How to Sew a Refashioned Top From Trousers

I had a beautiful pair of cotton trousers which shrunk even though I had followed the laundry instructions to a tee (or maybe I grew a few centimeters!)

Initially I wanted to upcycle them into shorts, or perhaps even refashion them into a bag. But I had a wedding dinner coming up and I thought, "Why not make them into a top?" It took me a while but I ended up combining it with an old pair of black office trousers.

#1 Make Shorts
Well, this was the easy part! I cut my trousers to become a pair of mid-thigh length shorts. I carefully hemmed them. This tutorial is tells you how to do it.

#2 Cut Trouser Leg into Panels
I cut open each trouser leg at the seams and then sewed them together so that I got one long rectangle. I also opened up the seams of a pair of black trousers but this time I cut the panels in two and sewed them to the print panel (see images below). I now had two panels each with a wide black trim.

#3 Combine Panels
This is the part where I used my mannequin. I took one of the panels and made it into a tube, then I draped the other panel over the tube and sewed it down in the middle except for a small loop through which I would tie it around the neck with the belt of the black trousers. You could replace it with a thick choker, black sash or even necklace.

Here is a graphic with all the instructions summarised!

Here I am wearing it

Here I am with my friends at the wedding.... the only picture of us... and it was in the ladies washroom! Well, it was the Fullerton Hotel.

You might like this tutorial!