Sewing Patchwork Jeans & Skirts from Scratch: A Fashionable Low-Cost Alternative to High-End Pants
© Jennifer Krausz
This year's trendiest clothes for girls are a thrifty sewer's dream. Teens and preteens are wearing patchwork jeans and skirts, often sewn together backwards so that the fringe shows, and flared pants that are one color above the knee and another color below.
Both of these fashion trends retail at $20-30 per pair but are easy to recreate at home.
Sewing Two-Tone Pants
If your child has any jeans ripped or worn at the knees, cut them off. Take last year's jeans that are now too small, and cut them off at the knees (or a little above, depending on height). Sew the bottoms of the too-small pair to the top of the ripped/worn out pair. Now you have a new pair of jeans/pants and an extra $30 in your pocket.
Some of these $30 pants might have 5 or 6 alterating layers of light and dark denim. To replicate the look, take 2 pair of jeans (find cheap ones at yard sales) and cut them horizontally every 5-6 inches. Then sew them together, alternating light and dark.
Creating Patchwork Denim
For the patchwork look, take all the old jeans you can find and cut them into same-size squares. Sew them together, wrong sides together, alternating colors, and fringe the edges. You may need a pattern to take your big piece of patchwork fabric and make jeans out of it. Keep it simple - no need to put in optional details like pockets or belt loops unless you want to.
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