The Skinny on Skinny Jeans.
How to take regular jeans and make skinny jeans in under an hour!
Skinny Jeans. Lets be honest - regular retail stores don’t exactly make them for all figures.
I prefer to find my clothes at Thrift Town regardless, but when it’s hard to find a pair of great
fitting skinny jeans at a regular store, it’s quite a bit harder to find them second-hand
(since girls who find a great pair don’t want to let them go).
My solution : shop Thrift Town for a pair of jeans that fit your
waist, hips and thighs well and make them into skinny jeans!
I promise, it’s not hard.
Ok ladies, there’s a couple ways to do this : If you already have a well-fitting pair of skinny jeans & you want to convert an additional pair, (cause lets face it – the first pair was hard to find & expensive!) then you can use the skinny jeans you already have as a template. If you’ll be making your first pair, I have step by step instructions for that too.
Instructions on making Skinny Jeans
using a pair you already have:
YOU’LL NEED: your skinny jeans, regular jeans, straight pins, fabric pen/pencil, sewing machine, scissors.
1. Turn skinny jeans you already have (PAIR A) inside out.
2. Turn the bootleg jeans (PAIR B) inside out and line them up
under the skinny jeans.
– Make sure to line up the double stitched seams, so the simple seam on the other side can be cut & sewn easily.
3. Trace the leg of the skinny jeans (PAIR A) with a fabric pen/pencil onto the leg of PAIR B, make sure that it is a gradual line from around the knee, down to the ankle. (remember - you’re using a pair that already fit you through the thigh well)
4. Use straight pins to pin together both layers of denim along the line, making sure it’s lined up and flat.
5. Using a sewing machine, sew along the line. Remove pins.
6. Try them on, still inside out so you don’t have the excess fabric bunching up on the inside.
7. Make sure that you like the fit. If you don’t, it’s ok! You may have to go back and adjust some. You can always take the seams out if they’re too tight or just do an additional line if you want them more snug.
8. Once you’re sure you like the fit, REINFORCE your seam! Go over your original seam, and again a tiny bit over, away from your leg. The last thing you want is to be out in your new jeans and bust a seam. That’s a day-ruiner right there.
9. Once they’re perfect - cut off the excess fabric.
10. Rock your new SKINNY JEANS!!!
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Instructions on making a pair of skinny jeans from scratch:
YOU’LL NEED: regular jeans, straight pins/safety pins, sharpie/fabric pen, sewing machine, scissors.
1. Take the jeans you’ll be sewing, turn them inside out & put them on.
2. Have a friend help you place pins through the leg fabric so jeans are as snug as you want them. I tried straight pins first, but wasn’t smart & placed them vertically, instead of horizontally with the head of the pin next to my leg. One painful attempt to take the jeans off later, my friend & I replaced the straight pins with safety pins (oh the irony), and all was well.
3. Use a fabric pen or pencil & mark down the line of pins. If you used safety pins, you’ll have to take them out to sew it, thus, a very helpful line drawn. If you did the straight pins correctly, you can sew over them, so the line is just an extra reinforcement on sewing accuracy.
Make sure that it is a gradual line from around the knee, down to the ankle. Also, make sure the opening at the ankle is wide enough to easily get the jeans on and off. Otherwise, you just un/re-pin and try again… (See - learn from others mistakes. Like mine.)
Follow step #5-10 above, and you’ve got a great pair of skinny jeans!
* A note on length: If the jeans you’re converting are too long as skinny jeans, mark them (while wearing them inside out) and sew a single seam just above where you want them to hit. Then cut off the excess, leaving that little bit after the seam. When you wash/wear them, the bottom will fray, but not too much, as it stops when it hits your well-placed seam.
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WHAT DO YOU THINK?
If you make a pair of Skinny Jeans, send me a picture!
Is this helpful? Is there another thrifty project you’d like to have some help with?
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Thanks so much for posting this! I don’t have the “skinny” figure that the retail jeans cater to either, and this is a great way to be fashionable without having to stuff yourself into some way too small way too expensive pants. See you at thriftown!
Shopping second hand is great to begin with because it reuses clothes that have already been made, and this is a way to reuse even more and still have style. More posts on alterations would be awesome. It would open up the pool of clothes I’d buy at Thrift Town.
This is why I love the blog format - hearing what you’d like to see on here is awesome! I recently inherited a new sewing machine & plan on doing many more projects. I’ll make sure to give you a peek at the alteration experiments.
Kendra - not many people DO have the mannequin figure that retail stores make clothes for! Finding a great piece at Thrift Town and altering it to perfectly fit you is so gratifying. Send us a pic when you find something great - we love to revel in the treasure hunt finds.