Cute and Easy Upcycled Denim Skirt Tutorial

Let’s make an upcycled denim skirt from an old pair of jeans!

I love denim upcycling projects. It seems like there are always old jeans around just waiting to be repurposed, and denim is such a great fabric to work with.

Let’s get started and I’ll show you how to make a skirt out of jeans.

1. Open the inseam

Use your seam ripper to open up the inseam. Start at the bottom of one leg, go up to the crotch around and down to the other leg to completely open up that inseam.

2. Front crotch

Now let’s deal with the bulk from the crotch.

We’ll start with the front where we will need to open up the seam leaving a few stitches closed below the zipper.

Exact measurements will depend on the size and cut of your jeans, so just open enough to reattach the seam without the excess fabric.

Place the excess fabric of the crotch flat and sew it in place following the old seam lines.

3. Back crotch

Open up the seam of the bulk of the crotch on the backside.

I opened the seam until around where the bottom of the back pockets are.

Then open the waistline and place it so the crotch seams are at the sides and the side seams are in the center.

Sew a new seam in a straight line from the top of the waist down towards the bottom of the jeans, leaving as much of a slit opening as you’d like.

This will remove the excess fabric from the back crotch without having to follow the old seam lines.

If you’re like me and you don’t have a serger, sew a straight stitch and then go over it with a zigzag stitch. 

Then you can cut off the excess fabric.

I also recommend trying them on between each adjustment to make sure they will fit right.

4. Additional pockets (optional)

I had some old jean pockets in my scrap stash so I decided to add them to this project. I sewed the pockets on at the sides, kind of like cargo pockets. I think it brings the look up to another level.

DIY upcycled denim skirt

I hope you enjoyed learning how to make a skirt from jeans.

I just love the way my upcycled jean skirt came out. It’s so comfortable and stylish. What do you think? How did your jean skirt come out?

Leave me a comment and let me know.

Next, learn How to DIY a Cute Vintage Upcycled Bag.