I dunno if anyone is holding their breath out there in blogworld, but here’s the tute I made on how to make a skirt from a pair of men’s trousers…
This skirt is inspired by this page in Blueprints of Fashion. There aren’t any directions in the book (because it’s just photos of the pattern envelopes), but the idea is just to take a pair of mens suit pants, turn them upside down, and make a skirt out of the fabric. One could do a suit coat too, as shown, but a) I’m a stay at home mom with no need for suit coats, and b) suit coats require patterns, not improvisation . I suppose one could just use a store-bought pattern to make this skirt, but I’ve been loving my A-line skirts from Sew What? Skirts lately, so I just improvised….
I put the instructions ON the photos (mostly because I just made a bag using a pattern that did NOT explain which picture went with which direction, so it a frustrating game of matching).
Here goes:
I started with really large mens trousers. I wanted fullness around the pant hips (so the bottom of my skirt would flare) and narrow-ish ankles (but not so small that they wouldn’t fit my post-baby waist). To make sure pants work for you, read all the directions here, and make sure the proposed pants have measurements the right size or bigger. (ie, super skinny girls need skinny pants, larger girls need larger pants)
Do both legs the same way… i only show one, but do both. These directions make a 6-gored skirt with a side zipper, where the front and back pieces are cut identically (but the zipper belongs on the left, and you put the pockets on the front).
(I guess the picture here of the front/back should have tipped me off that the skirt wasn’t going to fit properly without taking in the waist. your pieces should be trapezoidal, not rectangular.)
I know jeans-into-skirts are really popular, but I don’t love that weird flat front crossover thing that happens when people rip open jeans and turn them into skirts… that’s why I like this whole upside down thing… plus the goring… flattering and EASY!
Somehow this gray wool one (my first attempt) came out better… I think I just measured and tried it on more often as I went along, instead of finishing the whole thing, waiting for the big reveal, and then having it be so big it literally slid all the way down and off when I stood up.
PLEASE let me know if you have any questions or need clarification on anything!!!