My First Tutorial: Maternity Jeans

The rubberbanded jeans are not really cutting it anymore so I decided it was time to move on to some bigger pants. These are so saggy in the back that I hate wearing them. Maternity wear is calling my name. I got back a few pairs of pants from my friend but when I held them up I couldn't believe my eyes. They were huge! I thought to myself, does my butt really get that big? Well I tried them on and they were way too big. I didn't want to go and buy smaller maternity pants and shell out 40 - 50 bucks a pair so I decided some repurposing was in order.

I saw this tutorial for using some old pants to make maternity pants on megan nielsen's blog. I used it for reference but I had to change a few things. I'm not a big fan of the under the tummy panels for maternity pants. I must confess that I don't have much junk in my trunk so these kinds of pants tend to end up half way down my rear way too often.

I found some really cute jeans at D.I (a thrift store) for $8 which fit me great in the legs and behind. I could zip them part of the way up, which is important because you will need to have some of the fly on the pants.


1. First step is to take the waistband off the pants. I took a seam ripper to mine but you could probably cut it off too. I didn't want to lose any of the back length so I choose to unpick the stitches.

2. I then put them on, zipped them up as far as I could get them and marked where my tummy would start needing some room. Then I used a marking pencil and made a curved cutting line from the side seams to my front marking line. Remember that you want to make your line about 1/2" above where you want to sew so you have some seam allowance. I also pinned the pockets in place because I would be cutting off the part where they were stitched at the top.
3. I took out the zipper, sewed up the fly and then cut along my marked line.
4. Next I took an old fitted t-shirt and cut off the top portion. I placed the shirt over my pants and marked a cutting line that matched the curve of my new waistline on my jeans. Remember you need about a 1/2" seam allowance. Cut along this line. Luckily my t-shirt almost perfectly matched the width of the waist on the jeans. If it is too big you'll have to sew up new side seams to match the pants.
5. I then pinned the shirt and jeans together, right sides together, and stitched them up using a 1/2" seam allowance. I also serged the edges to finish them and keep the jeans from raveling.

6. Next I put the jeans on and played with the top, folding it over until I figured out where I wanted it to lay. I pinned it in place. I marked where I wanted to cut the fabric and then serged the edge. (Remember you need to take into account how much you are going to fold it over for your elastic.)

7. Next I folded it over 1 1/4" and stitched it in place, making a casing for my elastic. I only had 1" elastic, but I think next time I'll use a wider elastic.

Here are some different views of my new jeans. They look so much better than the saggy butt jeans I've been wearing lately. I actually feel very cute when I'm wearing these. These are just a regular length but I also bought some longer jeans to wear with boots and some skinny jeans just for fun. Hopefully these will last me until it is time to move into the BIG pants. :) Thanks for bearing with me for my first tutorial. Next time I'll remember to take more pictures!