Pants into a Skirt – a Refashion

Kristie Hudson

8 years ago

Today I’m going to show you how to refashion pants into a skirt, in case you couldn’t tell by the title! I had this pair of brown dress pants that never fit quite right. They were really snug through the hips and thighs. Rather than toss them into the giveaway pile, I decided to convert them to a skirt. My original inspiration was this skirt I found on Pinterest. Once I started cutting up the pants, it took a different route, as you will see!

Pants into a Skirt – a Refashion

Basically you will need a decent pair of old pants, fabric to fill in, and the usual sewing paraphernalia. The only thing I used that might not be in a basic sewing collection is the Dritz styling design ruler. This is a very useful tool if you do any clothes sewing. It helps during pattern making and refashioning! I’ll show you how I used it in the tutorial. Here’s the fabric I chose, mainly because I loved the selvage edge!

Cutting the pants

I was a little nervous about cutting up these pants. Even though they didn’t fit very well, I thought, what if I mess it up? Then I thought what if it’s really awesome? Either way, I would never know until I tried, so snip, snip went the scissors!

I cut up the inseam of the pants and I cut out the inseam, seam (?). Maybe the picture will explain it better!

Adding a kick pleat

Once I had the inseam cut out, I decided to make this a full length skirt. That meant it really needed a kick pleat. I will show you how to add a piece of fabric to the back to create a kick pleat. To finish up the kick pleat, check out this tutorial over at Threads Magazine! First I cut out two pieces of fabric at 3″ x 7 1/2″ with a 2 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ miter on one end. The miter is smaller to allow for the 1/2″ seam I will be using. You can make it longer if you prefer.

I sewed the pieces, right sides together, to the back inseam edges. Press the seam towards the added piece. Now you have added fabric for a kick pleat! Just follow the tutorial mentioned above to finish it off.

Here’s my finished kick pleat.

Sewing the back seam

There will be a fin of sorts on the back which was useful when they were pants, not so much for a skirt.

Using the Dritz styling design ruler, I marked a connection from the top seam to the new raw edge. This ruler helps add the curve I need for my behind! Once I marked it, I pinned it, and tried it on before cutting the excess off.

Once I was satisfied with the fit, I sewed the back seam. Make sure to align the needle with the existing seam and back stitch in the beginning. I just used the edge of my presser foot as a guide to sew from existing seam to new seam.

Adding front insert

Lay out the pants on a flat surface and adjust to get the opening in the front to the width you want. I used muslin to make a template for my insert. Just trace the outline with a pencil.

I added about a 1/2″ to allow for seams.

Next, I cut my fabric into strips, making sure each strip had some of the selvage edge. I didn’t measure anything! Using the muslin as a base, I laid out the strips until it was covered. Overlap the edges about 1/2″ to make sure they get attached during sewing. Then trim it up even with the muslin base.

Sew the insert, right sides together to the front inseam edges. I also sewed down the pockets and cut out the excess to eliminate puffiness at the sides.