How to Make a Funky Pair of Bellbottoms from Old Jeans

If you love the look of funky bell-bottoms but don't have the patience to search through vintage stores for the perfect pair, why not try making your own instead? Any pair of old jeans can easily be converted into a pair of bellbottoms by inserting a simple fabric panel into the bottom of the pant leg. All you need are basic sewing skills and some inexpensive supplies. Here's how to make your own one-of-a-kind pair of bellbottoms.

Supplies

- An old pair of jeans (make sure they are long enough to reach the ground)

- Fun or funky printed fabric of your choosing

- A stitch ripper

- Scissors

- A sewing machine or needle and thread

- Straight pins

To create your bell bottoms you are going to open the outside seam on the bottom of each pant leg and insert a fabric panel in the opening to create the "bell".

1. Start by using your stitch ripper to take down the hem on the jeans. Once you have unfolded the hem, use the stitch ripper to open up the outside seam of each pant leg starting at the bottom of the pants. Most people remove the stitches to just under the knee, but you can go as high or as low on the side of the leg as you want depending how big you want your bell to be. Make sure to go the exact same height on each pant leg so you don't have one bell bigger than the other - you want the two sides to match perfectly.

2. Measure the height of the opening you just created on each pant leg. Use this measurement to create a pattern for the fabric insert. The fabric inset is going to be a triangle shape with the bottom of the triangle matching up with the bottom of the pants. To create the triangle, start by drawing a vertical line on a sheet of butcher paper or newspaper the height of the opening you cut in the pant legs. Next, decide how wide you want the base of the fabric inset to be and draw a horizontal line that long at the bottom of the line you just drew. Make sure the vertical line is centered on the horizontal line. (For instance, if you wanted the base of the panel to be 4 inches wide you would draw a line that extended 2 inches to either side of the vertical line). Finally, use a ruler to draw lines connecting the outside edges of the horizontal line with the top of the vertical line to create a triangle. Use a ruler to measure and add about a 1" seam allowance on all sides of the triangle, then cut out your pattern.

3. Pin the pattern to your inset fabric making sure to smooth out any wrinkles and cut it out. Repeat this so that you have two fabric inset panels - one for each leg.

4. Pin the inset panels into each leg of the pants, taking care that the right side of the fabric is facing outward and that the edges of the denim are neatly hidden.

5. Sew the fabric panels in place using either a sewing machine or stitching them by hand.

6. Fold the hem of the pants back up and sew it back into place, evening hemming the inset fabric and the denim so that the pants have a nice, even hem.

Now, wear your new funky bellbottoms with pride and enjoy all the compliments that you get!