Blue Eyed Beauty Blog: DIY Knee Length Denim Skirt with Ruffle

This skirt was the inspiration of a photo I found on Pinterest. I just got home from a month long vacation with no sewing machine and desperately wanted to sew. I decided this would be my first project of June. Luckily it only took me about three and a half hours to complete, start to finish.

This project is fairly easy. You will need a pair of jeans/Capri's that fit you well. You will need similar fabric to that of the jeans for the middle insert in the front and back and for the ruffle around the bottom. Follow the directions as they are written below to make your new summer skirt!

LOOKING FOR A LONGER SKIRT? I have a tutorial for a floor length skirt as well! Check it out here!

Length:
Using a lose measuring tape measure from your waist to the length you want your skirt to hit when it is finished. I wanted mine about 24-25 inches long. I cut mine at 24 inches, leaving space for the ruffle. When you measure the jeans you want to lay them out flat on a table or floor. Start the measuring on the front of the pants where it zips up not from the back. This leaves you plenty of space for you skirt to cover your rear and hang even with the front. Cut the first leg of the jeans off then fold the material over and cut the second leg off. Open the jeans, rip out the seams. In the front rip to the bottom of the zipper. In the back rip half way out the rear or just past the bottom of the pockets.

Front Insert:
For the front insert you want to cut your fabric a little longer than the skirt is so you have plenty to work with. This would be about 1-2 inches. Next lay your skirt on the table. You will want it to right side out as if you would put it on and wear it. Overlap and pin the flap just below the zipper. Next lay the material under the two front edges. Straighten and smooth the edges of the skirt and start pinning. Pin all the way up to where both pieces meet. Now it is time to sew! Sew the immediate edge first. When this is done for the whole front part go back and sew a second line. Use the presser foot on the edge of the first line as a guide to make a fairly straight second line.

Inside out the skirt. Cut excess fabric out and then turn the skirt back to normal again.

Back Insert:
The back is a little trickier and you will need a little more fabric here than you used in the front. Start by overlapping the area near the pockets and pin. You will want to pull the fabric a little snug, but not enough to create a funky bubble. Place the fabric insert under the legs of the back of the skirt. Straighten the material and the edges of the legs. Begin pinning the fabric together. Sew the first line then the second like you did for the front insert. Inside out and cut excess fabric then turn the skirt back to normal again.

Bottom Ruffle:
Scrunch the fabric through the sewing machine, making sure not to make the ruffle too ruffly. In order to do this you will want to push the fabric under the presser foot in a way that it will overlap and be sewn funky. This makes the ruffle. The part you sewed is the top of the ruffle. I used three pieces of fabric about 2 inches wide (not measured, just guessed) to make my ruffle. On the bottom of the ruffle which will be showing, do a zigzag edge to cover the strings and keep the material from unraveling. Then use scissors to cut off any strings which did not end up in the zigzag so that the edge is smooth.

Next use an iron to iron the zigzag back towards the top of the ruffle. Then fold the new edge one last time and iron until there is no zigzag showing.

Take to the sewing machine and sew with a straight stitch. (I didn't have to pin the edge since the it was so small and the iron helped it stay in place.) Once you have finished the bottom edge of the ruffle take scissors and cut all the strings off the top edge of the ruffle so they do not get caught in the sewing machine. These strings are mainly from the fabric unraveling.

Attaching the Ruffle:
On the skirt you will want to cut the insert pieces from both the front and back to be even with the legs they are attached to on either side. Make sure to not cut a straight line, but more a curved line so it has a more natural look.

Next take the ruffle and pin it around the edge of the skirt. When the two ends of the ruffle get close to meeting leave space for it to be sew together. Cut the fabric and then sew the edges together. Finish pinning the ruffle to the skirt. Sew the ruffle onto the skirt.

Zigzag the inside raw edge from where you sewed the ruffle on to keep it from unraveling. Finally, iron the ruffle down so that it lays right when you wear the skirt.

September 27, 2012 Addition: I just found this old photo of me in these jeans before I stopped wearing pants/jeans! This was probably taken in the summer of 2010.