How To Make A Denim Maxi Skirt From Jeans

This is really my favorite dress. I’ve been wearing it weekly for 7 years? 8 years? I had a great time teaching the people at Maker Faire how to make this dress. The shape fits all body types (Seriously. I’ve yet to see a girl who doesn’t look good in this dress) and allows you to move around with ease. (Seriously. I cycle and climb trees in this dress.) Extra bonus – I met my boyfriend’s husband while wearing this dress! The basic idea behind this dress is that we are opening a pair of pants and placing four triangles of fabric in the openings Reading: how to make a denim maxi dress out of jeans You need: 2 pairs of pale jeans regime. 1 needs to fit you at the waist. Thread pulling sewing machineWe start with the first pair of pants. These need to fit you at the waist. Cut off the entire center seam, cutting one side of the leg and down the other. On the outer leg seams, cut off the seam that stops a few inches above the knee. Web Read more: How to get wet curls on natural short hair In the second pair of pants, your goal is to create two rectangles out of the legs. To do this, cut off the leg just below the crotch. Then cut off the center seam of both legs. (For this dress, you’ll leave out the top of these pants, but let’s look at other creative uses of the jeans. into something else…)Back to the first pair of pants – we need to work on the curve of the fabric that sticks out in order for the leg to go into the crotch. To do this, we make an incision next to the curved part of the crotch seam. Do not cut the entire seam as this will leave holes. At the front, make an incision next to the seam up to the bottom of the zipper, but be sure to stop below the zipper as the fly zipper has multiple layers of denim that are difficult to sew through. In the back, make an incision about the middle of the buttock, usually around the bottom of the bag.Now we want to take two rectangles from the trouser leg and turn them into four triangles. We want two slightly larger and two slightly smaller. To do this, instead of cutting exactly diagonally (which will form four equally sized triangles), shift your cut a few inches down. If the pants you’re using aren’t exactly rectangular (they come from a flared pair, for example), don’t worry. Your triangle just needs to be mostly triangles – a little bit of flimsy will never hurt anyone.Now let’s start sewing the skirt together. The front and back are sewn similarly. I suggest laying out and pinning the front, sewing the front, then laying out, pinning and sewing the back. If you try to pin all the triangles in before sewing any, you’ll end up with a lot of pins that can get caught in the rest of your skirt or on your fingers! Read more: how to put on a high hat Start with the crotch curve. You want to make the curved parts lie flat on the skirt so that they will flap to the side, as shown in the diagram. Pin them in place. Then take one of the larger triangles and place it on the inside of the skirt. Pin one leg seam and then pin the other seam with the triangle and leg fabric overlapping 1/2 inch. You want your triangle to lie flat on the top (so don’t straighten your legs out) and make the most of the width of the triangle at the bottom (so it’s fine if the legs are being extended). below) . Don’t worry if you have overlapping fabric or allow a large seam at the top of the triangle as you can trim the excess once you’ve sewn the seams.Sewing Note: One seam of a normal straight stitch won’t be enough to hold this dress together. I recommend doing two rows of stitches and using a sturdier stitch like an elastic/stretch stitch or a zig-zag stitch. Also, the point where your crotch fabric slit stops will be a weak point. I recommend running a tight zig-zag stitch over it to prevent it from forming a hole.Finally, place the smaller fabric triangles in the side slots and sew them in place. Plus, there are so many ways you can personalize this dress! A few ideas:

Make it from non-denim pants (FYI, pinstripe wool looks great and hot).
Make your pad from high-contrast denim.
Set in triangles in non-denim fabric.
Cut the skirt short (remove the side triangles if the skirt is much shorter than your knees).
Extra pocket.
Add rhinestone embellishments to the dress…