WEBVTT 00:00:03.840 --> 00:00:04.840 Hello! 00:00:04.840 --> 00:00:07.390 Welcome to Make Thrift Buy, the show where YOU send in cool clothes & accessories that 00:00:07.390 --> 00:00:10.349 you’ve found on the internet and then I do my best to recreate them! 00:00:10.349 --> 00:00:15.460 Today’s challenge was sent in by Syeda who wanted me to try and recreate this skirt from 00:00:15.460 --> 00:00:16.470 Abercrombie & Fitch. 00:00:16.470 --> 00:00:20.740 Now this item’s existence makes me SO so angry - BECAUSE it’s meant to look like 00:00:20.740 --> 00:00:24.570 a DIY, like something that you’ve made for yourself… except that it’s not. 00:00:24.570 --> 00:00:30.660 Instead you pay $68 + shipping for the privilege of owning a skirt that looks like it's been 00:00:30.660 --> 00:00:32.270 upcycled from a pair of jeans. 00:00:32.270 --> 00:00:33.270 My BRAIN. 00:00:33.270 --> 00:00:37.600 Plus it’s probably made in sweatshop-like conditions . God I hate the fashion world 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:38.600 sometimes. 00:00:38.600 --> 00:00:43.320 So, bringing this full-circle, today we're actually going to try and make this for ourselves, 00:00:43.320 --> 00:00:46.880 actually using an old pair of jeans and upcycling them. 00:00:46.880 --> 00:00:48.290 So let's get started. 00:00:48.290 --> 00:00:52.559 So here is the pair of jeans that I will be upcycling – and they were $4 from the thrift 00:00:52.559 --> 00:00:53.559 store. 00:00:53.559 --> 00:00:57.110 You can generally find old jeans in-abundance at charity stores and thrift stores – especially 00:00:57.110 --> 00:00:59.450 baggy bootcut jeans like these ones here. 00:00:59.450 --> 00:01:03.129 So I measured approximately how long I wanted the skirt to be, added a couple of inches 00:01:03.129 --> 00:01:07.110 to this measurement to be on the safe side, and then I chopped off the legs at this point. 00:01:07.110 --> 00:01:10.779 The next thing that I did was to remove the stitches, which is also called “seam ripping”, 00:01:10.779 --> 00:01:12.579 all around the crotch and the inner legs. 00:01:12.579 --> 00:01:17.329 The easiest way to rip seams is to get a pair of small, sharp embroidery scissors, and, 00:01:17.329 --> 00:01:22.219 turning the jeans inside out, find those serged seams that look like this – so the serged 00:01:22.219 --> 00:01:26.159 seams where there’s loops along the top with two horizontal threads running across 00:01:26.159 --> 00:01:27.159 these loops. 00:01:27.159 --> 00:01:31.119 The threads that you want to cut through are these horizontal ones, cutting approximately 00:01:31.119 --> 00:01:33.560 every 4th or 5th thread or so. 00:01:33.560 --> 00:01:36.780 Once I’d cut through those threads all the way around the inner leg, I could quickly 00:01:36.780 --> 00:01:38.780 and simply pull the seams apart, like this! 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:45.780 Next I also seam-ripped up the crotch seam to just below the zipper. 00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:57.219 I did the same thing on the back of the jeans, ripping the seam approximately the same length 00:01:57.219 --> 00:01:58.359 that I did on the front. 00:02:04.380 --> 00:02:09.280 Then, I took this front crotch flap – okay, I am aware that this description is sounding 00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:13.569 more like an anatomy lesson than anything else but bear with me – I took the front 00:02:13.569 --> 00:02:18.349 crotch… “section”… and I overlapped it onto the other side of the jeans, making 00:02:18.349 --> 00:02:20.540 sure that the two were laying flat. 00:02:20.540 --> 00:02:24.140 Then I stuck some pins through these overlapping pieces, to hold them together, and with some 00:02:24.140 --> 00:02:28.100 yellow thread that matched the thread already in use on the jeans, I sewed the two pieces 00:02:28.100 --> 00:02:29.540 together like this. 00:02:29.540 --> 00:02:33.590 To sew the pieces together I used a denim needle, which is slightly sturdier, thicker 00:02:33.590 --> 00:02:37.440 and stronger than a regular sewing needle, and I also used a “triple stitch”. 00:02:37.440 --> 00:02:41.510 A triple stitch is basically a straight stitch that is thicker and provides more reinforcement 00:02:41.510 --> 00:02:43.470 than a regular straight stitch. 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:47.319 Then I repeated the exact same thing on the back of the jeans. 00:02:47.319 --> 00:02:50.250 When this was done, I tried the skirt on to see how it fit. 00:02:50.250 --> 00:02:54.519 Now because the original jeans were quite baggy, I actually wanted to take in the sides 00:02:54.519 --> 00:02:57.250 of the skirt a little bit so that it didn’t flare out so much. 00:02:57.250 --> 00:03:02.409 So, to do this, I drew two marks on either side of the point that’s just underneath 00:03:02.409 --> 00:03:03.530 where my hips end. 00:03:03.530 --> 00:03:07.379 Then on both sides of the skirt I pinched the fabric to make the skirt tighter and reduce 00:03:07.379 --> 00:03:11.510 that flare – without stretching the triangle in the middle, because that needs to remain 00:03:11.510 --> 00:03:13.780 flat - otherwise everything will go wrong here. 00:03:13.780 --> 00:03:18.540 Then, at the places where I had pinched the fabric, I drew two small marks with chalk, 00:03:18.540 --> 00:03:23.000 and then I joined these two marks with that below-hip mark in a triangle like this. 00:03:25.580 --> 00:03:29.480 Using a pair of scissors, I then cut up that side seam and I pulled it open up to the top 00:03:29.489 --> 00:03:30.569 of the triangle. 