Hi Sewing Friends:

Jeans skirts have been a fashion staple for a long time now.  Kids love them and adults of all ages wear them, too.  You can have your own Jeans skirt that fits you and has all the design features that you want when you sew. 

You’ll find a lot of ideas on how to recycle old jeans into skirts of all kinds, but sometimes you just want to make one from scratch.  Here is a question I answered this week.

Save this post.  Not only do I cover Jeans skirts, but you will learn how to create an A-line skirt, too.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

How do I sew a Jeans Skirt that fits?  (I am not referring to recycling old jeans into a skirt, but making one from scratch.)

In order to answer this question properly, it is important to identify exactly what is a Jeans Skirt. 

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 

What is a Jeans Skirt?

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

A Jeans Skirt is really a tailored classic skirt!  It can be a straight slim skirt or an A-line style.  It is the details like the topstitching and fabric choice that create the “Jeans” look. 

Now, knowing that, the most important thing is to get your fit in a basic straight skirt.  Of course, I highly recommend my “Common Sense Fitting Method” to do that.  Be sure to get your basic skirt fit worked out before you begin your Jeans skirt.

Once you have your basic straight skirt pattern, decide what style and fashion details that you want on your Jeans skirt. 

An A-line is comfortable to wear and looks better if you have wide hips, heavy thighs or “saddle bags”.   

To make your basic straight skirt pattern into an A-line, do this:

• Add some tissue paper to the side seam edges of the front and back of your straight skirt pattern. 
• At the bottom of your straight skirt at the side seam edges front and back, measure out 1-1/2″ and place a mark.
• Lay a yardstick from the 1-1/2″ mark to your hipline at the pattern edge front and back and draw this line.  There!  You just designed an A-line skirt.

Draw a picture of the design features you want on the front and back of your Jeans skirt to use as your guide

Here are some design features to consider:

• skirt shape:  slim straight or A-line
• back yoke  (cut in one with a fold or two pieces with center back seam)(the center back seam allows better fitting)
• pockets
•      front inset pockets
•           curved diagonal (best for short or wide figures)
•           curved horizontal (good for slender figures) 
•      back patch pockets
• fly front (lap right over left - women or lap left over right - men) (Women wear both styles.)
• fake fly
• center front seam
• center back seam
• skirt slits (back or front or both)
• waistband with belt carriers (straight on-grain band or contoured bias band 1-1/4 to 1-3/4″ wide)  (If your figures curves out right below the waistline, choose a straight on-grain band.  Contour bands are better for the boyish, straight figure type.)
• hem allowance ( 5/8″ machine hem)
• topstitching (2 rows longer stitches 1/4″ apart or use a twin needle) 
  Note:  Try a single row of edgestitching along the seams for a different look.

Maybe you want to copy some features from your favorite Jeans pants.

Decide what fabric you want to use.  Check out ready-to-wear.  You will see Jeans skirts not only in denim, but in gabardine, chino, poplin, corduroy, linen type fabrics, etc.  Use something from your “stash” as your “test” skirt.

Make a copy of your basic skirt pattern. 

• Draw lines on it where you want the yoke, pockets, seams, etc.
• Make sure that when you cut the pattern apart, for example for a yoke, that you add seam allowances to both pieces so you can sew it back together again.  If you have darts in the back of your basic pants, you can fold them out to create a shaped yoke.  (You are designing again!)

You may chose to do flat felled seams or not.  If you make regular seams, you can create the “flat felled look” by using a twin needle to topstitch the seam allowances to one side.  If you don’t use a twin needle, sew 2 rows of longer stitches 1/4″ apart. . .the first close to the seam line and the second 1/4″ away.

Sewing Tip:  Use a denim or jeans needle (sharp point) to sew your jeans skirt and to do better topstitching.

Hope this helps you to sew your Designer (That’s You!) Jeans skirt.

To Your Sewing Success,

Marian

 

Bookmark to:

Stumble it!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 16th, 2007 at 1:13 pm and is filed under Sewing Projects. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.