Literal Boyfriend Jeans

Well, I guess not entirely literally, since these were my husband's jeans, but in my defense, he's had them since he was "just" my boyfriend. Anyway, in the last year he's discovered that he really likes super expensive Diesel jeans*, so it was time for these "merely tolerable" J.Crew jeans to be booted out of the rotation. High off of the success of my first real wearable pants, I decided that I wanted to refashion them into boyfriend-style jeans for myself instead of donating them. The refashion contest over on Pattern Review gave me even more of a push to finish this project, but in the end the jeans aren't significantly different enough to qualify for entry. Ah well, it's still nice to have another pair of pants to add to my wardrobe, especially since it's been getting too cold for bare legs!

Front view.

Side view. Gosh, those pointy heels look ridiculous here, like witch shoes. 

Back view. 

Funny story: I actually wore these jeans out in public before this refashion. See, the very first time I sewed a "real" dress (woven, not knit, with a zipper, from a commercial pattern), it was for a wedding in another city. I stayed up sewing until 5 AM, took a quick nap, then threw my things together into a duffel bag for the drive. The wedding was great, the dress got rave reviews, and things were peachy. That is, until the next morning when I woke up at the hotel and realized that in my new-dress-zeal-and-mad-morning-rush, I'd forgotten to pack a change of clothes. So it was either wear the wedding dress again for brunch, or borrow a pair of jeans and a belt from Mr. Cation. I chose the latter, and my friends thought I'd inexplicably decided on a bumming around, sloppy clothes kind of look until I explained my brain fart.

They're not overwhelmingly huge, but they're also just barely hanging on with the help of a very long tank top and friction. 

Borrowing Mr. Cation's jeans only worked because he's a pretty slim guy, but even then I knew I would have to take them in quite a bit to make them work for non-emergency situations. I spent an episode of Sherlock unpicking the side seams and part of the waistband, then tried them on inside-out and pinned the sides until it looked about right. Sewing the actual side seams wasn't difficult, but oh man, my cheap little Brother did NOT like topstitching! All the layers of denim almost got the better of me, especially when I was trying to reattach the waistband and belt loops, but I persevered! My arm was sore from turning the hand wheel, but it was worth it.

It was hard to know exactly how much to take out of the side seams, since this denim has no stretch to it at all. In the end, I think I could have taken out a smidge more, especially on the lower legs, but I'm too lazy to go back and fix it. 

Because of the rivets on the front pockets, I only took width out of the back pieces. This meant that the absurdly large pockets really moved out to the side. For the waistband, I just took out a wedge-shaped piece, kind of like the dart I put in my McCall's 6610 waistband. This method makes the back quite a bit higher, but whatever, it works. 

I'm pretty happy with the resulting jeans, especially since they're kind of loose, which makes them very comfortable. Only problem is, Mr. Cation isn't a fan. I tried to explain that the boyfriend jean thing is trendy right now, but I'm afraid I didn't make a very convincing argument, since even I think it looks a little sloppy. Part of that might be because I don't really know how to style them; all I know is that you're supposed to pair them with super high heels. Which I did. But that's not really practical for real life, so I'm afraid I'll just default to rolling the cuff down and wearing flip-flops and a sweatshirt, at which point I might as well have not bothered taking them in because the overall look is the same...look, I don't know. I only sew, not style.

See? Take out the heels, and it looks like I'm just wearing a baggy pair of jeans. 

Alright, let's put the heels back in so I can pretend I know what I'm doing when it comes to styling.

*Somehow, Mr. Cation always manages to find awesome deals when shopping, so even though Diesel jeans retail for an average of $200, he managed to find two pairs for $20 each. Guys, that's a 90% discount. Ugh. I waver between being impressed and slightly disgusted at his luck. Granted, these deeply discounted jeans had a few rips and holes, but that's not a problem when your wife can sew, right? I've spent a good several hours of my life repairing both pairs, and I would complain more, except that they make his butt look so good...