Mom jeans 2

Here’s the second pair of jeans made from my self-drafted pattern! In a classic blue denim this time, an indigo selvedge number from my go-to denim source, Ditto Fabrics.


I made a few little tweaks from my pink pair, mainly to get the centre back fitting better. I angled the back yoke seam even more to account for excess fabric in the small of my back, and also transferred a sliver at the top of the back leg onto the bottom of the yoke, as the yoke was looking a bit shallow. I’ve still got a fold there, so next time I’ll take even more out.

In further recycling efforts from my Monki base pair, this time I reused the zip! I used some scraps of rather loosely-woven ikat cotton for the pocket bags. I should have used something more stable, I hope they don’t shred quickly.


To keep things interesting I tried a different technique for the waistband, where the inner waistband is sewn to the inside of the pants first. Then you flip over the outer waistband, tuck in the seam allowance then topstitch and seal the outside in one pass. It’s a little bit like the tutorial that Heather recently posted on her blog. The benefit is there’s no need to invisibly secure the inner waistband like the regular technique, since you sew that first and then secure the outer waistband from the outside.

However I found that while the inside does indeed look super neat and tidy, it was harder to achieve a good looking result on the outside, particularly at the centre fronts where it felt bulkier than usual and was difficult to keep all the fraying edges tucked away, even with a liberal use of Aqua Glue. I had to re-sew a few bits where my stitching went awry, and was glad I wasn’t using contrasting topstitch thread!

My daily wardrobe has been desperate for jeans like these, since all my RTW pairs of this style are currently a little too tight (cold weather comfort eating and no exercise, I see you) and I don’t own a plain indigo pair. This pair has the benefit of being way more comfortable than my Monki RTW ones even when they did fit, since the denim is super soft and quite lightweight (and I think it has some elastane in, unusually for a selvedge), and the fit being obviously more tailored to me. They’ve had plenty of wear already! I just wish I’d done slightly contrasting topstitching for a bit of visual interest. I’m now on the hunt for a true solid black to continue building up my jeans rota.

15 thoughts on “Mom jeans 2

  1. Marilla Walker

    I have definitely seen some black black rigid denim in classic textiles on Goldhawk road when I was there a few weeks ago. It was very soft to touch and I really wish I’d bought some! I did buy some stretch black denim from there instead, but it has faded a lot after just two washes.

  2. Claire

    Lovely version. I have yet to make my second self drafted version. I think I made pattern alterations while the make was still fresh. Now need to revisit.

    1. Katie Post author

      I hate forgetting which adjustments I’ve made and which I still need to do – a risk with self-drafts!

  3. Sewingbyletters

    Regarding pockets:
    One pair of my RTW jeans has the coolest detail in the front pockets. Instead of the soft pocket bag joining derctly to the Jean front, there is a tiny (maybe 1.5″ finished dim.) pocket facing in the same denim as the jeans. The pockets wear sooooooo much better, and I am thinking of stealing the detail, especially if I am tempted by a less than sturdy pocket fabric choice. Maybe you have already seen this detail, but it was new to me, and seemed simple to add to any pants pattern. Love your jeans sewing!

  4. Chantal Lapointe

    Great job on these jeans Katie! I prefer to topstitch my jeans in a matching colour, just like you did. It does not draw attention to my behind, and to my sometimes wonky topstitching.

    1. Katie Post author

      True! I don’t like fully contrast like yellow, but I think a lighter blue or grey would’ve been nice to draw out the details a bit.

  5. Cecilie

    I need this pattern, but I don´t own the jeans you´ve drafted it from (nor have I ever drafted a pattern). Any suggestions on patterns that are fairly similar/ have the same look? I love this jean.

  6. Lia

    These are sexy as heeeellll. I really want a pair of mom jeans, but in the absence of any commercial patterns, I’ve taken a Palmer Pletsch pants fitting book out of the library. Here we go I guess!

  7. Marthe

    Hello ! It really looks great !!
    I’m planning to do the same thing with an old Levi’s 501 that has too much holes to be repaired.
    Did you use some fabric with stretch or not ?
    Thank you in advance for your answer and greetings from France !

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *