Wednesday, February 24, 2016

My New Tuxedo; Making My Jeans Bigger.

Hello Readers. This recent project began as a pair of white jeans. I saw a great outfit on a friend (Hello Erin!) using white jeans for winter. I wanted to try that for myself. I found these at a clothes swap and discovered when I got home that they were way TOO tight. They were so tight I couldn't  get then on without hurting myself. I needed to expand the jeans to fit me.


I really liked the colored stitching on these jeans. I wanted to work with that and saw some jeans with tuxedo stripes down the sides. I thought that would be a great way to add fabric and make these jeans bigger.


My original plan was to use these strips of gray corduroy from yesterday's project. But look at the rivets and the metal logo piece attached to these pieces of fabric. This isn't going to work at all. 


It's time for plan B. I dug around my refashion stash and found this taupe shirt. 


It is an even better match for the stitching! Sometimes you have to give up your original plan.


I had to cut carefully to get pieces straight and long enough to fit in the sides of these jeans. I needed long thin strips of cloth.


I cut straight down the sides of the jeans along the seam that was already there. I attached the long pieces of taupe fabric and sewed them in. The knit fabric made these jeans much more comfortable. The knit fabric has some give to it and makes these jeans feel like leggings.


My jeans were finished in time for...more snow??? It's been a really snowy winter here. I am loving it. I ran outside to take these pictures before the baby woke up. I was in little ballet flats and got all snowy. Brr! Next time I will plan ahead.

The colored stripe looks really wide in this shot. I don't know why, below is another look.

The colored stripes are not obvious from the front. I like how subtle they are. I think wide ribbon would also be a great choice for this project, but it wouldn't have the stretch knit fabric does. I think I am going to keep working on this idea. I found a pair of black jeans just like this at the clothes swap too.


Thank you for reading this, now go make something fun for yourself.

6 comments:

Vintagethrifter51 said...

Love this use of the stripe. Terrific refashion. The jeans look amazing and that stripe really adds to the look of the pants. Well done!

I Can Work With That said...

Thanks! It was fun to try this and see if it worked. It came out better than I thought it would. They are so comfortable. Thanks for your comment and happy sewing to you.

jenny_o said...

Oh, wow! I've never seen this done and wasn't sure how it would look but - wow - terrific! And I like that the stretchy part makes them more comfortable. I'm not a fan of stiff uncomfortable clothing :) Thanks for trying this and sharing it.

I Can Work With That said...

Thanks Jenny_o. Honestly, I wasn't sure how it would look either but I like to try new things to see if they work. Glad you liked it.

Unknown said...

Thanks for posting this. I've gained two sizes and didn't want to give up all my jeans.

I Can Work With That said...

Hi Kimberly. Thanks for the comment. I know what you mean about the jeans. I had a baby a few years ago and my size has been all over the place. :)
Chickie