Has anyone made bootcut jeans into straight/skinny?

[Kikithecat]

I have a pair of brand new white bootcut jeans that I never got around to wearing. They are a good fit and I'd like to wear them this summer but am finally weaned off bootcuts and want them at least straight, if not skinny. Has anyone tried altering them at home with any degree of success?

Not since the 1980s when i adapted 1970s flares.

If you have a sewing machine it's not too bad. Find a pair of jeans you like and pin the bootleg ones to match, then tack the seam using smallish stitches and try on the jeans. Repeat until they look ok then sew the seam with the sewing machine.

The bit that is tricky is getting a smooth transition from the original seam to your new seam, but a bit of fiddling around and it is usually possible.

Yes, I used to take in the legs of jeans to make them skinnier back in the early 80s. But that was straight to skinny (I've never had boot cut, so don't know what the seams are like).

On the ones I had, I left the outside seam alone (this is why I'm not sure if it'll work with boot cut), and used a machine to sew a new inside seam from about the knee downwards. You work out how much by measuring what circumference you can get your foot through and just tapering down to that.

I have this tutorial pinned on my Pinterest board, as I thought it made it sound quite straightforward.

the problem you may find is that skinny jeans tend to have a bit of stretch to the fabric and are not so thick as regular denim jeans and so if you taper them too much it may be hard to get them on as they will have less give in the fabric, especially when just washed.

Thanks all. Think I will have a go reducing just the inside seems as suggested. Will report back.

I did it!
Was a bit scared of going too far so they're probably more straight than actually skiinny but they look pretty good and I now have a pair of white jeans I will actually wear - yay!!