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Close up of decorative trim on the bottom of bell bottoms.
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How to Make Jeans into Bell-Bottoms (A Groovy Upcycle!)

This 70’s girl shows you how to make jeans into bell bottoms. This is a groovy upcycle project that you'll love and use to make pants fun!!!
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time35 minutes
Total Time45 minutes
Course: Sewing Craft
Cuisine: Sewing
Keyword: 70's DIY bell bottom jeans, Adding fabric to jeans to make bell bottoms, bell bottom diy, bell bottom jeans diy, DIY bell bottom, DIY bell bottom jeans, homemade bell bottom jeans, how do you make bell bottom jeans, how to make bell bottom jeans, how to make bell bottom jeans out of regular jeans, how to make bell bottom pants, how to make jeans into bell bottoms, how to make pants into bell bottoms, how to turn pants into bell bottoms, how to turn skinny jeans into flares, make bell bottoms out of jeans, making bell bottoms out of old jeans
Servings: 1 pair of jeans bell bottoms
Author: Shelly
Cost: $5

Equipment

  • Ruler
  • Scissors
  • Pins
  • Seam ripper
  • Sewing machine

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Go to your closet and grab one of those pairs of jeans that you’re not wearing because you’d like them to be wider around the bottom- and let's go have some fun.
    This is a great project to use up some of those fabric scraps you have stashed away. You can use any fabric for the insets on the sides of your jeans. 
    Lots of people like to just use denim of some sort. So if you have an another extra or old pair of jeans that is past their prime, you could use the good parts of the denim scrap for this project. 
    I went with a more neutral option, choosing some blue chambray fabric that had a cute swirl design in it.
  • Put the jeans on and place a pin on the side seam right below the knee. This is about 18 inches or so for an adult and about 8-10 inches on a child.
    It is good to try them on and find what works for you rather than just taking my measurement estimates though! You will be much happier that way.
    Measure from your jeans hem up to where you placed that pin. The pin can then be removed.
    Turn the jeans inside out and with your ruler mark that measurement on each of the two side seams and two inner leg seams, four seams total.
  • Carefully use a small scissors or seam ripper to take the hem out of each leg of the jeans. Then take the stitching out of the four side seams up to the mark you made on each of these four seams.
  • You will need some paper to make your pattern. I used an 8.5x11 inch piece of copy paper for a child size pattern. You may need to tape two pieces together for an adult pattern. Tape the two sheets together vertically, top to bottom.
    Fold the paper in half vertically, hotdog style. Lay your jeans on the paper so that you can see the paper through one of the openings of a side seam. The fold will be up and down the length of the jeans opening and be centered so that the top part of the open triangle is on the fold.
    Try opening the hem edges of the jeans wider and narrower. What do you like- wider, medium, or narrower insets?
    A smaller width at the bottom of the insert makes it more like bootcut jeans, a wider width at the bottom of the insert makes a wider bell bottom. You can even go kind of wild and make them into elephant bells by making the insert REALLY wide at the bottom!!
    When you decide what you like, use a ruler to measure the width between where the seam had been on each of the hem edges.
    Note: Do keep in mind that there are two insets on each pant leg so you are adding twice this width to your pant leg in total. So if you like a 4 inch width at the bottom of the insert it will add 8 inches to the circumference of the jeans hem. 
    Divide this measurement in half and with the ruler make marks on the bottom of your paper on each side of the fold at that distance. So the total distance between the dots is the width you want for your jeans inset with the fold being the half way mark between that distance. 
  • Next measure the distance from the raw edge of the jean leg up to the top of the where the seams are still sewn together.
    This measurement should be about an inch longer than the measurement you took from the knee to hem earlier since the hem is out now. 
    Now remove your jeans and lay your ruler on the pattern. Draw a diagonal line from one of the marks you made up to the fold that is the length of the measurement you just took. Repeat this on the other side of your pattern. 
    You now have the triangle shape of the insert for your jeans.
  • Finish up your pattern by using the ruler to add two more diagonal lines that are ½ inch wider than the first two. This extra is adding on a seam allowance for your insets.
  • The insets will be in both openings of each pant leg or jean leg. There will be four insets all together so you will need to cut out 4 inset pieces. 
    Get out your piece of fabric and fold to cut two pieces at a time. My fabric was light and I have good fabric scissors so I folded mine to cut all four at once.
    Pin the pattern onto the fabric so the fold runs the same direction as the threads in your fabric. 
    Cut out the pattern on the outside lines. Take out the pins and set aside the excess fabric.
  • Mark a small dot on the wrong side of each inset where the two diagonal lines cross at the top point of the triangle. This will help you when sewing.
  • Take one inset and place it against one seam of the jeans, right sides together, bottom edge of jeans against the bottom edge of the insert. Pin all the way up to the top of the triangle. 
    Then pin the other side of the inset to the other side of the jeans leg, right sides together. Pin all the way up to the top of the triangle. 
    Repeat this for each of the insets.
  • Go to your sewing machine and use a thread of your choice. I chose a dusty blue thread that matched the denim color. Set the machine on a straight stitch in a medium length.
    Use a ½ inch seam and sew one side of the first inset starting at the bottom hem edge. Sew up into the top edge of the triangle and stop at the little dot that you drew on your set.
    Backstitch at both ends of the seam so they don't unravel. Take your pins out as you sew (so you don't hit one and break your needle).
    Repeat this on the other seam of this inset. You can start at the top and sew down to the hem of from the hem up if that is easier for you. 
    ​You will sew each inset the same way. 
    Note: Be careful to sew just the two layers of fabric in your seam. Don't let the rest of the jeans get tucked underneath accidentally and thus be sewn into the seam.
  • et your sewing machine to a wide zigzag stitch. Zigzag the edges of each seam on each inset to prevent them from raveling.
    It is helpful to iron the insets at this point (if you have an iron- lots of people don't any more!).
    Go ahead and zigzag around the bottom edge of your insets and jeans as well. We will talk more about a hem in a minute.
  • If you would like to add some top stitching you can do it at this point. This is totally optional and I did not do it on my project. 
    You could choose a color of thread that matches the original top stitching you removed if you want. 
  • At this point the bottom edges of your jeans and insets are just zigzagged raw edges. 
    ​Groovy alert: Back in the day we loved to have the bottom edges of our jeans ragged and unraveling. We would wear them a bit too long and the jeans would drag on the ground and fray.
    We would also open out the hems on our jeans to make them longer and liked the worn lines where the hem used to be.
    If this is the look you want on your bellbottoms then you are finished with your project.
    Groovy alert: We often sewed a piece of woven braid trim onto the bottom hem edge of our jeans. This was to add some length and some fun color and design as well.
    I left my jeans project hem unsewn as my granddaughter is tall and I thought that she may need the extra length. If not I will turn up the hem up once and sew it (a ½ inch hem) or I will turn it up twice and sew it (a 1 inch hem).
    Choose how you want to make your hem and then finish it according to these directions
    Groovy alert: You just made a pair of regular pants or straight leg jeans into a pair of bell-bottoms! GROOVY!!

Video

Notes

Ripping the seams: Take your time, be sure to just catch the stitching and not rip threads on the denim of the jeans. It is so easy to accidentally rip or get holes in the denim with a seam ripper. This is a step that children may need your help with if this is a learn to sew project.