00:03:36.220 --> 00:03:40.379 Then, with the skirt inside out, and the fabric right-sides together, I matched up the old 00:03:40.379 --> 00:03:41.489 side seams. 00:03:41.489 --> 00:03:45.760 And then, I duplicated the chalk line from the front of the fabric onto the inside. 00:03:45.760 --> 00:03:50.239 I put pins through both layers and then I sewed down here, using a straight stitch, 00:03:50.239 --> 00:03:51.840 to make my new side seam. 00:03:51.840 --> 00:03:54.620 And I repeated this on the other side of the skirt. 00:03:54.620 --> 00:03:58.090 Once the new side seams were sewn together, and I’d tried on the skirt again to make 00:03:58.090 --> 00:04:02.340 sure that I was happy with it, I cut the excess fabric away from the new seam like this. 00:04:02.340 --> 00:04:06.879 Now, demin will fray the first time that you wash it but then it will STOP fraying, it’s 00:04:06.879 --> 00:04:10.700 like magic, so don’t worry about the raw edges of the denim inside the skirt here. 00:04:10.700 --> 00:04:15.129 So this is my new side seam, and to finish it off I pressed the seam to one side and 00:04:15.129 --> 00:04:18.150 I top-stitched along one side of the seam, like this. 00:04:18.150 --> 00:04:21.799 The last step was to fill in the gaps between the legs, which I did by grabbing a piece 00:04:21.799 --> 00:04:26.000 of the leg that I had cut off in the first step, laying it flat underneath the triangle, 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:29.920 pinning it in place, like this, and then sewing it to the front pieces of the new skirt. 00:04:29.920 --> 00:04:33.940 This time I used a blue thread which blended into the colour of the jeans, and I also used 00:04:33.940 --> 00:04:35.140 a normal straight stitch. 00:04:36.040 --> 00:04:40.100 Then I cut off the excess fabric inside the skirt, and I repeated the same thing to the 00:04:40.110 --> 00:04:41.120 back of the skirt! 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:45.090 When that was done, I tried the skirt on, and I shortened it to the length that I wanted 00:04:45.090 --> 00:04:49.130 by drawing a slightly curved line across the bottom of the skirt, like this. 00:04:49.130 --> 00:04:52.810 Then, I cut straight across this line using a normal pair of fabric scissors. 00:04:54.540 --> 00:04:59.220 Annnnd, well the original skirt wasn’t hemmed either, so I’m going to be leaving the bottom 00:04:59.229 --> 00:05:00.509 edge raw as well! 00:05:00.509 --> 00:05:04.009 So, now I’m sure you all want to know… how did I go? 00:05:05.300 --> 00:05:07.700 [Music plays] 00:05:22.260 --> 00:05:23.160 Woo hoo! 00:05:23.160 --> 00:05:26.960 Those old, unflattering pair of jeans is now this super cute denim skirt. 00:05:26.970 --> 00:05:28.660 And, it only cost me $4. 00:05:28.660 --> 00:05:31.240 Get out of here, Abercrombie and Fitch. 00:05:31.240 --> 00:05:32.240 This is the real deal. 00:05:32.240 --> 00:05:34.210 My conclusion is: [Scissor snipping and zipper sound effect] 00:05:34.210 --> 00:05:37.550 Thrift a pair of old denim jeans and make this for yourself. 00:05:37.550 --> 00:05:41.180 Before you all go, I want to tell you something very exciting – I launched my new website 00:05:41.180 --> 00:05:42.180 yesterday! 00:05:42.180 --> 00:05:45.430 It’s basically a place where you can go and find out about what me and my community 00:05:45.430 --> 00:05:49.300 are doing, but the part of it that I’m most proud of is this page here: The Beginner’s 00:05:49.300 --> 00:05:50.300 Sewing Resource! 00:05:50.300 --> 00:05:52.930 It’s full of all the important stuff you need to know if you’re just starting out 00:05:52.930 --> 00:05:56.009 sewing and trying to make your own clothes, and even if you’ve been sewing for a while 00:05:56.009 --> 00:05:59.080 I recommend checking it out because you'll probably still find some useful information 00:05:59.080 --> 00:06:00.080 on there! 00:06:00.080 --> 00:06:05.210 It’s got both tutorials from me and from all my favourite sewists - sewers - sewists? 00:06:05.210 --> 00:06:06.210 from around the internet. 00:06:06.210 --> 00:06:10.699 It’s at annikavictoria.com, so go check it out and let me know what you think! 00:06:10.699 --> 00:06:11.910 Anyway, that’s it from me! 00:06:11.910 --> 00:06:13.740 Thank you for watching and I’ll see you all next time. 00:06:13.740 --> 00:06:14.740 Bye! 00:06:14.740 --> 00:06:17.820 Thank you to all of my supporters on Patreon for making these videos possible. 00:06:17.820 --> 00:06:20.020 To become my patreon supporter, go to patreon.com/annikavictoria!