No-Sew Wide-Leg Jeans

Tools and materials:

• 2 pairs of jeans
• Scissors
• Fabric glue
• Straight pins or safety pins
• Pencil

Step 1: Crop your jeans

While wearing the straight-leg jeans that you want to convert to wide-leg jeans, use your pencil to mark the new length that you would like your jeans to be. Next, take off the jeans and lay them straight on your work surface with both legs together evenly. Cut across both legs together where you had marked your pencil line.

Step 2: Mark the seam opening 

Now you are going to create the opening for the new fabric that will turn your straight-leg jeans into wide-leg jeans. To create that opening you will need to remove the inside seam from each leg of your straight jeans. To do so, lay your jeans open on your work surface and use your pencil to mark a point about a third of the way between the crotch and knee of the straight jeans. Use your pencil to mark the spot where the inserted fabric will begin to show. 

Step 3: Remove the inside leg seams 

You are going to open the inside leg seams from the bottom up. You can try to open the seam with a seam remover, but you may find it easier to simply cut along the seam line with your scissors. Cut each leg’s inner seam, starting at the bottom, and ending just below the point you marked in the previous step.

To get a nice clean edge where you will easily be able to insert the fabric that will make the flare, cut along both sides of the inner seam. Cut across at the top make a triangular point when the seam is completely removed.

Step 4: Cut the fabric that will create the wide leg

The fabric from one leg of your second pair of jeans should be enough to create the flare on both legs of the jeans you are converting, so you can start this step by simply cutting off one leg from your second pair of jeans. To get two pieces of fabric from this one leg, cut off both the inside and outside seam.

Step 5: Attach the flare fabric to your jeans

Place one piece of cut jean fabric inside each leg of your prepared straight-leg jeans and pin it in place. Be careful not to stretch either the jeans or the flare fabric. 

Now use your fabric glue to attach the flare fabric to the jeans. 

Step 6: Trim the bottom

Finally, trim off the excess flare fabric at the bottom so it is even with the length of your jeans. Repeat with the second leg.

Step 7: Create a shredded seam look around the flare (optional)

If you like the shredded look, you can simply use your fingers to pull threads from the jeans on each side of the flare. Trim the threads so they are even.

Congratulations! You have now recycled a pair of unused jeans and converted the straight-jeans that fit you so well into wide-leg jeans that you will love wearing. Tag me on Instagram if you try this great DIY wide-jeans hack, or any of my other fashion hacks!