DIY Denim Two Piece Set – Upcycle

 

I was so pleased with how the Denim Two Piece Set I made for my friend turned out so I had to make one for myself. My favorite thing about this set was that it can be worn together or separately so I will definitely get a good use out of the top and skirt this summer. 

 

I thrifted my original long skirt for only $2 at my local thrift store in Tuscaloosa, AL,  making this project incredibly affordable! 

Step one of this process was surprisingly not ripping everything apart as I usually do. Instead, I started by changing the needle on my machine to a denim one because I have definitely learned my lesson by breaking several universal needles.

 

Once my machine was set up, I put on the skirt and marked out with chalk how long I wanted it to be and added about ½” for seam allowance. While I still had it on, I pitched it to be my size to see how much to take off in order for it to fit me. I made note of this which was 5”.

 

This was a thinner denim so I decided to hem it instead of having a raw edge. I did this by folding it under twice and sewing a straight stitch. 

 

After that was done I moved onto making darts on the back of the skirt to take in the waist. There were already existing darts so I just did my new ones in the exact same spot. Because I needed to take 5” off the waist, I did 2, 2½” darts 5½” deep. I folded the skirt where the existing dart was and marked out 1¼” from the fold and drew a line to the length. I then sewed on that like and repeated those steps.

 

 

Now that my skirt was complete, I moved onto the top using the remainder of the skirt. I folded the fabric in half to make sure it would be symmetrical. I then drafted out my top using a prob top I already liked the fit of and made it extra to the length because I wasn’t too sure how long I wanted it to be yet. I also added 6” to the width to have room for my darts and added ½” all around for seam allowance. After that was cut out, I drafted the same pattern for the back without the dart room and went a little lower cut on the neckline. It’s very faint but you can see where I market it out with my fabric market below.

 

 

After I had my front and back pieces, I moved onto sewing in my darts. I did 3” darts on each side going about 6” up to where my nipple was. I used the same method as I did for the skirt. 

 

 

Next, I hemmed the neckline and armholes. Once that was done, I attached the front and back by placing them right sides together and sewed it down at the top of the shoulders. 

 

 

I then sewed down the sides while using the right sides together. I then decided to make it a little shorter and cut off about 2” and hemmed the bottom.

 

After I tried the top on it was jutting out at the arm holes weird so I decided to add darts there as well. I folded it in half horizontally at the end point of the other darts and marketed out ½” and sewed from there to the nipple point. 

 

I tried it on again and was very happy with how it turned out. This entire project took me only about an hour and half and was fairly easy. I will be wearing this set all the time – definitely a cute brunch look and for only $2!