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Thrift Shopping Tip: 5 Minute Skinny Jeans!

Thrift Shopping Skinny Jeans

Thrift shopping is a lot of fun, but thrift shopping for jeans can be tricky. Here’s a 5-minute fix to turn any pair of thrifted jeans into skinny jeans!

As if jeans shopping wasn’t tough enough, buying second hand jeans can be even trickier. Sizes vary crazily from brand to brand, and it can be tough to find a pair of thrift store jeans that fit you like a glove. Last time I went thrift shopping for skinny jeans, I tried on 18 pairs before finding one that fit. I am not exaggerating.

One way to make things a little bit easier on yourself is to go in knowing that you may need to make some small alterations to your thrifted jeans. This expands your options quite a bit. It can be tough to find skinny jeans that also fit in the waist, hips, and thighs, so next time you’re thrift shopping, don’t worry about the legs! Seek out a pair of jeans that fit great to mid-thigh or so, then alter them!

If you’ve never altered clothing before, this can seem a little bit intimidating, and I want to assure you that if you can sew in a semi-straight line, you can do this alteration.

I’ve converted a couple of pairs of my jeans to skinny jeans, and this method looks even simpler than the “try them on inside out, pin them alot, then sew” method that I have used. Instead, it uses an existing pair of favorite jeans as a template. GENIUS!

iCandy Handmade shares an easy-to-follow tutorial on how to turn any jeans into skinny jeans in five minutes flat. It’s got plenty of photos, so you can see exactly what she did, step-by-step. If you’re not super sure of your sewing skills, I suggest using a contrasting thread color. So, if your jeans are dark blue, choose white or red. For light colored jeans, go with black thread. That way, you can easily tear out your stitches if something goes awry.

Have you done any simple alterations on clothes you found while thrift shopping? I’d love to hear about your DIY wardrobe in the comments!

Image Credit: Skinny Jeans photo via Shutterstock

Written by Becky Striepe

My name is Becky Striepe (rhymes with “sleepy”), and I am a crafts and food writer from Atlanta, Georgia with a passion for making our planet a healthier, happier, and more compassionate place to live. My mission is to make vegan food and crafts accessible to everyone!. If you like my work, you can also find me on Twitter, Facebook, and .

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