Pants altered into a skirt

Ah, gauchos. Also known as culottes' younger, hipper daughter. Only, I don't think they're all that cool. Why? Well, first of all, they make me look shorter, which I don't like. Second of all, I don't wear cool boots or any type of fun, trendy shoe that you're "supposed" to wear with them. And this particular pair, from Target for $4.99:



They have really awfully-placed pleats on the front. I'm not a pleat person for pants. For skirts, yes, but not pants. This pair also has a tie, which serves no purpose other than to look cool, and they are a pretty shade of purple-blue. I think K would call it a Royal Blue. Anyway, I bought them thinking I'd give them a shot. Only I hated them the moment I got them on. They just aren't my style. But skirts are.

So I decided to say goodbye to the gaucho and hello to another knee-length cotton pull-on skirt. Besides, I hate returning things by mail -- it's a pain (no Target here). First, I slowly and carefully ripped out the inseams of both pant legs. I've done this with jeans before, as I've made jean skirts in a similar way. This part took the longest and was the most tedious, but once it's done, the project is a piece of cake. Next, I put the skirt on and decided how short I wanted it to be. With the seams out, it seemed much longer, and I wanted a summer-y skirt, not a winter-y one. So I cut off a few inches and then laid it flat on the floor (no good work table here).

The only tricky part on this half of the project was figuring out where to sew up the seams. If you just sew along the edges, you'll end up with a weird seam with bulk. So I chalked a diagonal line from where the front seam (the non-inseam part that didn't get taken out) started to curve outward to the bottom corner. I sewed on that line, discovering in the process that my garage sale sewing machine isn't in perfect shape (the stitches weren't even at all), and tried it on. I ended up cutting off a few more inches so that the skirt hit right at the bottom of my knees. I also tied the tie to the side, instead of in the middle. I like the asymmetry for that.



Voila! It's comfortable and doesn't make me look shorter than I already am! And I'm more comfortable in it. Maybe someday I'll be a convert to gauchos, but not today.