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Refashioning clothes to make an additional piece in your closet has become a trend these days. If you are tired of your old yoga pants and wish to upcycle it, you can turn it into a beautiful pair of leggings using common items that you can see in the household. Here’s how to make yoga pants into leggings.
Contents
Things You Need for Turning Yoga Pants Into Leggings
The first thing you have to do when you want to turn your old yoga pants into leggings is to find the proper items you will need for the altering. You can usually see these items within the household so you won’t need to buy anything for the process. Here are the items and things you need to prepare:
- A pair of yoga pants – for measuring purposes.
- A pair of leggings – for measuring purposes.
- Sewing machine – for the sewing process.
- Sewing kit – for the sewing process alternative to sewing machines if you don’t have any.
- Pins – for the measurement.
- Tailor’s chalk or marker – for marking purposes.
- Scissors – for cutting purposes after measuring.
Refashion Yoga Pants Into Leggings: Easy Steps
It is time to refashion your outdated yoga pants into trendy leggings. If you are new in sewing and upsizing, it would be better if you review a few videos and instructional materials for the sewing process. If you are knowledgeable in hand sewing, refer to these easy steps for refashioning yoga pants into leggings.
Line Up Yoga Pants and Leggings’ Seams
The first thing that you need to deal with upcycling clothes would be the measuring process. Usually, this can be done by measuring vital length and sizes of your body, particularly waist, hips, as well as length. However, yoga pants and leggings have stretchy fabric that are known to shrink especially when they get old.
With that, you can get your proper measurements for yoga pants upcycling by lining up yoga pants and a pair of your leggings with good and firm fit. You need to line them up through the seams since that is where you are going to cut up a few fabric to alter flared yoga pants into fitted leggings.
Mark the Seam
After lining up the yoga pants and leggings together, you can now compare the measurements that you need. Mark the inner seam of the yoga pants with pins, tailor’s chalk, or marker. Keep the original crotch seam of the yoga pants if possible and add a bit of allowance in the hem for sewing.
Sew the New Inner Seam
Following the mark in the inner seam, you can now start with the sewing process. You can sew your yoga pants using a stretch or ballpoint needle so as to sew it firmly and effectively. It’s advisable to use a sewing machine–even the small ones–for the sewing process, but you can also sew it by-hand if you know how.
After you finish sewing one leg, try to fit it out to make sure that you have the right fit and measurements. By doing that, you can safely cut and repair your yoga pants once again since you have not cut out the excess fabric yet. Once you have the right measurement, proceed sewing the other leg.
Adjust and Sew the Hem
The lower, folded part of your yoga pants are called hem which allows you to cut or extend the length of yoga pants. After sewing the seams, cut the excess fabric and proceed with the hem part of the yoga pants. Make sure to have the right and proper length of your choice before adjusting and sewing them.
If you think that you’re going to want to have lengthier leggings after a few months, you can adjust the folds of your hem to accommodate the length that you want. After that, just sew it normally without cutting the fabric. In case you want to alter your hem, remove the thread, adjust the size, and repeat the process.
Steps to Make Yoga Pants Into Leggings
| Steps | What to do |
|---|---|
| Step 1 | Find the right items for the procedure |
| Step 2 | Line up leggings and yoga pants seams |
| Step 3 | Mark the seam |
| Step 4 | Sew the new inner seam |
| Step 5 | Adjust and sew the hem |
Benefits of Upcycling Clothes
Upcycling clothes is a trend nowadays, especially to people who want to help with environmental conservation. One of the largest portions that occupies landfills are using garments and clothes that are hastily throwing in the trash. Upcycling is a great way to aid with this problem.
Being sustainable and creative can be a good practice for people who want to have and spend money. There are a lot of communities and businesses that strive with upcycling clothes, garments, and fabric that creates a lot of profit. Here are some of the benefits you can get for upcycling clothes:
- You can save money by upcycling clothes instead of throwing them away by experimenting with various designs using do-it-yourself guides.
- Refashioning clothes like yoga pants boosts creativity and positivity to people.
- It promotes sustainability for the community by reusing used and even damaged clothes to make other products like bags, baskets, rags, sheets, and many more.
- It helps conserve the environment by reducing the waste that I contribute to landfills and dumpsites.
- It saves energy and natural resources since clothes are made through human and machine efforts that use energy.
- It reduces greenhouse gases emissions coming from the process of breaking down garments.
- It reduces the carbon footprints I leave in the earth since clothes and garments can take up to 200 years or more to decompose in a landfill.
Take the yoga pants as a good example. If you don’t want to refashion your yoga pants into leggings or any other type of clothing through DIYs, you can always choose to repurpose its salvageable parts instead. Cut the garter and zippers if they have one for future repairs and cut the fabric to make small rags.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I Wear Leggings as Yoga Pants?
Technically, you can wear leggings as yoga pants. However, leggings are not designed for intense workouts, and most are thin and can rip when engaging in intense exercises.
The thin fabric in most leggings makes them reveal the curves and pantie lines, and you might feel uncomfortable wearing them as pants.
Are Yoga Pants Opaque?
Most yoga pants are opaque as they are designed to be worn without a dress or long top to hide the butt area. Usually, yoga pants are made using a blend of spandex, cotton, nylon, or polyester.
This makes the pants thicker than leggings, making them non-see-through even when you bend or squat. However, the thickness of the yoga pants still varies across styles and brands.
When Should I Change My Yoga Pants to Leggings?
Keeping in mind that yoga pants usually last around one to two years, you should consider changing them to leggings after this period or when you notice signs of tear.
For instance, you can consider changing them if the fabric becomes itchy or if you need to adjust the hems and tug the waistband. This allows you to make leggings for casual wear at home.
Conclusion
You can make yoga pants into leggings easily by following simple instructions. Get the desired measurements, mark them and sew the marked inner seams. Cut the excess fabric and finally sew the hem.
With upcycling yoga pants to leggings, you can save money and help environment in a sustainable way. You can make any style you want, even making your own ripped leggings.