How to Make Cut-Off Jean Shorts & Skirts: Super-Easy Tutorial

Tools and materials:

• Pair of jeans
• Scissors
• Needle and thread
• Pencil

DIY jean shorts

1. Pick your jeans

Go through your closet and find an old pair of jeans. They’ll need to fit well around your waist so you can turn them into a wearable pair of shorts or a skirt. 

I went with a pair that are a bit loose on the waist for the shorts and I chose a pair that fit tightly around my waist to form my skirt.

2. Mark and cut your shorts

Find the length of shorts that you like to wear and then mark 3 centimeters (1.2 inches) below your chosen length. This is so we can cuff the shorts in the next step. 

Then, cut off the excess fabric.

3. Cuff

Flip over the bottom of the shorts and roll it twice to give them a cuffed look. 

4. Sew

Then sew the edges from the inside so that you can’t see the stitches — and you’re done with your shorts! Here’s the final look. 

This is so easy to do and the cuffed bottom looks really smart,

DIY jean skirt

1. Mark and cut your skirt

Similar to the DIY shorts, we’re going to mark our jeans where we want to cut. 

The length depends on what kind of skirt you want to wear, but remember to cut it a little bit longer than your desired length. We won’t be cuffing our skirt, but it’s best to be on the safe side. 

2. Remove stitches from the inside hem

This step is very tedious and takes a while, but you’ll need to remove the stitches from the inside hem.

I used scissors to do this, but if you have seam rippers, you can use those. Once you get to a certain point, you can use your hands to rip the fabric apart. 

3. Mark and sew the skirt

After you’ve removed the stitches, turn the jeans inside out and onto the back. Join the two ripped edges - lining them up accurately - and draw a straight line at the bottom. 

Then, following that line, sew the skirt together. 

Cut off the extra fabric. Then, flip the skirt to the front and repeat the process. 

4. Resize to your liking

If you cut your skirt a bit too long early on in the beginning, now’s your chance to cut it to your desired length. You can even try it on now to make sure it’s a perfect size. 

5. Fray the hem

The final step is optional, but I think it makes the skirt look more complete. So, I’m going to just gently shred and fray the hem by rubbing and pulling at the ends to pull out the thread. 

The skirt is done! You can stop here if you like, or you can continue if you want to see how I further designed the skirt. I wanted to spice it up and make it a bit funkier, so this is how I did it: 

6. Paint the skirt (optional)

For this, you’ll need your favorite color paint and a sponge. I cut the sponge into a triangle shape so I could make stars, but you should cut your sponge into whatever pattern you want to paint on your shorts. 

Using my sponge and yellow paint, I dabbed little stars all over my skirt to create a fun little pattern. I did this on both the front and the back, and I think it came out so cute. 

How to make cut-off jean shorts & skirts

I hope you guys enjoyed this tutorial! Let me know which one you liked best and which one you’d rather do: make a mini skirt out of jeans, or turn jeans into a pair of shorts!