How to Make a Free People-Inspired Top & Pants Out of a Tablecloth

Tools and materials:

• Thrift store pants
• Thrift store tablecloth
• Scissors
• Sewing pins
• Seam ripper
• Iron
• Thread
• Sewing machine

1. Make the pants

Open the outside side seams on the legs of your thrift-store pants from a few inches below the pocket to the bottom hem.

Cut side panels for your pants from your thrift store tablecloth.

2. Attach the side panels to your pants

Pin the side panels to the inside of the slits in your jeans, folding under the side edges of your jeans as you pin.

Tip: if you press the folds on the sides of the slits first, pinning the side panels in will be much easier.

Another tip: pin in the side panel while you are wearing the pants to get the best positioning and ensure the panel isn’t puckering out.

Turn your pants inside out. Keeping the pins in place, use fabric glue to attach the side panel to the pants in the spaces between the pins. Then remove the pins and add more fabric glue in their place. 

You can leave it just like that or you can topstitch the side panel in place at the edge of the jeans.

Trim of the excess fabric from the side panels.

3. Make the top

Fold the remainder of your tablecloth in half vertically, and then in half again horizontally. Then cut open the horizontal fold.

The tablecloth edging will be the center-front and center-back of your top, and the unfolded vertical edge will be the bottom of the top.

Cut the fabric from the bottom to where you need your underarm to be positioned, at a distance from the center-front that equals half the width of your top front.

Now cut in from the other side to meet the underarm. Now you have one side of the front with the sleeve.

4. Sew the top seams

See how well that worked? Now you need to sew the sleeve, underarm, and side of the top on both sides. Pin the seams first to help you line up the pattern and use a zigzag stitch for the seam. 

Lastly, you need to sew up the back of the top. I chose to make a deep V-shape in the back, so I also added a small band at the top of the back to keep it from slipping off my shoulders. Glue in the back strip and then reinforce it with stitches.

Trim the bottom of the top and the sleeves as you wish, working with any shapes in the fabric.

How to make a top and pants out of a tablecloth

Here is my final Free People-inspired top and pants ensemble. It really was easy to make, with minimal sewing, so I hope you try this DIY tablecloth upcycle for yourself.

Enjoy your new outfit and leave a comment to let me know how yours turned out.