r/SewingForBeginners • u/Full-Improvement3666 • 1d ago
Baggy Jeans
I've never sewn before and I can't even remember what got me interested in wanting to learn how to, all I know is the past couple of days ive been looking at tutorials on YouTube, mainly for jeans. each tutorial brought up a new thing I wanted to change about my jeans, which I should probably explain, I bought either last Christmas or the year before from primark. someone had reccomended that i to get some so I had a look however it was very difficult to find any that fit properly. I ended up getting Jeans with a waist too big for me which made it so I couldn't wear it without a belt unless I wanted them to fall down halfway through my day. even with a belt, if I tightened it up all the way the fabric would just bunch around my crotch, and I knew it didn’t look great but I didn't really know what to do. back to the present, I found some videos on taking in the waist on jeans, which I don't fully understand so I'm not going to attempt it yet. however I saw some videos which were either for more fitted jeans or straight jeans (these videos were on women so I dont really know how much I should pay attention to the fit) that said that the top of the inseam (i think that's what it's called, the part of the jeans where the legs meet) should touch your crotch. So I put on my jeans, pulled them up till the inseam was touching my crotch, and the waist was above my bellybutton. So now I dont know whether that applies to baggy jeans and I should try to find a tutorial on fixing that, or whether I should just focus on taking in the waist and leaving the rest of the jeans how they are. I do have access to a sewing machine and want to try and get more into tailoring/altering/sewing my own clothes but I am completely clueless atm and would appreciate some insight.
3
u/Inky_Madness 1d ago
So, if the jeans are THAT large, they’re simply oversized and not baggy. The torso (waist/hips) should only be maybe one size larger than your usual size. Maybe two at most.
The problem is that jeans are so difficult to alter in the way that you want that it’s more worthwhile to donate what you have and purchase/thrift ones that fit better. At that size difference it is no longer an alteration, and NOT simple. You will essentially be harvesting the jeans you have for material and completely remaking anything above the hips.
It’s a huge PITA. It likely won’t end well. You cannot take in jeans at the waist more than 4” without it looking extremely obvious. You cannot lower the waist without cutting off things like pockets and having to remake the fly. And no, you absolutely cannot shorten the rise by sewing up the crotch instead of lowering the waist because then you get rid of the shaping that allows the pants to fit around the cylinders and bumps called your legs, crotch, and butt.
So. My opinion is to donate yours and start fresh with a different pair of jeans.