Try It Tuesday: Turn Too Short Jean In To A Skirt

This set of tops (for her and her American Girl doll) and the skirt was something I made for my daughter for her birthday last month. She had these very cute pair of jeans still fit her in the waist but were too short for her since she grew 3.5 inches in the last 9 months. I could have just made cut offs out of them, but I knew if I made it in to a skirt she would find it to be extra special, as she loves to wear skirts and dresses. The tutorial to make the girl-sized and doll-sized halter tops will in a post on Northern Cheapskate in July. So, stay tuned!

To start out with I cut off the jean to the length I wanted it to be, keeping in mind I would be adding to ruffles to the bottom as well. I them cut up the inside seam on both legs up to the crotch of the jeans.

Next I took part of the leftover jeans from the leg bottoms and pinned it in to place on the back side so that it was a solid jean back. I then stitched it in to place.

Next up was making my ruffles, which you do my stitching across a single layer of fabric and then tugging on the bottom string on either side so that it begins to pucker. I did this for four ruffles (seen above) that were stitched on another piece of jean, as well as a 2 ruffles that went around the perimeter of the skirt at the bottom.

Here you can see that I have pinned one ruffle to the bottom. I then used a straight stitch to secure it in to place. I started with the bottom ruffle and made my way up to the top ruffle. For top ruffle, I stitched it across the top with right sides together and then folded it back down and pinned the sides.

Next I used a zig zag stitch and stitched the sides of the ruffle down created a triangle piece.

The triangle piece was pinned in to place and stitched down to complete the front of the skirt. Since white stitched was used on the jeans, I used white thread to stitch it down and provide interest. Next I pinned the longer ruffled together (the bottom pink ruffle is twice as thick as the purple and I stitched the purple to the pink before adding the ruffle to the bottom of the skirt.

Here is the front view of the finished skirt.

Here is the back view of the finished skirt and the halter top. 

I will let you know in July when the Halter Top Tutorial posts.