Skirt Hack with Crescendo Jeans

Today we’re featuring the Crescendo Pull-on Jeans sewing pattern – and our friend Chloe has a genius hack to keep the lovely pull on jeans style but in a SKIRT form. Keep reading Chloe’s fabulous twist on a fabulous pattern.

Let’s make a Jean Skirt with Crescendo Jeans

Dear Love Notions sewists, can you believe it’s almost a year since the release of our amazing Crescendo pull-on jeans pattern? Today for the very first time, it is on offer for Feature Friday – if you haven’t grabbed this fantastic pattern yet, what are you waiting for? With 4 different leg styles (Skinny, Straight, Boot and Flare), plus built in rise and seat custom fit options, Crescendo combines comfort, style and functionality. Say good-bye to mediocre store-bought jeans! 

A (sleek) Jeans Skirt for Warmer Weather

I loved making and wearing my Crescendos, especially in the straight and skinny leg style. However, as spring approaches, I’m itching to start sewing for warm weather. You can easily adjust the length of Crescendo to capri or even shorts, but today I want to show you a fun (and very easy!) hack to turn it into a cute jeans skirt. And I’m not talking about the 1970s style upcycled jeans skirt that proudly show off that crotch curve 😉 We sewists can do better! 

What fabric works for a pull-on jean skirt?

A properly fitted and sewn jeans skirt is a versatile addition to a handmade wardrobe. I especially love the straight pencil skirts that look great with practically any top. You can hack any jeans pattern with this method but by using the Crescendo pull-on pattern, your jeans skirt will be pull-on style as well! Just make sure you use suitable fabrics with the recommended minimum 25% stretch. You can really get creative here. In addition to stretch denim, you can try out other stretch wovens like bengaline, stretch corduroy, twill, and crepe. Of course, stable knits like Ponte, scuba, and French Terry are excellent choices too. 

I used a stretch corduroy in a washed denim shade for my skirt. It only has about 20% stretch, so at first I was not entirely confident it’d work well for the Crescendo pull-on waist. It turned out well in the end for my waist/hip ratio but might not have worked for curvier body types. Making a skirt is a great way to test out the waist and hip fit of your jeans in a new fabric base with a relatively small amount of yardage, before cutting into the full-length jeans. Reversely, if you already fine-tuned the custom fit out of your jeans pattern, you are just a few simple steps away from the perfect-fitting jeans skirt! 

Without further ado, let’s get hacking!

STEP ONE: Modify the Front Piece

You only need to modify 2 pattern pieces: The front leg and back leg. All the other pieces stay the same as the original jeans. You can use any of the leg styles out of the 4 options because we are only utilizing the top half of leg pieces. If you have blended waist/hip sizes, make sure you start with your blended pattern piece. (For the tutorial below, I’m projecting the pattern piece at a reduced scale for clearer photos). 

First, take your front leg pattern piece. Find the center front seam and extend the line straight down, cutting the crotch curve off – this is the center front seam of your skirt. Next, find the triangle mark on the side seam which marks the full hip. Draw a straight line down again, parallel to the grainline and center front. This is now the side seam of your skirt. 

STEP TWO: Modify the Back Piece

Let’s do the same with the back leg piece. This time we will work on the side seam first. Locate the triangle mark on the side seam marking the full hip, and draw a straight line down, parallel to the grainline. 

Next is to create the center back of the skirt. From the triangle mark on the side seam, draw a line straight across, perpendicular to the grainline until it intersects with the back crotch curve. From this intersection point, draw a line straight down, parallel to the grainline, cutting out the back crotch. Smooth out the curve around the intersection point – a French Curve Ruler might help here. This is the now the center back seam of the skirt. 

STEP THREE: Adjust Skirt Length

Lastly, decide how long you want your skirt to be, add 1” seam allowance and draw the hem line perpendicular to the grainline for both the front and back. For example, I wanted my knee length skirt to be about 15” from full hip to hem, so I drew the hem 16” down from the full hip mark.  

There you have it – only 2 pieces to modify! Cut 2 mirrored, for both the front and back of your skirt. A friendly reminder: Mark you Center Back curve specifically – it has a deeper curve than the side seam, which can be counter-intuitive.

Cut, Assemble, & Sew Your Crescendo Skirt

Cut out the rest of the Crescendo pattern pieces as you would with the original jeans, including the yokes, waist band, plus front and back pockets. For my Crescendo skirt, I also reduced the height of the waistband to use 1” elastic for a lower waisted look. 

To sew up your skirt, simply sew the two front pieces right sides together along the Center Front seam, and then the two back pieces right sides together along the Center Back Seam. From there, you can assemble the rest of the skirt following the original instructions of the Crescendo jeans and skip the leg inseams. Easy Peasy!

Styling Your Crescendo Skirt

My new Crescendo skirt turned out to be the best-fitting and most comfortable jeans skirt I’ve ever worn. With store bought jeans skirt, I always had the issue of the entire thing riding up as I walked. Thanks to the custom fit around the waist and hip, my Crescendo skirt fits like a glove throughout the day. The pale denim color of the stretch corduroy is a versatile neutral pairing for many of my Love Notions tops – pictured here with my striped Chorus cowl neck top.

Other Patterns to Try this Skirt Hack with…

You can use this quick hack to turn most pants pattern into a skirt – knit or woven. I might give it a try with Legato Jeans and Largo Cargos next! Just make sure you take into account the appropriate closure if any. Should you like your skirt longer than knee length, also consider adding vents and slits for the ease of movement. 

I hope you enjoyed reading about my jeans skirt hack! To see it in action, find me on Instagram @no.idle.hands along with my Love Notions Ambassador promo code. Meanwhile, grab a copy of the Cresendo Jeans Pattern on sale TODAY ONLY, and enjoy sewing your betting fitting jeans (and skirt) yet!

Until next time,

Chloe @no.idle.hands

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Crescendo Jeans

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