Denim Refashion to Wide Legged 90's Jeans!
I recently made some Cargo Joggers from a wide, straight leg pants pattern called the Largo Cargos. I love them so much that I thought I would make more pants with the same pattern. This time I was going to refashion my husband’s old jeans to help me recreat some jeans I had in the 90’s.
Leg Prisons….
I often call jeans “leg Prisons.” I rarley wear them as I just don’t like how restrictive and hot they are. I thought I would try making some jeans with my husband’s old jeans to see if I would like them. Below you will see my husband’s jeans. My husband handed them off to me probably 3 years ago and said I could do whatever I wanted with them. Well, I don’t like jeans but good denim is expensive so I hung onto them until I had the perfect project.
Getting Started….
Before I started my project, I checked my pattern next to them to make sure I would have enough fabric. I definitely did. Then I removed the belt loops and waistband with my seam ripper.
Deconstucting and Reconstructing Jeans…
Once the waistband and belt loops were detached, I cut the front and back out one piece at a time. That way I could make sure to cut them the same. I cut out the front then laid it on the other side, matching up the pockets. I did the same with the back matching up the pocket as well as the yoke.
The original jeans had a lot of hardware that was going to be hard to remove and would leave the fabric damaged if I did remove it. So I tried to keep what hardware I could. Below you can see the different pieces I’ll be assembling. It’s nice because I was able to utilize the original front and back pockets as well as the zipper, zipper guard, waistband, coin pocket and possibly the belt loops. I say possibly because I’m still not sure if I want to add the belt loops or not. I don’t ever wear a belt with pants so I don’t see the purpose.
It was fairly easy to assemble the jeans. I just followed the Largo pattern instruction. I did watch a few youtube videos to help me sew the zip fly the correct way. The Largo pattern comes with a really helpful video as well too. I am the type of person that has to see something done a million times before I can feel confident enough to do it. So I found some zip fly videos on YouTube.
Working Through Tricky Parts…
Now, one thing that made this refashion a tad tricky was the back. The pattern has darts on the back but the jeans I was refashioning had a yoke. The seams on the yoke were too thick for me to even try to do a dart. It just would have been too bulky. So I ended up removing some fabric from the middle back, above the yoke and then I removed more fabric from the sides of the waist. Once I felt like it was fitting right I was able to put the waistband on.
Pockets!!!
The pattern has front patch pockets that are sewn to the outside. To keep that kind of patch pocket look I topstitched around the original pants pocket bag. I really like the way it looks. Because this is a refashion, I didn’t have enough fabric to do a cargo pocket. Which was totally fine.
It was also nice because I didn’t have to fiddle with making and then placing back pockets on. I simply left the original ones on. The only problem was, the top stitching on the pockets was lighter than the gold thread I was using on the front. So I decided to do some simple decorative hand stitching around the outside of both back pockets. I used my machine to stitch over the line next to the one I hand stitched. Then I left the decorative stitch in the middle alone. So the thread kind of goes from darker on the outside to lighter inside of the pocket.
I had to remove the coin pocket when I was cutting the pants out because it was in a place that made it hard for me to use it. So I had to remove the rivets and take it off. The fabric was a lot darker underneath where the coin pocket had been removed. I wasn’t sure I was going to put the coin pocket back on, but after I pinned it on I really liked it. Plus it kind of helped to conceal the dark fabric that was left when I moved it from its original spot.
One Last Thing…
The last thing I did was spray bleach the jeans. I really wanted them to look worn and rugged. I had some really rugged jeans in the ‘90’s that I absolutely loved and I thought it would be fun if these had that same vibe. I also wanted to try and blend in some of the darker spots that were left from removing the belt loops and coin pocket. I mixed up two different strengths of bleach in two different spray bottles. Then I alternated spraying the jeans with the different solutions.
Once they were washed and air dried I tried them on. Although I’m not certain I still like the whole rugged jean look like I did in the 90’s, I do like these jeans. Denim is still not my favorite fabric but these jeans fit me soooo good. I think I may actually wear them through the winter.
Styling my 90’s Jeans!
These Largo jeans go with so may things, just like my cargo joggers I made with this same pattern. Here they are with two of my dolman tops: the Melody with a ruffle sleeve hack and the La Bella Donna with a lantern sleeve hack.
Because they are high waist pants my two crop tops look great with them as well. Here is my Lenox and Alrington tops. My Arlington has a square neck hack.
My favorite Rhapsody top and this super comfy hacked Dockside shirt looks great with these jeans too. I really feel like I could wear nearly every shirt I own with them. Maybe jeans will be something I start wearing again.
The author may collect a small share of sales from the links on this page.
Comments
Join the conversation
Wow, that is awesome. I alter clothes all the time, even jeans, but not to this extent. You have given me inspiration. Thanks.