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Men’s Pants to Avant-Garde Skirt Refashion

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I get the feeling today’s refashion is going to be one of those, “Huh…it’s interesting, but I would never wear it” ones. 😉

But maybe it won’t be!

For me, part of the fun in refashioning is designing looks that are completely atypical of what I see hanging on the racks in stores. I enjoy being unique and standing out a little.

When I found these eggplant-colored men’s dress pants on the $1 clearance rack at the thrift store, I got pretty excited.

refashionista Men's Pants to Avant-Garde Skirt Refashion before
“Aubergine” is Fancy for “Eggplant”.

Usually, the men’s pants I find there are varying shades of grey (probably not fifty, but maybe like 45-ish).

Originally, I planned on turning these pants into a pair of high-waisted women’s pants but then changed my mind (as I am wont to do).

After playing with the fabric a little, I decided to turn these men’s pants into a daring & dare I say it? Avant-Garde skirt!

You know…the sort of thing I would wear to an art opening. Or…the grocery store.

In order to prep my new pants for skirtification, I first needed to open up those pants legs with my seam ripper.

close up of seam ripper
Hello again, old friend!

See that red ball on the end? It actually has a function!

For sturdy fabrics, like the one I’m working with today, you can just insert the seam ripper into the seam with ball side facing in, and rrrrrrrrrip straight up the seam!

seam ripping open pants
The ball keeps you from ripping holes in the fabric!

This made opening the legs and crotch of my thrifted pants a much faster process than just pick…pick…picking would have been.

pants with center seams ripped out
Here’s what they looked like when I was done!

I laid my opened-up pants on their side, flat on my cutting table, and marked a gently sloping line with my french curve and chalk.

marking skirt with chalk
That pointy bit is the original crotch.

I would love to tell you I had a specific methodology behind this part, but I didn’t. I just sort of freehanded how I thought I’d want my skirt to slope in the front and back.

With both sides (front and back) marked, I added pins along the chalked line, then put my skirt on my dress form inside-out to fit it a little more.

pinning front and back of skirt together on dress form
View from the side!

Oh…did I mention I’m turning the top of the pants into the bottom of the skirt? Madness, eh?

pinned skirt on dress form front view
View from the front!

I stitched the new front and back of my skirt down.

sewing front of skirt
Whirrrrrr!

Then, I cut off the excess fabric with my pinking shears.

cutting off excess fabric from front of skirt
Begone, crotch (ew)!

Since the pants were flipped upside-down, I had to secure each of the pockets so they wouldn’t flop out.

I sewed each pocket closed.

sewing down pocket
It’s okay! They’re non-functional at this point!

Then, I snipped each pocket out.

cutting off pocket
Still…breaks my heart to see a pocket go…

Now I needed to figure out the top of my new skirt.

I had originally intended to give it a back zipper, but didn’t end up having enough fabric for this. So, I simply opted for an elastic waist.

I had to snip off a little fabric from the top in order to leave me enough room to get in and out of it (without sacrificing too much length).

cutting off top of skirt
Just a bit!

Then, I folded the top over and pinned it. This is going to be the casing for my elastic.

pinned waistband of skirt
Simple, eh?

I stitched my new waistband down, leaving a small gap to thread the elastic through…

sewing waist of skirt
My waist shall go into you!

…then ironed it down as well.

ironing down waistband
You probably already know what ironing looks like. But just in case?

I pulled out a length of elastic that I wrapped around my waist, making sure it was snug (but not too snug) and trimmed to size.

elastic on sewing table
This size. Right here.

I grabbed my bodkin and threaded it with the elastic.

bodkin with elastic
Threaded? Is that the right word?

Note: If you don’t have a bodkin, a safety pin works too!

Then I pushed the elastic through its casing to the other side.

elastic threaded through casing
Like this!

I stitched the ends of the elastic together.

sewing elastic together
A tiny whirrrr!

After I stitched the small gap I left for the elastic to be threaded through down, I was all done!

I know…this refashion is a little odd, but I really like it!

refashionista Men's Pants to Avant-Garde Skirt Refashion after 1
What say you?

I mean, it’s definitely different.

refashionista Men's Pants to Avant-Garde Skirt Refashion after 2
Serious Fashion Blogger Pose

…but that’s what I like about it!

Here’s what it looks like from the back.

refashionista Men's Pants to Avant-Garde Skirt Refashion after back view
Le back!

I styled my new skirt with a few fun gold accessories.

refashionista Men's Pants to Avant-Garde Skirt Refashion after selfie
A friend of mine who used to do drag gave me this necklace from his stash!

I would be remiss if I didn’t call your attention to these fabulous boots I treated myself to as an end of chemo/Christmas gift.

closeup of gold fluevog boots
I loves them.

They’re the Ara Vintage-Style Chelsea Boot by Fluevog and they’re amazing.

But…back to the skirt!

You can see I left the original fly undone for easier walkability.

Men's Pants to Avant-Garde Skirt Refashion close up
A closer view!

I hope you enjoyed following along with this slightly-odd refashion! Maybe it’s inspired you to try something a little different yourself? Maybe?

refashionista Men's Pants to Avant-Garde Skirt Refashion after 3
I think it looks quite high-end!

Cheers!

refashionista Men's Pants to Avant-Garde Skirt Refashion
How to Make a Muumuu into a Dress
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