Hey everyone!
I hope you all are having a fantastic week!
For this week’s refashion I wanted to show you how I easily turned a pair of too-big and baggy pants into some nicely-fitted, skinny jeans.
I began with this pair of ever-so-slightly stretchy, coral jeans I snagged for a measly 49-cents…
Big and baggy.
I really liked the bright, cheery color, but I didn’t like the baggy legs and the fact that the pants were 3 sizes too big for me.
The first thing I did was try them on inside out and pin the sides in, using safety pins, so as not to poke myself or lose any pins when removing the pants.
My legs have wings!
I could have taken these pants in from the inseam (and if the seams were flat-felled, it probably would have been better to do it that way), but since the pants were too big in the hips, I took them in from the outside seam all the way up to my waist (as the above picture shows).
Hint: Another thing you could do is take an existing pair of skinny jeans that fit well, and use them as a pattern for the pants you want to alter.
After pinning in the sides and removing the jeans, I replaced the safety pins with regular pins and got to stitchin’!
Stitch it all around…
Once both sides were sewn, I tried them on to make sure they fit perfectly.
Then I trimmed off the wings excess material, and that’s it!
All done!
Well, it would’ve been done except for one thing…
…adding pockets!
That’s right.
There’s nothing that bothers me more than pants with no pockets.
(Well I’m sure I could think of things that actually bother me more, but you get my drift right?)
I grabbed the wings excess material I trimmed off earlier, and used the bottom, hemmed portion to make pockets…
Yay for pockets!
Lookin’ good huh?
I used my phone as a guide on how big to make my pockets.
I wanted to make sure it would fit in there without hanging out or falling out.
All done!
It fits!
These pants make great skinny jeans because they’re made from a cotton/polyester blend with a bit of spandex mixed it. The little bit of stretch in the fabric makes the fit even better.
I’m really loving my skinny jeans.
I have a lot more jeans/pants that I’m going to have to get busy skinny-fying!
Have a great week ya’all!
~Jen
Diary of a MadMama 
Very cute re-do. I love the color.
Thanks Becky! They’re very bright and cheery for sure! 😉
Great job! When you used safety pins instead of regular pins for the initial fitting, it made a light bulb go off in my head…why had I never thought of that before?! My pins are always coming out or skewering me when I do fittings like this. And that was a stroke of genius using your phone as the pocket template. You’re skinnies turned out great, coral is one of my favorite colors!
Thanks so much Desarae!
I’m really liking them! They’re very comfy!
After poking myself too many times, or losing pins, the lightbulb finally went off for me too! 😉
Have a great weekend! 🙂
cute! they look good, and in a fun color.
Thanks! 🙂
WOW!!! I am impressed!! You did a awesome job!!
Thanks Melody! I was surprised with how easy this one was! I’m going to scour my closet for more baggy pants I don’t wear anymore so they can have a second life too! 😉
Hola que tal, definitivamente el color es hermoso a mi tambien me ha encantado, y que bien los ajustó a su cuerpo, con todo respeto se vé muy bien, la felicito por todo lo que hace, pareciera ud. el rey midas todo lo que toca lo convierte hermoso (no en oro aquí, por supuesto) pero todo le queda de maravilla, gracias por compartir sus ideas. hasta pronto y que tenga un buen fin de semana.
Muchas gracias por sus lindos comentarios! Esto era mucho más fácil de lo primero que esperaba demasiado, por lo que definitivamente le voy a remodelar muchos más de mis pantalones anchos.
Que tengan un buen fin de semana! Sea bendito!
You make the pin & sew thing look so easy- but you have talent. I’ve tried a few times and never had much luck! I just love seeing what you come up with:) cute jeans!
Wow! That really means a lot coming from an amazingly talented person like you! Thanks Amy!
Have a great weekend! 🙂
Wow I love these!! I have a few pairs if jeans I need to skinnify too so I will take your advice! Thank you Jen you dd a great job!
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Thanks Lauren! I can’t wait to see them! 🙂
Very nicely done! I took notes; even though I’m probably old enough to be your mom; who says you can’t teach an old dog a new trick ….lol
Thanks! Ha! That’s awesome! I’d love to see yours when you get them done! 🙂
I really look forward to your Friday refashions. Thanks for sharing yet another great one!
