With the warm weather comes the cooler clothes and sweatpants are stored away until next winter. Instead change them into a skirt you can wear around the house or after the gym.
1. Find an old (but still in good shape) pair of sweatpants and put them on. The ones I used were huge on me! Have someone mark your hemline with chalk. Take them off and fold them in half lengthwise. Cut 1 inch below the hemline.
2. Take your seam ripper and carefully take out the seams at the inner legs.
3. Cut out two triangles to fit into the spaces between the legs. Don't forget to add seam allowances. This material will not fray so I top stitched mine into place and trimmed off the excess.
4. Re-cut the hemline if necessary. I wanted mine to curve upward a little in the front and to the side.
5. Next, measure around the bottom of the skirt and double that number. Cut out long strips about 3 inches wide from the legs of the sweats or other material. I chose to do a very quick ruffle with the legs of my fabric. Sew the strips together to form one long strip.
6. Pin the strips to the bottom of the skirt making a small (or large) pleat every 3 or 4 inches. Top stitch into place and you are done!
Ideas: Add bias tape, trim, lace, appliques, pockets or other embelishments.
Take the pocket off the front of an old sweatshirt and topstitch it to the front of your skirt.
Great tuturial! This is a really cute idea.
Posted by: Knittypants | June 08, 2007 at 05:29 PM
I've admired these sweatpants skirts in shops but they were always a size 4 and I'm not! I'm so happy to see how easy they are to make. Thanks so very much. I think I'll appliqué something clever on the pocket.
Posted by: Caroline ilardi | September 07, 2010 at 05:49 PM