Wednesday: Upcycled Skirts

Welcome to Wednesday.  Today I'd like to share some of the crafty things I've been up to.  Many people who know me have noticed that I rarely wear pants anymore.  While I'm not going into why here, it does explain my need to make these simple skirts.  During the winter I have found it almost impossible to find long skirts of any kind in the stores.  I was able to pick up a few at Value Village and Good Will, but it takes a long time to search.  I came across the idea of up-cycling and fell in love.  The idea is that you take an object and repurpose it.  Basically recycling.  I found this idea and discovered how easy it is to make, so lets get started....  I'm sorry I don't have pictures of the whole process.  I'll do better with other crafty posts.

Take a pair of pants that you don't need any more (It really helps if they fit you, or the person you are making it for).  I used a pair of old jeans, a pair of old cords, and a pair of the boys old jeans.

Cut the legs to your desired length.  I kept mine long for the winter and because I already own a knee length denim skirt.  For my niece I cut the legs right off and only kept the very top of the jeans.

Cut (or use a seam ripper) up the leg inseams to the crotch.

Cut two triangle shapes out of another piece of material.  You could use the legs of your pants if you didn't need them.  I chose to use some spare material I had from other craft projects.  It is entirely your choice how wide to make the triangle piece.  The wider the base, the fuller your skirt will be.  I like to have room to move around to I made mine pretty big.

Sew the triangles between the legs in the front and back.  BEWARE: the top of your triangle will be the weakest part and susceptible to ripping.  Be sure to reinforce that area when your sew.

Next it is time to hem the bottom of the skirt and enjoy!

Please note: for the skirt I made for my niece I simply took some material (I chose the leg of my husbands old jeans) and sewed it around the bottom of the skirt.  You can try to add frills and decorative items too. Be creative and have fun.

Happy sewing.  I'll try to be more detailed in my future craft posts.