Thank you so much! I’m glad you like it! 🙂
Wow… I wonder if I could talk my girls into buying .49 cent jeans and refashioning them! These are great! ~Laurie
Thanks Laurie! I love all of the bright-colored skinny jeans that I keep seeing in the stores. The cheapest ones I’ve seen new were $18. at Target. I’m too much of a cheapskate to pay that,so I was thrilled to find these ones for so cheap! I also have found a purple and yellow pair at garage sales, but had to dish out a whole dollar for those! 😉
I’m actually going to work on my son’s older jeans to make them skinny jeans for my daughter in the next couple of weeks….thanks for the picture tutorial!
My pleasure! I hope you share a picture of them when you finish! 🙂
Those turned out really nice–even cuter when they are so thrifty!
Thanks! I agree, I always like things better when I know they didn’t cost an arm and a leg! 😉
Nice re-do, and adding pockets adds a lot… but. can I say you looked great also with wings? LOL
Ha! Why thank you! 🙂
Oh, these look so fashionable and stylish now! I love your addition of pockets. Why didn’t I think of that before?? I have a few pairs of pants that don’t have back pockets and tend to look a little….bald, so think I may add some patch pockets.
Awesome! And it was so easy! The hardest part was making sure the pocket placement was right. You don’t want your butt to look mis-shapen lol.
Hey Jen – these look fabulous! And 49c!! Lucky you!
I also wanted to let you know that I can’ reply to your comments on my blog as you’re a no-reply comment blogger. I don’t know if you know this – someone recently told me and I found my settings had changed without me knowing, so I’m trying to let others know in case they have the same problem!
Thank you!
And thanks for letting me know! I’ll have to figure out how to change that!
Jen, these are AMAZING! I am totally going to do this asap! They look fabulous on you (and the color is great)!
Thanks so much Miche! I can’t wait to see how yours turn out. And I just saw your romper refashion on the Refashion Co-op, holy cow, it is adorable! 🙂
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will this work on the elastic type jeans? I have chicken legs, and all the jeans I try fit up top, but never in my legs cause my legs are so skinny…thank you for the tutorial! I have to try this now…you saved me from having to throw them all away!
Yes, Karen! Since you are pretty much just altering the jeans from the knees down, the waistband shouldnt matter! Id love to see you share your pics when you’ve finished! 🙂
I love this idea. My only question is what did you do about the waist of the jeans? Did you have to alter that? I noticed the finished product doesn’t show it nor is it in the tutorial.
Hi Vanetta. Thanks for your question. Since the pants already fit me in the waist, all i had to alter was the bagginess of the legs. This tutorial is for altering jeans that already fit you in the waist, but are too loose in the legs into skinny jeans.
Cool! Thanks for a quick response! That’s what I thought. Just wanted to double check before trying it out. Excited to try it!
Thanks! I’d love to see how they turn out! 🙂 Have fun!
What kind of stitch do you use to be sure that the new seam won’t rip?
If you own a serger, that would be a great way to finish your seams. Otherwise, a tight zigzag stitch should do the trick!
Hi!
I like your tutorial very much!
But what do you do when the waist doesn’t
Fit either? Do you just pin it end stitch it
The same way? Or is there a different way needed for thar?
Hi Naomi,
If the waistband doesnt fit, you need to take the waistband completely off and take it in separately. Its a more difficult alteration than just taking in the legs.
what kind of stitching did you use? – curious.. (I’m going to try this) … you have amazing talent…
Thanks, Kaila! 🙂
I believe I just used a straight stitch, however, since the material I used has a bit of stretch, I probably should’ve used a zigzag stitch. I still wear them all the time though and haven’t had any problems. 🙂
Happy sewing!
~Jen
Reblogged this on revistamujeres and commented:
Ajusta esos pantalones que te quedan grandes y luce increíble.
¡Muchas gracias por tus amables palabras! Tienen un fantástico día y feliz de costura!
~Jen
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Thank you for the idea. I bought 2 pairs of jeans that are a little bit baggy and I’m goiing to take them in using your method!
Awesome. Feel free to share a picture when you do. I’d love to see them! 🙂
Fantastic
Now I can have new pants/jeans without spending money. THANKS
Thanks, Debra! 🙂 Saving money is always a good thing! 🙂
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I did it,inseam and out seam. Both pair turn out perfect. Thank you.
Awesome! Thanks for your comment, Pamela. Have a great day! 🙂
I have been looking all around for a more elaborate method!
You have made my sewing business easier than easy!!!!!
😜
God bless you!
Thanks for sharing! Your new skinny jeans look great. I can’t wait to try this too. 🙂