CHILD'S DENIM SKIRT FROM A PAIR OF JEANS

I have had so much fun with a pair of jeans I bought to make an apron for one of my granddaughters.   I made the apron from the "back side" of the jeans and added a ruffle on the bottom.  You can check out how I did it HERE.  

Here's what it looked like.
















I couldn't help but notice the cute butterfly designs also on the legs below the knee.  I knew I had to make something from them, too.  I wanted to get all of the design and hoped it would be wide enough when I cut the legs open.  Because the legs were slightly flared, it worked out perfectly.  

Here is how I made the simple A-Line Skirt:

The first thing I did was cut the legs off 2 inches above the top of the design.

Then I cut the leg open at the inside seam as closely as I could. I held the "seam of the jeans" to one side with my fingers and cut on the other side.

Once I had both legs cut open.  I cut the "seam of the leg" off the two pieces
once again as closely as I could.

At the hem of the jeans, the bulk was quite thick with the seam inside the hem.  With my seam ripper, I carefully took out just enough stitches to be able to open the hem (1) and be able to cut out the bulk. (2) When I sewed the seam on this leg together, I sewed through the open hem so I didn't have to worry about the hem coming out later.  (I took picture #1 before I had cut away the "seam of the leg" as you can see it above the hem)

Opening the two pieces out, I laid them right sides together and pinned down the raw edges.

After I sewed the sides of the skirt together with a 3/8 inch seam (I wanted to have as much of the leg as possible for the skirt) I finished the edges of the seam with an overcast stitch my Janome sewing machine will do sewing the raw edges together with the stitch.

I wanted the seam to lay flat at the hem, so I ironed the seam to one side and then sewed the seam down just in the hem with a few stitches.

To reduce bulk since this is denim, I decide to just finish the top edge with the same overcasting stitch. (1)  To make the casing for the waist, I turned the raw edge down 1 inch and pinned in place. (2)  Remember I cut the leg off 2 inches above the top of the design.

I wanted to make the casing 3/4 inches wide so I cut a piece of blue painter's tape and marked where this was on the arm of my machine.

 Backstitching at the beginning and the end, I made the casing for the waist leaving about and inch and a half open to insert the 1/2 inch non-roll elastic.  I cut the elastic a half inch longer than my granddaugther's waist measurement.  I stuck a LARGE safety pin in one end of the elastic and worked the elastic through the casing until I got back to the beginning. I cut off the excess elastic (about a half an inch) so that the skirt measured the desired measurement when I sewed the two ends of the elastic together.  The last thing to do is to sew the opening closed being careful to not sew through the edge of the elastic.

I can't wait to see a picture of my granddaughter Hallie wearing her new skirt. I will share it with you when I get one.   I am now looking for another pair that I can make a similar skirt for Granddaughter Sadie.

Meanwhile, this is what I have left of those jeans.  I am hoping to come up with something original (or not) to make with it.  Will keep you posted.  I am always open for any ideas.

UPDATE:

I finally found a pair of jeans that I could make my granddaughter Sadie a skirt from....or I should say some jean legs.  The embroidery was only on the front of the pants.

I cut the legs off below the crotch. The legs of the jeans were not long enough to make the whole skirt.  Since I have been making so many ruffled jean shirts and t-shirts, I decided that I would add a ruffle to the bottom to add length to the skirt.

With my seam ripper, I ripped the inside seam of the legs open. I also ripped out the hem of the legs to have material to sew the ruffle to.

I resewed the legs together so that the embroidery went all the way across the front. 
As I did with Hallie's skirt, I turned the top (waist) down to make the casing for the elastic.  I turned this one down 1 inch and used 1/2 inch non-roll elastic. 

I bought some cute lightweight corduroy for the ruffle.  To make the skirt the length I needed, I cut the material 4-1/2 inches by the width of the material....twice so I would have a nice full ruffle.  I originally planned to sew the ruffle on just below the embroidery, but decided to sew it just below the jeans hem stitching.

Here is how they turned out.  My husband thinks this is the cutest skirt I have made.