UPCYCLE SKINNY JEANS IN 20 MINUTES FROM ANY JEAN!!
Hello! Hopefully some of this can reach you upcycler creatives and inspire some projects or posts to my blog.  I welcome all to attach a link to your projects and photos as well as enjoy mine.

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The post today is how to make your stylish Free People, Nordstroms like $150-$300 jeans from your closet, thrift or garage sale find.  I will give you a tip right now:  Tell your friends, family, acquaintances that you would love for them to pass on anything they do not want anymore and you will take what you do not use to the thrift.  They will be all too happy that you will take the items off their hands and you are making the planet a better place because you are recycling their stuff into art!  You are making the clothes you want out of nothing but love and effort on your part (and a working sewing machine helps too but that is another blog).  

SKINNY JEANS IN 20 MINUTES:

1.  Pick pants that are not too tight and not toooo low of a rise because we are going to change the rise slightly. They can be a bit big in the waste-inch or two-but not too much larger than this or they will not be skin tight when you get done.  OK not totally skin tight but the look is skinny, what can I say.  Now lay them out on the table and make sure you match the outer seams and kind of press out wrinkles because you are going to use your scissors.

2.  You are going to cut from the inside of one leg all the way through the crotch (sorry) and down the other inseam.  In other words, from one bottom to the other. It depends on the width of the pants, but I would cut a sizable amount from bottom and then taper to about 1/2 inch in the crotch and then taper at the same place as you did before (do not worry about being exact it really does not matter). The second picture below shows the initial cut.  The one below shows the amount of pant leg I cut after splitting the jeans open.

3.  Now turn your jeans inside out, do not worry about pinning, just match up the seam of the leg on one side before you begin sewing and sew away.  Narrow as you get to the crotch but you have no seams to sew over except the hem seams.  We will cut the extra material after done sewing.  I used 5/8" seam guide as I started and tapered to narrower seam as I approached the crotch and the back out again.  

4.  Use the crotch of the pants as your guide for tapering.  When finished cut away the seams about 1/4"  but be careful not to cut through your stitches.  You do not want the extra bulk inside your leg-that will not help the skinny part of these pants!

5.  Make sure that your pants fit the way you want them to.  If they are not skinny enough to your liking, simply take your seam in more and then cut excess.  If you are not sure that the width is enough, try them on before you cut away the excess fabric.  You can use your scissors or seam ripper to take the seam out and then adjust your seam accordingly.  I did not need to do a thing it went very well.  I would not have the leg any larger than 7 1/2" at the bottom of pant.

6.  Turn pants right side out and then roll the end of your skinny jeans up if you want to follow the trends.  I made the top too after looking at Free People website and that is another day!

Please let me know how this went for you or if you have any other questions.  These pants were flared and too short for me but I wanted to keep the because they were Lucky.  I love them now and can wear them like a legging or a jean.  Very comfortable without the inseam.  Happy sewing and come back again-I will have two more tutorials on jeans in next few days.  The top is on tomorrow!