I worked for a number of years at Banana Republic and, as a result, aquired quite a wardrobe of work attire. Well, now that I spend my days with my little one, I don't really have a need for these clothes. So, just after Christmas, I finally went through the stacks and mailed most of it to my sister, who graduates law school this May (Congrats!!!). Anyway, as I was going through the clothes, I found a couple of pairs of pants that the lining was torn and I figured I could turn them into skirts, since that is what I'm needing these days anyway. Below is the result.
This is a pretty simple project, especially since most of the hard stuff is already done, like the pockets and whatnot. I tried mine on a bunch throughout the process to make sure that the skirt fit the way I wanted it to, I kept thinking that I really should just sew in my underwear...
Materials:
* Dress pants
* Seam Ripper
* Sewing Machine and thread
* Marking Pencil
* Scissors
* Pins
* Ruler or straight edge
* Iron and ironing board
* Sewing gauge
Alright, here is the process:
* Start by unpicking ONLY the inseam of the pant legs
* Turn the pants inside out and match up the fronts of the pant legs with right sides together
* Using a straight edge, create a line from the zipper flap to the fold of the unpicked seam, do the same for the back sides of the pant legs
* Starting about an inch or so of the top seam that has not been unpicked, sew following your line and going further down the leg then the length you want the skirt to be, repeat for the back side
* Try on the skirt and determine the length you would like the skirt to be and place pins, then subtract an inch to account for the ruffle and the bottom hem
* Try on the skirt again to determine if you like the fit. At this point, you could skip to the hem and ruffle, but since these were wide leg pants and I wanted more of a 40's style fitted skirt, I turned them inside out and brought in the front, back and sides a bit
Materials:
* Dress pants
* Seam Ripper
* Sewing Machine and thread
* Marking Pencil
* Scissors
* Pins
* Ruler or straight edge
* Iron and ironing board
* Sewing gauge
Alright, here is the process:
* Start by unpicking ONLY the inseam of the pant legs
* Turn the pants inside out and match up the fronts of the pant legs with right sides together
* Using a straight edge, create a line from the zipper flap to the fold of the unpicked seam, do the same for the back sides of the pant legs
* Starting about an inch or so of the top seam that has not been unpicked, sew following your line and going further down the leg then the length you want the skirt to be, repeat for the back side
* Try on the skirt and determine the length you would like the skirt to be and place pins, then subtract an inch to account for the ruffle and the bottom hem
* Try on the skirt again to determine if you like the fit. At this point, you could skip to the hem and ruffle, but since these were wide leg pants and I wanted more of a 40's style fitted skirt, I turned them inside out and brought in the front, back and sides a bit
Now for the hem and ruffle:
* Turn your skirt inside out and, using your sewing gauge, fold up and pin 1/2" from the bottom
* Repeat the previous step
* Sew the first fold shut
* For the ruffle, cut 4" strips from the left over pant legs and 2" strips from the lining (The length is determined by how "ruffly" you want it to be, I used 2 strips from each leg
* Sew the 4" strips together and the 2" strips together
* Fold the strips in half lengthwise and iron
* Pin the lining strip ontop of the pant leg strip, then fold in half and in half again lengthwise and mark the folds (you will match this up with the respective seams)
* Zigzag stitch along the top of the strips to prevent fraying
* Baste along the top of your strips about 1/4" down, pull one thread to ruffle the strips
* Turn skirt right-side out and, starting in the back of the skirt, pin the ruffle, right sides together along the bottom of the skirt leaving about 2"-3" of the ruffle at the beginning and end to sew the ruffle together
* Sew ruffle to the skirt, starting and stopping about an inch from the back hem
* Pin the edges of the ruffle together and sew, then zigzag stitch the edge to prevent fraying
* Fold hem along the iron fold you made earlier, turning the ruffle right-side out and folding it into the inside of the skirt, sew about 1/4" from the edge
* Try it on and bask in the accomplishment!
* Turn your skirt inside out and, using your sewing gauge, fold up and pin 1/2" from the bottom
* Repeat the previous step
* Sew the first fold shut
* For the ruffle, cut 4" strips from the left over pant legs and 2" strips from the lining (The length is determined by how "ruffly" you want it to be, I used 2 strips from each leg
* Sew the 4" strips together and the 2" strips together
* Fold the strips in half lengthwise and iron
* Pin the lining strip ontop of the pant leg strip, then fold in half and in half again lengthwise and mark the folds (you will match this up with the respective seams)
* Zigzag stitch along the top of the strips to prevent fraying
* Baste along the top of your strips about 1/4" down, pull one thread to ruffle the strips
* Turn skirt right-side out and, starting in the back of the skirt, pin the ruffle, right sides together along the bottom of the skirt leaving about 2"-3" of the ruffle at the beginning and end to sew the ruffle together
* Sew ruffle to the skirt, starting and stopping about an inch from the back hem
* Pin the edges of the ruffle together and sew, then zigzag stitch the edge to prevent fraying
* Fold hem along the iron fold you made earlier, turning the ruffle right-side out and folding it into the inside of the skirt, sew about 1/4" from the edge
* Try it on and bask in the accomplishment!
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