Project Maternity: Maternity Pants from Regular Jeans

 

(Picture with extra layers so you don’t have to see what you don’t want to! :)

Hi there!  Let’s just pretend that today is tomorrow instead of a week later, okay?  Last week was a busy one for me.  I can’t even remember why, but just trust me on that one! :)

Today I’m going to show you how I made maternity jeans from regular jeans.  I purchased 3 pairs of jeans from Old Navy’s clearance rack.  I spent about $11 on each pair.  So for LESS than 1 pair of good maternity jeans, I got three pairs.  2 I love, and 1 I wear around the house because I hemmed them a bit too short (and I tried to wear them today and they were a bit too snug and just too frumpy—live and learn).  (whoops!)

I used a combinations of this tutorial from DIY Maternity and this tutorial from Running with Scissors.  They were both very helpful, but I combined some of the points from each. 

What I used from DIY Maternity Tutorial:

I liked that she sewed the elastic straight to the pants.  This way, when the pants are washed, the elastic does not get twisted in the casing.  I also liked that she cut out the zipper completely, and that she sewed the casing and jeans right sides together to get a finished look.

What I used from Running With Scissors Tutorial:

I loved that she kept the back of the pants and only cut the front.  This makes the back higher, which helps prevent showing too much.  It also imitates the mid-rise jeans I’m used to wearing, so I don’t feel uncomfortable. 

For the knit casing, I used an old undershirt instead of regular knit.  I’ve found that using the undershirt knit for belly bands like this one from DIY Maternity is great too.  So I used that idea for the waistband of the pants as well.  And one undershirt worked well to make 2 pairs of pants.  I will show you how I cut it in the pictures below.

Here’s my undershirt unharmed.

I knew I would only be making one pair with this undershirt, so I gave myself a little more seam allowance room.  I was using about 3 inch wide elastic, so if you’re using narrower, you definitely can use one undershirt for two pairs of pants.  I used the navy blue undershirt (pictured on jeans above) for two pairs and it worked well.    I simply took the bottom part of the undershirt, folded it wrong sides together, and used it like the casing.

With these tutorials, I’ve ended up with some pants I really love wearing.  Because of the tutorials, I don’t really feel like I have your typical ‘frumpy,’ maternity jeans.  It’s a great feeling to still feel cute, even with an expanding belly.

Thanks for reading!

~Lynette~