Some say that the comeback of the flare & wide leg denim trend marks the death of the skinny jean. Although I’m not ready to retire all of my skinnies just yet, I’m more than happy to lend a couple of pairs for the sake of an HonestlyWTF DIY. With denim scrap I saved when making some denim cut-offs last summer, we’ll show you how to upcycle a pair of skinny jeans into a pair of bell bottoms!
– a pair of skinny jeans
– scrap denim or fabric
– a pair of scissors
– a seam ripper
– a sewing machine
– a ruler
Start by opening up the outer seams of each leg with the seam ripper. Stop at around 18 inches or right below the knee.
Fold the the scrap denim or fabric in half lengthwise and draw a diagonal line measuring the length of the open seam plus 2 inches. Adjust the width to your liking: the wider the base of the triangle, the wider the bell. Cut along the line. Repeat the step to make 2 identical triangular panels.
Pin one side of the triangular panel to an open seam. Starting at the bottom hem, sew a straight stitch with a half inch inseam. If you don’t have a sewing machine, you can try hand sewing with a thread and needle. After sewing one side, pin the other side. Trim any excess fabric. Repeat the same step on the other leg
Your bell bottoms are finished! You can also try adding fabric like we did here. Have fun!
(top image via Jak&Jil, rest of images by Honestly…WTF)
Wow, those turned out great! Always amazed by your awesome DIY’s.
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You girls never cease to amaze!!! LOVE THEM!! Death to the skinny jean!
I’m still too fond of my skinny jeans to do that just yet…you’re brave 😀
Wow, these turned out amazing! I like to have a combo of shapes in my wardrobe when it comes to jeans, so I’ve definitely bit into the wider legged trend, but am still holding on to a few pairs of my skinnies. It’s nice to have options. Great job!
http://www.cositabella.com
i love the fabric ones! very boho
january, x
jessicajanuary.com
Great tutorial!
I’ve done this with old jeans before and it turned out really nice!
♥ Gina Michele
CrochetClouds
I <3 this DIY. Totally inspired me to try this and maybe with some lace.
xo-AlbeeLucky.blogspot.com
Turned out so great! I love the slight variation in tone of the 2 denims too! Very cool!
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AGH!!!! LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!! I am on this. Thanks so much!
super clever!! love!
xx
http://www.iletaitunefois.com.au/
amazing DIY you always have the best ones! i love bell bottoms and am so glad i dont’ need to go out and buy a pair because i can do this at home 😀
xx, http://wordbyjessie.com
Very cool! These will be more beautiful than a regular flared pants, which is somethings a bit baggy above.
glamourcube.blogspot.com
Wow I love them! I’ve been thinking to do something like this with some old jeans… might have to give it a try 🙂
super cool diy!! i am an avid bell bottom lover 🙂
xx
http://www.dragonnfruit.com
That is an absolutely brilliant idea!!
I’m gonna raid my denim cupboard tonight and see if I can pull this off too.
xx
https://franzistylenomad.wordpress.com/
I used to do this when I was in high school, I even put denim in different color for more interesting look. Thanks for making me remember!
http://www.gossipstyleblog.com
great! I made a pair with lace insert a while ago, definitely hippy and i love them!
http://matterofstyle.blogspot.com/2011/01/lace-bellbottoms-diy.html
those with the fabric insert rock!!
These are fantastic, and so easy!! Great idea!
xoxo
Lia
wow, this turned out better than expected! time to bring out the sewing machine! Thanks for the idea!
-AR
http://plum-bucket.blogspot.com
i used to have a pair of jeans like this years ago, still a great idea.
i’m holding out for the made in heaven bell bottoms, they’re so amazing.
omg i LOVE it. Jr High flashbaaaaaaackssssss.
Beautiful!
spicyfashion.blogspot.com
yesss we used to do this in highschool, haha 🙂
wow, so nice, I don’t think I can do that. So talented!
i love your DIYs! But this one i have to disagree with… not at all for me.
You always do such a great job- love them. I really want some great hightwaisted flares. xo http://dressmeup-dressmedown.blogspot.com/
tessa and i would do that with all our jeans in college! perfect way to make old jeans new again, i love it. and it works well with different fabrics and patterns as well.
girlobsessed.blogspot.com
amazing blog. I’ve been really inspired by your ideas. Thanks. 😉
ps: I added you to my blogs list. Im sure I will stop by here more.
kisses, bia ^^
You’re brilliant!! What a great way to literally recycle fashion!
BRILLIANT! I did the same thing to my skirt when it was WAY too tight!
I always save jeans since trends are changing so quickly… already pulled out my wide leg jeans already!
theArtofbeingFashionable</a
Thank You for Coming Back, To Me You Never Left
I Love Me Some WIDE BOTTOM BLUE JEANS !
I’ve been dying for a pair of bell bottoms, this is the perfect solution! thanks! 🙂
WTF? This is my first visit to your blog and it’s awesome! Followed! :DD
WOW, it doesn’t even look like an obvious diy. so phenomenal. but i’m still with you, the skinnies are still hanging in the front of my closet!
Great fix! I am looking forward to the change from skinnies to wide. Skinny jeans only look right on skinny people. The rest of us look like a science project gone horribly wrong when wearing skinny jeans.
Another fantastically executed DIY…that I probably couldn’t pull off myself. Sewing machines scare me.
@Joanna, you can hand sew it like Lauren did back in high school! a bit more time consuming but it works. xx
AMAZING!!!! WOW!!!! GOBSMACKED!!!!
i used to do this in middle school
Thanks for the step by step. I will be doing this DIY
I did this almost 20 years ago. It was my first sewing project ever back in junior high. Now I’m a fashion designer and sew every day. I will never forget that pair of light blue jeans with the lime-green velvet triangle inserts!
