I made a skirt!

So if you don't know me real well, or.... even if you do... you probably don't know that I can't sew, but would LOVE to learn how. In my sewing career I have made a handful of pillow cases & a few attempts at curtains. Ooooooh- impressive. (or not!) Well now that I'm a homemaker, I have a little more time to experiment. This weekend I sewed Rowen's blanket- just a duvet- to cover a really fantastic down crib comforter that someone gave us. I want to finish the crib-skirt before pictures of that project will be posted.. But here's my first clothing project that I've been working on, and just finished this afternoon!
A jean skirt! Before you're too impressed, realize that I didn't make the whole skirt, I just turned a pair of maternity jeans into a skirt. I got a few pairs of maternity jeans as hand-me-downs with the intention to hem them to fit eventually. Well, now that the weather is hot & no longer suitable for jeans- I decided to turn this little pair into a skirt. (Hey, thanks Kristy!!)
Following a conglomeration of ideas from the internet, here's what I did:

Step 1: chop off the legs around the knees, just make sure it's a few inches longer than what you'll want the skirt to be.

Step 2: the seam-ripper is your friend. Mine however, has decided to run away with my mom's seam rippers so I had to resort to scissors. I don't recommend this method. Pull out the seams up the insides of both legs,

all the way up the back to about two inches from the "yolk"

and in the front up to the zipper. (or in the case of maternity pants, where the zipper would be.

you should end up with something like this!

Step 3: get rid of all that yucky old thread! I found that a piece of inside-out packing tape was helpful. Like lint removal! weeeee......

Step 4: iron it all flat, then tuck it in a little bit and iron it again. Try not to do this in 95 degree weather, the iron is hot.

Step 5: don't poke yourself with the pins. I mean, pin the two legs together in front and back to make a skirt.

Step 6: use a jeans needle and jeans thread to sew the seams you just pinned. Don't forget to take a picture. (oops)



Step 7: Try on your raggedy skirt, and cut it one inch longer than you'd like it to be. It's helpful to measure all the way around, which I did, but mine's still a little crooked. Oh well :) Then cut out notches where the seams are, about 1/4" deep, like so:
This makes the seams not too thick to sew through as you roll them up twice.



Fold up the hem 1/4" and iron it flat. Then fold it up again another 1/4" and iron it flat, pinning along the way to keep it in place. Again, it's hot. Don't try this in the middle of July at noon.

Step 8: Sew around the hem- hooray we're almost done!

Step 9: Put it on and take silly pictures of yourself in the mirror for all your friends to see on your blog.When you see me wearing this in person, do me a favor and don't look too close :)