I was cleaning out my closet a while back and decided to get rid of an old pair of jeans.  I loved them, but had them for years and they were wearing out around the back end, so I decided it was time to move on and tossed them into my bag of clothes to get rid of.  Recently, I was thinking of what to bring on my upcoming holiday and was wishing I had a nice pair of summer jeans to bring along.  I fell in love with the length of ankle jeans, like those that can be found at Forever 21 and Macy’s.  This length looks great with a pair of wedged sandals or heels and is a fun alternative to traditional shorts or capris.

I thought of this old pair of jeans and decided to upcycle them, and fix them up.  If I get one more season out of them, it would be worth while.  Well, they turned out better than I had hoped for!  I often pair these with my shirt that I made with my Upcycle Romper into Tunic Top Tutorial.  So, read on for my Upcycle Old Jeans into Ankle Length Summer Jeans tutorial…

The skinny:

This tutorial is an easy way to upcycle, refresh your wardrobe for summer and save an old favorite pair of jeans for a little while longer.     

Materials:

• an old pair of jeans
• matching thread
• a denim sewing needle

Now onto my Upcycle Old Jeans into Ankle Length Summer Jeans Tutorial

Instructions:

1.  Try on your jeans and decide how short you want to make them.  Mark the length with a pin.  I wanted mine to be 6½” shorter.

2.  Use a charcoal pencil or some other means, and draw a line on the bottom of the jeans where you want the desired length to be.  This will help you later on when making the final hem length.

3.  Turn the jeans inside out. You want to cut the jeans 1¼” longer than you desired new length, so I will be cutting 5¼” off of my jeans.  This extra length will make up the new hem.  So mark your jeans at this length, and cut.

4.  Use a zigzag stitch and sew along the bottom of the jeans.  This will help keep the material from fraying.

5.  Fold the jeans up 5/8″, pin and sew in place using a wide zig zag stitch, stretching as you sew.  This will help the jeans keep their elasticity.

6.  Fold up another 5/8″, pin and sew, again using a zig zag stitch and stretching as you sew.  Use the line drawn on the outside of the jeans in step 2 as a guide.

*You can alternatively just fold the hem up twice and sew in place. I just like to sew with each fold, so the jeans will hold up that much longer.*

Try on your new upcycle ankle length summer jeans to make sure you like the length, and you are all done!