Straight Leg Jeans to Cropped Skinnies- A Tutorial

I'm not a slave to fashion trends, really, I'm not... And I'm a bigger girl, so I have to be careful with the trends I choose to represent.  I have been shunning the skinny jean trend since the beginning. They look amazing on thin people, but on curvy people? It's hit or miss.  I have been going through my clothes recently, in an attempt to put together some outfits for a trip to Reno NV in October.  The problem is, I'm pretty broke, so I have to work with what I have.

I had two pairs of these jeans. I think I bought them on clearance at Target. 

They are ok, but a little short for my taste. Anywho.
Start by trying on your jeans. pin them and tuck them to get a feel for how much fabric you want to remove. At this point you can mark with pins or chalk.  ** I used the inside seam since the outer seam had more distressing. use whichever seam of your jeans makes more sense to use. Some jeans have top stitched seams on the inside which would make it more difficult to recreate once you cut.**

Here is my pinned version. Pin and repin as often as you need to make it work. You only have to do one side, you can match the other side to the first.

Cut off the old hem to remove bulk. Now this next step with either make or break your jeans transformation. Flip your jeans inside out, and line up the seam that you are planning to cut. Using a long ruler, mark your cut line (don't forget to factor in a seam allowance!) start up higher than you think and blend down to the ankle. You want this seam to look natural and normal.

Mark- then cut. If you have a serger, this would be a great time to use it. otherwise, sew using a straight stitch on your regular machine and use some FrayCheck to keep the edges from fraying. Also surge the bottom hem so when you do hem the pants you won't have to fold over twice (this reduces bulk. If you do need to fold your hem up twice to hide the cut edge, you can use a hammer to pound the denim down before you sew.)

 

Hem your pants using a straight stitch and matching thread. As you can see in my pictures I used a light cream colored thread- I went back and colored the thread in with a blue fabric marker.

 

 

I'll try to post up some outfits using these jeans as a starting point.