DIY Skirt from Consignment jeans and an Old Sheet

Disclaimer: I am not in any way an experienced sewer. I have sewn, but I'm not an expert in any way! All that to say, if you are not a sewer, you too can make this skirt! This is one of the easiest skirts you could make! My original plan was to use denim ruffles in the middle. I had never made ruffles before. I tried a few and realized it was not easy to do denim ruffles. My next thought was white... I knew I saved my ripped bed sheet for a reason!

 Step 1: Lay your jeans on a flat surface and cut out the middle seam out (the inner leg seam). (Unless you want to keep it on 1 side like I did b/c I liked the stitching and wanted to keep that look on the front of my skirt).

 Here's the part where I cheated and made really easy ruffles. I cut a piece out of my fitted sheet so that the elastic would be at the top. I cut a piece to fill the now hole between the legs. (You need a front and a back panel.) Make sure to cut it at least 3 inches bigger on each side then the space you need to fill. That way when you go to sew there's no worries about it being too small for the hole.

 You will also need to cut up one side of the "curve" that formed (near the zipper) after cutting the seam out (shown above). You will then fold one side under and pin it in place how ever it lays nice. If it's laying weird, cut a bit higher being careful not to cut too high. You want a good 2-3" below the zipper left uncut.

 

Also before sewing together the ruffled fabric layers run the 3 sides w/o elastic through your sewing machine to keep it from fraying about 1/2 inch. I like the frayed look, if you don't you'll have to hem each piece. The frayed look is also much quicker and easier! 

 

An important tip I learned from a friend who regularly turns jeans into skirts, is to lay the pants flat on the table and leave them how they want to go. Don't try to move them around to make sure the seams are even on both sides, ect. You want the zipper centered and the legs to lay however they want to lay flat. The seam on 1 leg may look different then the one on the other leg, that's OK! If you mess with it too much it won't hang right when you sew it into a skirt. 

 

There is 2 ways you can make the front and back seam. After you cut a few inches up the middle seam, you can either lay it to the side or cut a few inches more and cut off the part that wants to lay to the side and make it a straight seam. Below on right is an example of a straight seam on another skirt I made out of a pair of jeans. 

To sew your front and back panels use the big piece of fabric a bit bigger then your opening to sew smaller strips of fabric ruffles onto. For each row of ruffles I did the same thing as the main piece, I cut the strip so that the elastic from the fitted sheet is at the top of each strip of fabric. The beauty of using the elastic this way is it automatically ruffles your hanging fabric. If you like the frayed edges I just cut a start in my fabric and ripped it. However you want to cut it out. I started at the bottom and sewed a strip of ruffles to my main white piece, then layered them on top. make sure you make the ruffles long enough to cover the elastic under it. I ended up adding another ruffle row at the bottom of my section. 

 Next, pin either the front or back ruffle panel under the jeans. Sew 1-2 rows down the whole thing, 2 will make it stronger. Since I left my stitched hem on the front, I just sewed right over the line. On the back I made my own lines. Sew 1 panel in. Make sure you sew the correct panel, they may not be the same size.

My back panel finished.

Cut excess fabric on inside of skirt being careful not to cut too close to the stitching. Leave about 1/2 inch or a bit less.         

If you want your skirt to fray more pull on the little strings on the edge of the fabric. Just be careful not to pull any strings hard enough it pulls under the sewn edge. The sewing stops the fray from going past that point.

                                                       Me looking down at my new skirt.

                         Me again posing in my finished skirt. Have fun and happy sewing! :)

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