Great idea, i will do this with this weekend. Greetings from Germany!
This is really amazing! I wonder where do you get all these marvellous DIY ideas! You are invited to check my first DIY -Bolt necklace- on my blog 🙂
http://www.thestyleagenda.com/2011/05/diy-bolt-necklace.html
xx
I did this back in the early 1970’s in the 8th grade. Us girls would also cut our jeans to skirt length and insert fabric in the front and back. We also made bags from our jeans. Those were some of the first clothing hacks we did back then! 🙂
I have never given up on my bootcuts, so I am super happy that bell bottoms are coming back in. LOVE this DIY. Even I could pull it off in the limited time I have for that kind of thing. Sweet!
I use to do this to my jeans in high school. And sometimes I would use paisley instead of denim. Ugh.
I love this! I am a big fan of flares, i wear flares almost everyday.. but always looking for the next pair, haha. these look great, i wanted to do this before but worried the different color fabric/denim would look stupid :S but you’ve made it look cool.. would be awesome if they were black with a dark grey or white insert!!
http://www.houseofslater.com
I am for sure trying this one!
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Whoa! I really love this! I like the fabric one the best – you’re very talented!!
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xo, Helen
Woaw this is awesome
I used to do this when I had 14 years old. xD
I love this! I read this and immediately went to my bag of old jeans that I was about to give away and did this. I’m SO happy I hadn’t gotten rid of the pair of skinny jeans I did this to, they’re now my favorite pair of jeans. I inserted a stripey purple and teal batik fabric into dark wash jeans. I LOVE them now. Thanks for the idea 😀
Ooh, I want to try this!! Hopefully with some lacy fabric 😀
Super great idea. And nice pictures too. 🙂
We use to do this in the 60’s and early 70’s….I guess what goes around, comes around…
like Paul said, we did that 60s-70s… what a kick to see it being done again.
I just made these and they turned out GREAT! Love them so much. ^_____^
The one issue I had is that I assumed on the fabric and tried to use one pair of skinnies and another pair of skinnies as scrap denim. It’s best to use an one pair of flares or, like you mentioned,scrap fabric to achieve a wide enough bell.
I did something like this for a hippie costume. I used some remnant fabric that I picked up for $2 that was tie-dye and then added some peace signs and butterfly patches. Still have them!
Love it!
It was a classic in the Seventies to DIY bell bottoms denim to make them more more and more flare :)))
JAJA!!! YO ESTO LO HICE EN HIGH SCHOOL
So done with skinnies. Ready to transform them into some good old trusty flares! Take that society!
Death to skinny jeans.
i would really love to wear skinny jeans because it makes you more sexy. –
<a href="My own, personal blog
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Slim-fit pants or skinny jeans (when made of denim) have a snug fit through the legs and end in a small leg opening that can be anywhere from 9″ to 20″ depending on size.[1] Other names for this style include drainpipes, stovepipes, tight pants, cigarette pants, pencil pants, skinny pants or skinnies. Skinny jeans taper completely at the bottom of the leg, whereas drainpipe jeans are skinny but then the lower leg is straight instead of tapering and so they are often slightly baggier at the bottom of the leg than skinny jeans.`
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Do you think it would be possible to hand sew these instead of using the sewing machine. I have one but it’s old and I am clueless on how to use it. I am a fairly decent hand at basic hand sewing though. Just wondering if it might work?
I’ve actually used this awesome tutorial to turn a skirt into an A-line. AWESOMENESS!
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this is a great idea!! i really want to try this out using some plain black trousers.
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I work out and love to buy workout leggings. The wide leg is hard to find. I bet I could use this technique on those!
I’m doing this on my skinny jeans too.
Thanks so much!
I’m a man and I love the 70’s, funky music, bell bottoms, like Cynthia I’m doing this on my regular jeans too, because it’s impossible for a man to find a bell bottom jean (or other flared pants) today.
I did not do them but I bought some this girl by etsy and I love them !!
https://www.etsy.com/es/market/soulspunk
I love the bell pants!
I used to do this in the 70s !
Bell bottom were all the rage when I was a teen, but being just 5 ft tall by the time my mom cut them off to fit ,they were no longer bell bottom.
I don’t understand the second step all that well. Can someone please sum it up for me? Thanks!!
Love it just wish I had a sewing machine to make me a pair. Great job.
That is a great tutorial.
Well done and thank you
Thank you so much for these very helpful instructions. I was able to re-purpose our bass player’s blue jeans and “Hippie-fy” them. I’ve never done anything beyond hemming pants and had to stitch these by hand. Two ideas I got that helped:
1) The yard of fabric was already folded and creased from the store, so I used that as the bottom hem and just let it be doubled, which gave it more durability.
2) I used stitch witchery and an iron (not too hot) along both sides of the triangle so the fabric would essentially be as one piece, which made it much easier to sew into the jeans.
They look GREAT!
We did this back in the 70’s.
i know right
Yup, exactly how I did it in the early 70s when I wanted to change my straight leg jeans to bells. Love when things come back around again. Great tutorial- I also used to use patterned fabric for a completely different look. Also used to add wide decorative braid, fabric or ribbon to the hems as I got taller or if I wanted the hems longer.
Wow I love them! I’ve been thinking to do something like this with some old jeans… might have to give it a try
Wow I love them! I’ve been thinking to do something like this with some old jeans… might have to give it a try@
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Bell-bottomed pants were designed as part of a sailor’s traditional clothing.
Never cared much for skinny jeans. Always on the lookout for bell bottoms! Now I can make my own!!!
Super nice! Thank you so much for being able to share this to the public. contact us
I’ll be sharing this with friends!