover material?

The hardest part was working out how to line up the back seam - In the end there is a slight bubble, but I don´t think it´s really noticeable (please don´t tell me if it is, let me live in my dream land just a little longer!).
Can you see the bubble? No? Ok good.

This was a huge challenge for me - but a worthwhile one!

 
Ta da! Finished product! (Ok, so I may have to straighten the bottom a little... shhh!)