Upcycled denim skirt pocket patch.
I had an old denim skirt that needed to go. I hadn’t worn it in months (maybe years?) and it was just taking up space in my closet. I tried it on and decided I really wasn’t go to wear it anymore, but then I looked at it some more and thought maybe I could hack it into a new skirt and get some more wear out of it. I thought about embroidering on it, or maybe dyeing or bleaching it, but I wasn’t really sure. Luckily, I did what I don’t normally do, and took some time to think about it. I Googled ‘diy denim skirts‘ and found a few ideas, then I searched Pinterest for ‘upcycled denim skirt’ and was flooded with results – some cute, some not.
Inspiration from Goodwill
I looked through the fabric and scraps I had at home and found nothing inspiring so I decided to try the local Goodwill. I went out and found some shirts of nice fabrics and nice patterns. I bought a few and headed home. Again, I took some time to figure out what I wanted to do before jumping in and starting. I pinned the shirts to the skirt in various different ways and tried on the different styles. I decided to go with a sheer cotton shirt with metallic silver thread embellishing. And, I decided to seam rip the existing skirt to have a raw hem and then raw stitch the shirt fabric onto the hem. I thought I might create some holes and patch them with the fabric on the front and maybe do something with the pockets, but I at least had a base for the skirt.
Upcycled cotton shirt and denim skirt
Upcycled cotton shirt and denim skirt
I took the shirt and cut off the collar and arms to get a square shape. I cut that open at the side seam and got a rectangular piece of fabric. I cut off the seam and pinned the fabric under the raw hem of the skirt. I pinned it so that the fabric would come back together for a seam on one side of the skirt. I tried it on and found that I like the side slit, so I decided to leave it. I zigzag then straight stitched the raw edges of the fabric so they wouldn’t fray and straight stitched the fabric around the hem of the skirt.
I decided to go ahead and create some holes to patch. I used a seam ripper to make a hole near the left front hem and a hole near the right front pocket. With some of the extra fabric from the arms, I patched the holes. I did the same thing for one of the back pockets.
I really like how the skirt turned out and I’ve already worn it twice so I would say this was a good hack.
Upcycled denim skirt.