Zumba pants turned into sportive jacket / vest

 

This refashion is about celebrating my dancing years. No, I'v never been a professional dancer, far from it! But with the arrival of Zumba at the beginning of this millenium I got to relive my childhood memories. On the rhyhtms of Latin music I cheerfully performed the steps I'd learned as a child practicing jazz ballet, like the Pas de bourrée. My moves felt perfect and smooth as long as I avoided the mirrors:). 

I quit Zumba a few years ago, but I still kept the pants (and the memories). So what to do with them? I draped the pants on the tailors dummy to to get an idea of what I wanted.... Yes, that could work, a sportive jacket!

Let me take you through a few steps in the process. I cut off the elastic waistband and used the lower legs to create the front pieces. The top part of the back could be transformed into the back piece of the jacket. And yes, it's still the same fabric, but purple and photo's don't always go well together...

For the front piece I cut the fabric diagonally from the shoulder to the mid front. Since the fabric had no stretch it would be comfortable to have more space in the shoulder- and neckline area. And I also thought it would make the front look more playful.

I also thought it would be fun to reuse the pocket straps so I pulled them through the metal rings in the (new) front piece.

Unfortunately the fit was just a little too tight so I added an extra strip of fabric between the side seams. Here's a view of the side and the back piece. Personally, I love the pockets and like the fact that you can still see that they were once pants.

As always, you are very welcome to check out vermaakster.blogspot.com for more details and a step by step explanation in Dutch and English.