Favorite jeans are now a favorite skirt, PLUS bonus crochet action

Oh, the horror of it all!



Granted, I've had these jeans for years.  Still.  That's heartbreaking.  The first place where my jeans wear out and skin pokes through is always because of my enormous, earthquake-inducing thunder thighs.  I have to be careful when I run in some synthetics as they will just heat up and melt into my skin, or occasionally ignite into an impressive conflagration.  Damn you, thighs.  

I actually don't wear jeans too much- when I'm gardening or horseback riding or painting.  They are generally just clothes to get dirty in.  I try to find a pair that fits well with a darker, dressier wash, and these were it for me for years.

Sigh.

What to do?

Turn them into a jean skirt, of course.  My biggest problem with buying off-the-rack ones is they never fit me quite right- always too snug through the hips or too big through the waist, or some other weird combination of unflattering, and I'm tugging at it or feeling like they are riding up constantly.  Why?  Because they don't fit like jeans.  The belt loops are never the right size to actually fit a belt.  That's why I love this pattern (if you want to call it that).  You are taking something that fits you like a glove, and turning it into a skirt.

First....the cut.



I cut the inseam out.  You could do this with a seam ripper and re-stitch, but the inseam was pretty frayed and starting to get holes, so I just sliced them up.  Also, less bulk to try to sew over.



Then, decided how long you want your skirt to be.  A really cute (although slightly hippie look) is to sew in a panel of fabric and you'll have a long, multi-media jean skirt.  I, however, thing that knee length looks best on me, so I cut a couple inches below to have a nice, neat, folded hem.

I use the below-the knee scraps to create a panel.

Because you don't need a crotch anymore (ha!), cut an inch or two up the crotch, then overlap and pin.  This way, the extra fabric doesn't create a bulge or pucker where you don't need it too.  This is also a good way to hide some wear, as one of the frayed areas ended up being in the lower left buttock quadrant once the legs were sliced up and laid flat.

Here's a fantastic little tutorial that I found that goes into the creation in detail much better than I can.  Once I start sewing, I generally forget to photograph my progress, so I suck at tutorials.   I'm not on Pintrest, but this is one of those patterns that there are a million ideas for variations on.

Me?

I chose crochet.

My legs....they are blindingly white, untouched by sunshine for many, many moons.   At least I remembered to wax!

It was a pattern of rather preciously-named "tiara trim".  It whipped up quick like a bunny, and I basted it in place at the hem before running the machine over it.  I used Rowan cotton denim in "Memphis".

The end result:

Not exactly haute courture. but a comfy, unique skirt that fits around my hips.

Oh, ha.  I can't figure out how to re-orient the images once I've imported them, and I'm far to lazy to fix it.  But here, crane your neck a bit.

It's just become my go-to casual round-the-house, dart-out-for-milk-and-eggs skirt.