DIY Skinny Jeans

How many times have you had that perfect pair of jeans, from the knees up, but you weren't a fan of the knee down. Well this tutorial is for you! It will require a little above basic sewing skills, but it's super easy. I swear. Don't be afraid of denim. You can do it! You can do it!

It's no secret that I'm not a big spender when it comes to my personal wardrobe. I haven't bought more than a few brand new items of clothing a year in over 5 years. I tend to source 99% of my clothes from resale shops, clothing swaps, thrift stores, etc. When they're not ideal and I find something that is halfway perfect, but needs work, I get it anyways and add it to the "Sew for Sally" pile. A pile that all too often gets ignored for actual work, but I digress. It's so handy to be able to tailor clothing to your own body, and I encourage you to try it!

First step: You'll need a pair of jeans, a denim needle and that gold heavy duty thread to match your jeans. It comes in a few shades, so be sure to match it up. The pants featured in this tutorial I scored at a clothing swap this past spring. They're Lucky Brand, and they fit my hips and hind quarters just perfectly. This is usually the area of my jeans I have to tailor, since my hips to waist ratio isn't the standard in today's jeans. The flare leg is less than ideal. Quite frankly I could barely stand to wear them around the house. A few times I rolled them up to my knees for a quick run to the grocery store. I thought wearing them in the flare state would push me to sew them sooner, but it took a bit of time, and I'm so happy they're finished, I have them back on while I'm typing this on my Macbook.

Start by putting on your jeans and examine yourself in the mirror. Look at the fit from the knees down. Are they tight enough in the knees. Where do you want the sewing to start. Mark this with chalk and take them off. Little tip: for the sake of sewing with my blinds open, I wear leggings when I'm doing this kind of alteration, so the neighbors don't see more than they should, since me sewing room is full of windows. But if you're in a windowless sewing room, feel free to dress as you like.

Rip out both side seams from the top of the knee down. Use a razor blade and a seam ripper. Generally, most jeans are top stitched on the inner seam. Glance down if you're wearing jeans, it's the gold stitching. This will be replicated and you will never be able to tell you tapered your skinny jeans. Remove the top stitch 2 inches above the open seam at the knee.

You can use a pair of skinny jeans you really like as a pattern or simply taper the leg. In this tutorial I am simply taking out the flare, continuing the fit of the knee and down. Lay out one of the four, front left leg first. Use chalk and draw a straight line down from the knee. Cut. Repeat on the back side of the left leg.

Folding left and right fronts together, pin the legs together and cut the right to match the left. Repeat with back side, bringing left and right back sides together. DO NOT, I repeat do not, cut the front the same as the back. You can't tell, but the back side of your jeans is wider than the front. Your seams will look funny. Trust me, I ruined many a jeans in college by simply fudging it.

This step is optional but I always do it so I don't curse a ton of obsenities when the jeans are too small and don't fit. Sew up one leg with a wider stitch to test the size. If it's not tight enough, cut a little more and continue until the size is perfect. Remove stitches.

Because the inseam is topstitched, that needs to be sewn first. Following the seam allowance from the top of the knee, sew down to the bottom of the pant leg.

Serge the edges on the raw edge of the inseam. If you do not have a serger, not to worry, a zig zag will do just fine. This will sew the front and back together. 

Doesn't that look so pretty. The trick to alterations is to make the garment look like it was never touched. Taking a few extra minutes to work hard and you'll treasure your clothing so much more with a perfect fit!

If you haven't switched out your thread yet, switch to the denim thread (and you also should be sewing with a denim needle!) and top stitch along the inseam, replicating the original stitching. The raw serged edge should be folded underneath this edge. Match stitch width to the stitching above the knee.

NOW! Onto the outer seam. Serge the front and back leg separately. These pieces are not serged together like the inseam.

Match up the serged edges and sew from the knee down. Press open. I cut a few inches off the bottom since these were a bit long. Close up the leg holes with a simple double folded seam and YOU'RE DONE! Now wasn't that easy?

Whatcha think? Are you going to try it? Have you mended your jeans before? Email us and tell us your story at sallyannfashion{at}gmail.com. We'd LOVE to hear from you.

Another tip: if the outer seam is a little too polished looking for you, and the original seam was a little more of that worn look, try this: I like to take a nail file or sand paper and run it up and down the outer side seam to look like it's the factory seam. Not all jeans will require it, but just a thought to improve your alteration. Cheers!