Refashion: Make your own boyfriend {jeans}...

(originally published March 24, 2010)

It's been SUCh a long time since I've done a refashion. I so needed this.

And really, this is the only way to get exactly what you want, both in a boyfriend, and the jeans. I've been wanting to do this for months, but you can probably guess, I've been uncontrollably lazy lately.

Power through.

I also have an unbelievably difficult time finding jeans that fit me. It has to do with hips, thighs, a bubble butt and a small waist. I am very thankful for the small waist, but it is responsible for a gap of at least 5 inches in most pants I try on. Waaaaaaay too much information, you're thinking. And you're right.

I love all the boyfriend jeans they are showing lately, so I dug into my stash of Levi's 577 that I haven't been wearing much of lately, and decided to sacrifice a pair. The nice thing about this project is that you can do anything you want. I saw a pair of patchwork boyfriend jeans recently, that I loved, and of course, did not fit me, so that was my inspiration.

I gathered together some fabric that mixed up well and my jeans. I decided I wanted them cropped with a rolled hem. After trying them on, and deciding where I wanted them, I hacked the bottom off of both legs and then turned up the hem about a 1/2 inch twice, steamed them good, and pinned.

Then I sewed the hem down, using a contrasting thread in red, just for fun.

Not shown: I then rolled them up 2-1/2 inches, steamed them good again, and sewed about a 1 inch space on the inner & outer seams, so they would [hopefully] stay in place (I'm sure they will need to be pressed after washing to stay flat).

I cut the fabric, freehand, in various uneven squares and a long rectangle, added some Stitch Witchery to the back [to give it some stability - you can skip this, or use whatever you have], and played with the placement of the patches. Then, ironed them in place.

I like little unexpected touches, so on the back of one leg, a few inches above the cuff, I decided to embroider a little bird from my Sublime Stitching pattern stash. My embroidery skills are quite rusty, but I'm into imperfection.

Then, to help the patches POP more, I added some whip-stitching around my patches, which will also help them adhere better since I didn't sew them on. Notice the imperfections :)

Strut your new boyfriend...


This was seriously easy - anybody can do it. Another easy idea is to just crop an old pair of jeans, hem them and then sew on a doily. It's simple and cute.

I think so at least...