You may remember seeing and reading about my “yacht pants“. Basically, they didn’t feel like a garment that I would wear much, yet I just couldn’t bear to let the beautiful cotton linen blend sit unused in my closet. Thankfully, since the pants were a loose-fitting style, it was very simple to transform them into a skirt that I can use.
Here are the pants:
And now the skirt:
This skirt is definitely more my style. It’s actually very similar to a favorite skirt that I made quite a while back (before blogging), except it has an elastic waistband instead of a zipper. I have worn this skirt a few times and it’s so comfortable and keeps me cool. I am just estimating here, but I would say this skirt is about 113% more my style than the pants version were! And it was simple to do.
In case you were wondering how I did it, I will describe my steps here. (Sorry, I didn’t get any photos for the visual learners.)
1. Use a seam ripper to un-sew the center leg seams.
2. Try on the garment (or put on your dress form) inside out.
3. Pin at the center front and center back where you want your new seam. Try to make sure this seam is parallel to the grainline of the fabric so that your new skirt hangs nicely. (I didn’t get mine perfectly on grain, but I got pretty close and I think it looks good enough.)
4. Also mark where you want your hem. Unless you are starting with a very full-leg style of pants, you will most likely have to mark your hem at knee-length or above.
5. Take your garment off. You want to do this with the pins in partly just so that you know you’ll be able to get your skirt on and off with whatever type of waistband and closure the pants had, although this shouldn’t be a problem if the pants already fit you at the waist and hips.
6. Measure and mark your hem plus hem allowance. Cut off excess pant leg.
7. Sew your new center front and center back seam. Press and finish the seam with your preferred method.
8. Press up your desired hem width and sew.
9. Wear and enjoy your new skirt!
Fresa Handmade 