I’m a bit of a country girl. Plaid shirts, denim. I like them on me and love them on my boyfriend. Sometimes, though I want a denim skirt with a little more personality. Thankfully, they’re really easy to modify and cute-ify. If you’re a country girl like me and want to broaden a selection of your denim skirts, give some of these fun ideas a try.
Calico Swatches
What would a country girl be without a little calico in her life? The texture of the unbleached, low processed cotton pairs well with a denim skirt. And it comes in so many fabulous patterns and colors! If you’ve got some scraps from a previous project, this is a great way to use them up. If not, it’s a great time to go fabric shopping.
Find a denim skirt with a seam in the back. Cut the seam open part way. If it has a slit in the back, you can cut up from there and leave the slit after you insert the calico in the opened seam. The same technique works with side seams if you’d rather do that.
Patches
Patches are awesome! Not the plan square ones. The patches in the shape of animals and other cute designs. They’re super easy to use and create an ultra-unique denim skirt. For a long denim skirt, choose four to six of your favorite patches. For a short one, choose three or four. Larger ones look great along the bottom hem and smaller ones look great along the waistband.
Without ironing or sewing, place the patches where you think you’d like them to check the appearance. Once you’ve got the placement figured out, you can either iron them on or sew them on depending on the manufacturer’s instructions. For iron on patches, I suggest tacking them down with a few stitches in case the glue loosens.
Fabric Scrap Squares
Here’s a great opportunity to dive into your scrap bucket and create a cool country skirt in the process. You can either use these to create a skirt by themselves or lay them over an existing skirt you no longer want to wear in its current form.
Cut squares of your fabric scraps in various sizes. Lay them out and move them around until you have a look you like. When you’ve got that figured out, sew the squares together and/or sew them onto the existing skirt you’re modifying. If you’re not adding them to an existing garment, you’ll also need to add a length of elastic along the top to create a waistband. When you’re done, it’ll look like you’re wearing a patchwork quilt.