Mom jeans might have a bad wrap. Obviously I blame it on misogyny- I see a connection between women’s supposed declining sexuality as they age and the tendency of our culture to look at mothers as selfless, sexless beings meant only to serve as nurturing figures for others without needs of their own. Believe me, I laughed at that SNL sketch as much as everyone else did and I still think it’s brilliant, but I am also curious about redefining what the concept of Mom jeans mean to me, which is something you can thankfully do when you make your own clothes.
Historically, Mom jeans are designed with a high waist for a snug fit that accentuates the wearer’s figure, coupled with slim legs that are comfortably loose through the knee and calf. On paper, those qualities seem like a lovely combination, but in reality, when paired with those excruciatingly tiny and awkwardly placed back pockets, the look isn’t flattering at all- it’s unsexy, fussy, matronly. While relaxing in my Morgan jeans several weeks ago, I had a thought. I love my masculine-of-center Girlfriend/Boyfriend jeans because they are comfortable and the construction is really marvelous, but they have definitely been relegated for wear only on my most relaxed and casual days; I feel cute in them, but I don’t feel sexy. My Gingers, however, mostly get worn when I am getting dressed up and I am, as we refer to it in my household, “tryna look cute”. I wondered, Is there a middle ground? Is there a way to meld these two different jeans patterns into a look that feels every bit as comfortable and effortless as the Morgan, but with that figure flattering silhouette that my Gingers offer? Was I essentially trying to create a modern Mom jean? Could I take my knowledge of perfect pocket size and placement and push the Mom jean out of “so gross” territory and into the “so cute” realm?
Well, the only way to find out was to try(curious! ba dum ching!)
On my last trip to LA I grabbed my adjusted Ginger and Morgan patterns and brought them back with me to Savannah, then I marched myself up to my favorite brick n mortar fabric store outside of LA. It’s called Fabrika and it’s amazing; it’s an independently owned shop just down the street from my apartment downtown and, though small, it packs a big bunch. They have a lovely selection of quilting cotton and apparel fabrics, and every time I go there to pick up a random notion or tool I need, I feel sure that they are going to say “Oh, sorry, we don’t carry that”, but lo and behold, they will inevitably pull the item out of some magic hat they keep hidden in the store. I LOVE having my sewing needs met so close to home where I can literally walk out my door and get whatever it is I need within moments. Anyways, I had glimpsed this exceptionally cool denim on a previous trip to the store and knew immediately that it was perfect for my Mom jeans. The denim is bleached and SO soft, it almost feels like a brushed cotton, and although it has a nice and stable medium-weight to it, when you manipulate it in your hand it gives like tissue but bounces back without wrinkling. There is a teensy tiny amount of stretch in this denim, but not enough to accommodate the stretch necessary for skinny jeans, and I wonder if some of the stretch comes from the denim being so incredibly soft that it ends up being more flexible than an un-washed raw denim. The color of this denim is so pretty to me- it makes me think of the beach- but the hand of the denim is what ultimately won me over.
Now, for the pattern hack!
This was a lot trickier than I thought it would be, and since I have no pattern designing background, I was kind of just making wild guesses as to how to meld these patterns into one. The realization of what a complicated project this would be came when I pulled out my back leg pattern pieces and placed them on top of each other to see where I could try and blend in the lines. Apparently there would be no such thing- the Ginger is made for a stretch denim and the Morgans are made for denim with no stretch, so, while it was interesting to see how the pattern lines accounted for the difference in fabric type, it was also overwhelming to figure out where to begin to mesh them into one. In all honesty, my approach wasn’t at all scientific- I just moved forward blindly. I figured that if nothing else, I would learn something in the process.
