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Side view of first pair of stretch jeans. I weighed around 254 lbs. back then. If you look at the front, there is a triangular piece, which makes it look like I have a pocket. This pattern was designed for a pocket there, but I was afraid my extreme tilted pelvis, tummy pouch, would pull the pocket open, so I did not sew the front pockets in this pair of jeans, I simply sewed the pocket liner piece, to the "pocket opening", so it adds the extra line, but I did not add pockets at that time. Ironically, my tummy tilt, is the same angle as my front pocket edge!
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Many years ago, I found some stretch denim for $1 a yard, so I purchased several yards, even though it was a very pale blue denim, and the type of fabric that had real rubber elastic woven into it. Perfect for sewing my own homemade stretch jeans, without risking a large financial investment!
As you can see from my photos, I have a very tilted pelvis, a "not pregnant baby bump", and a pretty good sized backside, plus very wide hips, even though my waist is thin from the front, it is not thin, from front to back.
I started with drawing a vintage Lutterloh pattern, Lutterloh pattern book MCMLXXXIII (1983) pattern #60. It only had front pockets, and my tilted tummy made those pockets gap, so I took them off, and chose to simply sew the front pocket lining to the front of the jeans, and sew them to look like pull on jeans. I did have to make my own back pocket pattern, for that, though I could have drawn a back pocket from a Lutterloh jeans pattern, from the same Lutterloh pattern book.
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Lutterloh book 1983 pattern #60 is what I used for my jeans pattern
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| Front view of first pair of Lutterloh stretch denim jeans I made with elastic waist, faux fly, and back pockets. Original pattern was not for jeans, but for a straight leg knit sport pant. I altered it to make it into jeans. |
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| Back pockets on Lutterloh stretch jeans I made. I wasn't sure what pattern to sew on the pocket, so I created one, using a built in embroidery pattern, on one of my vintage sewing machines. I used a dark gold thread, often sold as jeans thread, that I had on hand, to do all of my topstitching. I made the mistake of using non stretch iron on interfacing in these pockets, which looked great, at first, but as I wore the jeans, and washed them, the old denim did not age gracefully, so I got puckering along the design, because the non stretch interfacing didn't allow the stretch fabric to relax back to the original shape, after I stretched them, during wear. If you choose to interface your stretch fabrics use STRETCH INTERFACING! (I only interfaced the pockets, so I could embroider the design, and I didn't know about tear away, or wash away stabilizers, back then, which would have allowed me to do the embroidery, without distortion, and would not have messed with my fabric's ability to relax back to the original size). |
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| I sewed a mock fly, which helped them look a little slimmer, from the front, and just a plain elastic waistband. NON ROLL ELASTIC makes a GREAT waistband, with no interfacing needed! I never had any problems with my waistband folding in half, like I do, when I wear store bought jeans. I literally folded this waistband around the non roll elastic (I think it was 1" wide elastic), then serged the waistband to the top of the jeans. |
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| Cutting out another batch of pants, using the same pattern that I used for my jeans. These fabrics all have about the same amount of stretch, so I was able to stack the fabric, before cutting out, using a rotary cutter (make sure to use a SHARP BLADE, using a dull, or damaged blade, will not cut through many layers, and can just be frustrating. Always use high quality blades, they may cost more, but will last longer, and do more cutting, with less frustration. Synthetic fabrics dull blades faster, so keep that in mind, when choosing to replace blades. If you sew a lot of synthetics, you need more replacement blades. You MUST use a cutting mat (the flat gray rectangle under my pattern), to protect both your tabletop, and extend the life of your cutting blades for your rotary cutter. |
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| I used an industrial edge stitching presser foot, to get exact placement for sewing my pockets on. The Italian manufactured Necchi Supernova and BU Mira can use industrial high shank presser feet, so it really can make your home sewing look sharper, if you buy a batch of the edge stitching, compensating feet, and many of the other fun, inexpensive industrial sewing machine feet available. |
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Industrial topstitching using a compensating presser foot with an edge stitching setup, so I got perfect seams! I offset the center of the crotch seam, so that it wouldn't be so bulky, which made the last line of topstitching easier, as well. Notice the stitches are shorter, when you sew across the extra bulky center seam, because the extra bulk, takes extra thread to get through, which results in shorter stitches, on the outside.
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These jeans are many years old, now, and have been worn, and washed many times. I wish I had found the gold topstitching thread I used on my first pair of jeans, in the top of this blog post, I liked the darker, thicker. denim gold topstitching thread, better than this yellow, but the yellow does work, with this very light denim, which may be from the 1970's! LOL! (Seriously, otherwise, how would I get it so cheap, and in this color?) I'm showing the details of the fly & zipper, the crotch seam, the brass button, and how they look now.
Waistband is NOT interfaced, I cheated, and used non roll elastic, in a width I already had, which creates a perfect, flat, non folding, non rolling waistband. Even after what may be a decade of washing and wearing, the waistband still doesn't fold over, or roll, like storebought jeans waistbands do, on my figure!
I copied the fly pattern from a pair of my hubby's store bought jeans, and finished the fly pieces the same way that his jeans were finished, serging all edges, with a 3 thread overlock, so there is no fraying.
I can't model the stretch jeans, because I weighed 218 when I made them, and now I only weigh 176, so they look horribly saggy and baggy, even though they are super comfortable! |
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| Stretch denim jeans front pocket and beltloop details. I copied all of my details, from my hubby's store bought jeans, so I lined the front corner of the pocket pouch, before sewing it to the pocket pouch, and sewing it into the jeans, and topstitching it. The belt loops are also the same style I copied from his jeans. I have a light blue thread tacking the upper and lower section of my pockets, also copied from hubby's jeans. |
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| Detail of serged front pocket lining edge, showing pocket bag. |
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| I have a narrow waist, from the front, and very curvy, large hips. I also have a tilted pelvis, so I always have a "pooch" in front, so the normal position of the darts, did not fit me correctly. I had to move the rear darts to the side, right behind the side seam, to fit my curves. You can place darts where YOU need them, we aren't all the same shape! |
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| Rear crotch seam detail, and back pockets, belt loop details |
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| Topstitching on inner thigh seam, and hem details on 2nd pair of stretch denim jeans. Notice I just serged the edge of the denim, with a three thread overlock stitch, to prevent fraying, then topstitch the seam down, with thread matching my jeans. You can either use a decorative topstitching thread on hems, or match your thread to the fabric color, depending on what you want your finished product to look like. I do wish I had found some of the dark gold denim topstitching thread, like I used on my first pair of stretch jeans, I liked it much better than the yellow I used on this pair of jeans, but I do remember than when this color of denim, with the elastic, instead of Lycra, or Spandex threads woven in, was popular, in the 1970's, and it does work well with the light denim. |
