I have this pair of jeans that I found in a thrift store which were perfect for my needs at the time: dark blue, skinny, and high waisted. It felt like the ultimate find in the often hit or miss world of thrifting. Fast forward a few years, these fabulous jeans have either shrunk dramatically, or my body has started growing.
Because they still have lots of life in them, I figured I had two options: pass them on, or make my jeans bigger by adding a strip of denim on each side. Since I’m still quite attached to them and always up for a mending challenge, here’s how I enlarged my jeans using the strip method.
The Inspiration
I was inspired by the long stranding trend in the upcycling world of adding strips to the sides. As you can see in the images below, this trend has been around for a while. From the likes of Jean-Paul Gauthier in the 90s, to Vêtements and recent street style.
There are many tutorials out there that show you ways to add a strip by cutting into another pair of jeans. Because I had raw denim on hand, I decided to go with using new fabric instead of cutting into existing jeans. The technique is however the same. Since the waist size was okay, I measured my hip width and established that I needed a 2″ strip on each side. I therefore only needed to open the side seams and leave the waist band intact.
Testing Out Stripes To Make Jeans Bigger
My original plan was to add a contrasting lighter stripe by using the reverse side of raw denim. However after adding it, I felt like it turned my jeans into too much of a sporty look. I decided that they might not be as versatile as when they were all blue. So after a bit of unpicking, I added the stripe on the dark indigo side and was very pleased with the outcome.
I love these new to me jeans, which now fit my curves comfortably and best of all, stylishly. If you have a pair of jeans that you love but are in desperate need of being made bigger, contact me here for a quote.