making Maternity Jeans

Ever since getting pregnant I have dreaded shopping in the maternity section and especially shopping for maternity jeans. Even though we have come a long way in maternity wear, I still feel like it leaves a lot to be desired in the style area, not to mention the price of everything. A friend of mine suggested we make our own maternity jeans and I am SO glad that I did. Here are some pictures of the process, although I am not going to go step by step as I used someone elses tutorial which is already very thorough and easy to follow. Find the tutorial by Sew Chic here.

Materials:
1 pair of awesome dark skinny jeans from forever 21 for $12
Jean needles for my sewing machine
black jersey knit
enough wide elastic to go around your lower stomach

Here I am not being able to button my jeans:
I used a chalk pencil to mark the highest point I could zip my jeans to:

and then free handed a curved line around the hips and back of the jeans:


Cut leaving a 5/8" seam allowance:


Sew your band according to directions and encasing your elastic at the bottom:

Pin right sides together and sew to jeans:

Wear them proudly and with style:


Total cost of maternity skinny jeans - $20 and about 2 hours of my time. I call that a steal.

p.s. I made these about 2 months ago and they still fit wonderfully and have held up great. I think I am going to try the same tutorial on a black pencil skirt.