Child’s Jean Skirt from Old Jeans Tutorial

I had/have a few pairs of jeans that no longer fit but are in great shape.  Instead of giving them away I decided to use a pair to make Lillian a jean skirt.  I looked at a few tutorials which can be found here on my pinterest board for girl’s clothes.  I knew I wanted to use the original hem so I had to find a pair that still had a nice hem and not one that had been worn down from stepping on them.

This jean skirt was super easy to make and very quick as well.  Here is a tutorial for you to make your own.

First take measurements of your little girl.  All you will need is her waist and then the length that you will want the skirt to be.  Lillian’s waist was 19” and the length was 8 1/2”.  I used a 1/2” seam allowance and 3/4” elastic.

After that, cut off the legs of the old jeans to 10” long (length plus 1 1/2” for the elastic waistband).  Then take out the “hidden” seam (I think it’s usually the outside seam of the pant leg).

After the seam is taken out you should have two pieces like in the picture above.  The jeans I used were slightly flared so I decided to keep that flare so the skirt was a little wider at the bottom than the top.

This next step I actually messed up but it worked out fine since Lillian is still in diapers.  I figured out how wide I needed the front piece and back piece to be.  I ended up doing the front 9 1/2” x 10” and the back 11 1/2” x 10”.

Really, you want to take half of the waist width and add an inch to get the width of the front and back pieces.  The inch allows for the 1/2” seam allowance.

From there, I took half of the panel width and measured from the middle seam at the very top of the skirt.  Then instead of measuring from the middle seam, I took the measurement from the edge, all the way down the skirt.  This will allow the flare to remain in the skirt.

As you can see, the bottom of the skirt will be farther from the center seam than the top of the skirt.  Cut off the extra material and then repeat for the other side and then the other piece.

Now you have the difficult part done as well as a front and back to your skirt.

This was my first time sewing with jean material and with a jean needle I had zero issues.  So I suggest getting a jean needle to make this a stress free project.

To start sewing, place the two pieces together with right sides facing.  Be sure that the finished hem is even.

Sew all the way down being sure to lock your stitch at the hem.  Repeat for the other side.

Prepare the waist for the elastic waistband.  If you need a tutorial, I have one posted here.

I actually did this one slightly different because I didn’t want a huge layer from folding under the very edge.  So instead, I used my over lock stitch to keep the edge from fraying.  You could also use a normal zig zag stitch.

I had a little extra length to the skirt, so I measured from the hem up 8 1/2 inches (the final length that I wanted) and folded down the top for the casing at that point instead of just an inch.  I still made my stitch at an inch though because I didn’t want the elastic to be able to twist, which would happen if the space was too large for the elastic.

Everything else for inserting the elastic can be done the same as you normally would.

I added a “tag” when closing my elastic casing so that it was easier to tell the front from the back.

Before saying it was complete I stitched along the hem line at the side seams that I created so that the seam laid a little flatter where there are a lot of layers of material.

Now you have a cute jean skirt for your little girl!

It was not an easy task getting Lillian to pose for pictures.  She loved the skirt but didn’t want to stand still to get her picture taken.  So I had to hold her still….

And even tried to get her to pose.

I started cutting out the skirt and taking out the original seam while Lillian was awake.  I then finished the skirt after she went to bed for the night (which is when I do most of my sewing anyway).

So when she woke up the next morning I asked her if she wanted to see the skirt I made.  She got super excited which made me feel excellent.  Since she is only almost 2.5 I always wonder if she really cares that I make her things but I think she truly does.  Even a bag I made today she got excited about and insisted that it was hers.

Linked to We Did It Wednesday, Weekend Bloggy Reading, Sundae Scoop, Made By You Monday, Show Me What Ya Got