Oh my daughter looooved these jeans. But the knees were gone, there was a hole in the crotch (wth?) and were too small.
So I've given them a new life...will post action shots when she's home from school.
Ok, since a few of you are interested I've made up a quickie tutorial for you.
Step 1 - cut the jeans @ 1” below zipper, or just above where the crotch meets legs so the front is still nice and flat. Otherwise you have to cut the vertical seam, tuck and sew one side underneath to make it nice and flat.
Oh....perhaps you should take them off your child first.
Step 2 through the rest of them:Cut 2 pieces of skirt fabric (front and back). Make them at least 4-8” wider than the jeans. You can make them wider still if you want the skirt nice and full.
Sew the sides together, turn under the top and bottom edges, and topstitch.
Gather the top edge so that it is the same width as the jeans you just cut.
Now slide the gathered edge of the skirt fabric underneath the raw edge of the jeans (or inside the jeans) so that the raw edge covers the gathering stitches. I do it like this so the seam isn’t so bulky and adds some shabby chic to the skirt. The jeans will fray nicely at the edge after you wash and dry it.
Pin and topstitch about 1 inch from the raw edge really well. You may want to zig zag, or use some fancy embroidery type stitch on your machine to prevent the jeans from fraying through the seam.
Prepare the bottom tier the same way as the skirt
without the gathers. Layer the bottom tier under the hem of the skirt the same way and top stitch.
Et Voila! You’ve saved another pair of jeans - aren’t you just so crafty!
Oh! For jeans that are too small at the waist but have that wide elastic sewn into the back of the waistband: Sometimes all it takes for them to fit again is to stitch rip about 2" into each side of the elastic and let the fabric out. Half of the time I don't even bother topstitching again as it usually just stays together just fine.
