Category Archives: Sewing

Tutorial: Making a Skirt Out of Jeans

I have had a number of friends inquire about how I make my skirts. I thought I’d share this online in the hopes that other people might find it helpful. This will explain (hopefully…) how to make a nice denim skirt out of two pairs of jeans.

To begin you’ll need two pairs of jeans (if you want a fuller skirt boot cut jeans work well) the size that you want your skirt.

To begin rip out the inside seem of both pair of pants:

Now take  the  first pair of jeans and cut the legs off right below the pockets:

With the second pair of jeans rip-out the front and back seam part way up:

Take one of the leg pieces from the first pair of jeans and tuck it inside the second pair of jeans like this:

Turn the raw edge of the second pair of jeans to the inside of the skirt:

Line up the hem line of  the second pair of jeans and leg piece from the first pair and pin it in place:

Pin the middle back seam of the second pair of jeans to the middle seam of the legs piece from the first pair of jeans:


Make sure that the edge lies smoothly then pin the rest of it in place like so:

When pinned the the inside of the skirt should look like this:

Next sew very closely to the folded edge on the outside of the second jeans:

It should look like this when it is sewn:

Next turn the skirt inside out and trim off the excess fabric near the seam:

Follow the same steps for the front of the skirt:

Once both sides of the skirt are finished trim off the hem edge of the skirt:

Finally hem the skirt to the desired length:

18″ Doll Bed and Dresses

One of the many things I enjoy doing is sewing. There is a young girl as our church who has the American Girl doll named Kit, who is from the 1930’s. Her doll doesn’t have many clothes, so I thought I’d make her a few more – the dresses are made to look similar to the style of the 30’s, including the use of 30’s reproduction material. The Pattern I used (with a few minor adjustments because of the size of the doll) was Vogue number 7565.

Another item I made for my young friend was a bed. I found the idea at a fabric store. They had a pattern for sale to purchase, but Momma assured me I could make it fine with out a pattern. I used a clear plastic tub for the bed, so it doubles as a storage container. The dust ruffle is made out of 3, 6″ x 43″ strips of fabric. Sticky Velcro is what I used to keep the ruffle on the plastic bin. The quilt is made of 30, 4 1/2″ blocks of fabric. For the fitted sheet I measured the lid of the bin and added a few extra inches to case elastic in, and then cut the fabric to that size. I rounded all the corners before folding the the edge over to make a casing for the elastic. There is a small mattress (not pictured) made out of quilt batting and a scrap of white muslin that is underneath the fitted sheet. The flat sheet is measured to fit underneath the quilt, and the pillow is stuffed with left over quilt batting.