I relied more heavily on the Morgan Jeans pattern for general shape, but I added length (about 1.5- 2 inches) to the rise so that they would be more high waisted. I added length to the zipper pieces as well, since my waist-to-hip ratio makes it difficult to pull jeans over my hips (adding more zipper length allows the pants to open up lower and gives more room for my butt to get into them). I split the difference between the waist and hip widths of the Morgan and Ginger pattern pieces because I wanted my Mom jeans to be very fitted in the waist and hip area but since I wasn’t using a stretch denim there wouldn’t be a lot of give. I purchased a jeans zipper with wider zipper tape than I am used to and I didn’t realize how much it would affect the fly when using the Closet Case File’s method of creating a zipper fly. As a result, my zipper bulges a bit at the front, but I totally understand what I can do in the future to avoid such an issue (aside from making sure I have a zipper with the standard amount of tape on each side). I added a tiny bit of extra width at the calves of the legs so that the jeans would skim my body the whole way down and not hug my thick calves (the calf area of my Morgans are about 1 cm tighter than I would like). I made a pocket stay for these jeans which entails sewing the whole pocket piece so that it is anchored to either side of the zip fly, and I LOVE it- it keeps your pockets from sliding out the tops of your pocket openings, and it also gives you a nice/tight/snug fit around your hips, which I prefer.
The most trouble I had with making these jeans were figuring out the yoke pieces in the back. I actually completed these jeans in their entirety (sans jeans button, but more on that later) and wore them around for a day before realizing I needed to do some more work on the back pieces to get the right fit. After my first day of wear, the back yoke pieces stretched out and got really bulge-y and gave me this weird bubble-butt effect that puffed up at the seams.
For my Ginger skinny jeans make, I had to redraft the yoke and waistband pieces to accommodate the big difference between my waist and hip measurements- the new pattern pieces I use now have a much deeper curve, but the seams smooth out with the stretch denim since the garment is essentially made with negative ease. I tried to make these same yoke and waistband adjustments to my Mom jeans, but they don’t translate the same to denim with no stretch. So after my first wear, I unpicked all my top stitching at the back yoke and back center seam pieces, cut out the curve of the yokes so that the lines were straighter, then re-sewed the whole thing. It worked like a charm, although I could probably stand to take out even more of the curve on a future pair.
A few others changes to make on my next pair of Mom jeans: I will probably take the seams in at the sides and back center pieces just a bit to create an even snugger fit- since my denim has no spandex, they stretch out over the course of wearing them, and if they started out a bit tighter, there might be less space for them to get bigger. I love the look and fit at the thigh and legs- they just graze my body and then drop straight down to the ankle which is a look I have always coveted in the traditional “boyfriend” jean but never been able to find for myself in RTW. I will keep those parts the same, but I will make an adjustment to the crotch area at the top of the thigh on my next pair.
As you can see in the pictures, the crotch area is a big baggy and has some weird folds and lines that start at the bottom of the zip fly. Initially I thought that maybe the rise was too long, but now I think I can fix the issue by shortening the crotch. The bulge honestly doesn’t bother me too much though, and even less now that I got so many compliments on them these jeans at the Whole Foods! The other thing I love about this make is the back pockets- they are the perfect size and they keep the jeans from looking dated. I used the pockets from my Morgans but raised them higher to accommodate the new rise of my higher waist.
These jeans look so unique to me, which is why I think they stand out enough to get compliments from strangers- they almost look like they are thrifted, because the color and texture of this denim is so vintage, but the silhouette, at least on me, feels new and modern. I think my lack of a jeans button makes them look really fresh, too- I brought a jeans button to Savannah with me but without a proper hammer and piece of wood, I couldn’t get the pieces to fit together and I accidentally busted the nail part that goes inside the button.
The first day that I wore these jeans I just used a giant safety pin that my friend had on hand to keep them closed and it worked fine except that it took me 5 minutes to get in and out of the pants every time I had to pee. Instead of hunting down another jeans button, I skipped over to Fabrika again and found a nice peach colored button instead (that also reminded me of the beach) that I sewed onto the front of my jeans and I love the way it looks. I also skipped the rivets that normally get applied to jeans and I went without the belt loops, too. Initially this was because I was being evacuated from Savannah for Hurricane Matthew and I wanted desperately to bring my new pair of jeans with me to Atlanta, but I only had like, 30 minutes to pack, and no time to make the belt loops. After wearing the jeans for a day around ATL though, I decided that the belt loops were unnecessary and that I liked the stream-lined look of the pants without the extra fixings, so I will keep them this way- no promises on future iterations of this hack, though!
Sending lots of thanks to Sadie Stratton, one of my co-stars on Underground, who helped me get some quick shots of these jeans in the courtyard outside her hotel! I hate asking people (who aren’t Claire) to take photos of me in my makes but she was so sweet about it and got some great shots with a very professional flare shining through in the background! Thanks, boo!
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