How to Turn Old Jeans Into a New Paneled Skirt

Recycling your old jeans into something new is completely possible even for the non-seamstress. Making a skirt out of jeans is a great way to re-use jeans that don't fit so well anymore, are a bit outdated or have become ripped or stained. There are several different ways to take your jeans from boring to bold. Read on to learn how to turn old jeans into a new paneled skirt.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Jeans
• Scissors
• Seam ripper
• Flat work space
• Cardboard or newspaper
• Iron
• Pins
• Fabric (optional)
• Needle and thread/sewing machine
• Embellishments (optional)

Preparation

1. Choose a pair. Once you have a pair of jeans, you should decide whether you want a long or short skirt, an A-line look or straight. Also consider whether you'll make the panels from recycled pieces of your jeans or other fabrics, and how much you're willing to sew.
2. Cut your jeans. If you want a long skirt, you may not want to cut the bottoms much at all; for a shorter skirt, you should determine the desired length and leave about half an inch for a hem.
3. Rip the seams. Carefully take out the inside seams on both the front and back sides. If you intend to make an A-line skirt, you should also rip the outside seams. A seam ripper or small pair of sharp scissors helps. Stop about one inch below the zipper in the front and about eight inches below the waist in the back.
4. Spread the jeans out on a flat surface. For an A-line skirt, fold the jeans so that when you lay them out, you see one front pocket and one back. Trim off the excess fabric on both sides of the pockets, then reposition the jeans so that you're looking at two back pockets again. For a skirt with different fabric panels, lay your jeans out on newspaper and trace out a pattern for the right size triangle shape you need. For recycling jean legs, cut open the remaining legs, creating four rectangle pieces of denim you can use in an A-line or regular panel skirt.
5. Iron your jeans and create a hemline. This will keep the jeans flat and give you a set place to stitch your hem.

Completion

6. Slide cardboard or paper between the two sides of your skirt. Start pinning your hems.
7. Pin the fabric in place along the hems. You can pin either a rectangle panel of denim, which will look like a triangle from the outside, or pieces of funky fabric you've cut. Be sure you created your pattern with an extra half inch for a hem. A-line skirts will have four pieces pinned; others will have two.
8. Stitch along the pinnings. You can stitch by hand or use a sewing machine. A top stitch works well. If you are not inclined to sew, you can also secure your hemlines with fabric glue, but your results won't be ideal.
9. Decide whether you want to stitch the bottom of your skirt into a nice, neat hem or let it fray naturally. Alternatively, you could stitch an inch or so up from the bottom and let the skirt fray only to that point.
10. Complete your project by embellishing your skirt any way you want. You can add painted touches, patches, embroideries or rhinestones.