My rant today is about jeans…..more specifically, the lack of them that properly fit my particular shape. I am one of those “world’s fastest hourglass” shapes that is thoroughly ignored in the clothing market. I haz no waist definition….unless you count that part right under my boobs. Just so that we’re clear? I don’t.
Now I know I’m not the only person who has what they call an “apple/brick/straight” shape, I see lots of women out there with it. Probably more of us than there are “hourglass” shaped women, which seems to be the only shape really accounted for in the clothing industry. And while I’m sure that makes all 5 of those women very happy, the rest of us are just kind of screwed in to making do with the leftovers.
As ya’ll are fully aware, I do own a sewing machine…and a serger….and I have some skill in using them, but sometimes, there are good reasons for opting to buy something rather than make it. In this case, time became of the essence. My current pair is hanging on by its figurative fingernails. I figure they’ve got less than a week left, so I needed some new ones stat. Given that it takes me for-freaking-ever to sew up a pair of jeans, I figured I’d be running around with no pants* (LOL!) if I didn’t buy some quickly.
So off I went to Target, fully prepared to try on every pair in the store, end up crying in the dressing room, and leave in a pissy mood with a $30 (or more) pair of jeans that didn’t actually fit worth a damn. It turns out, I only needed to try on around 9 pairs before I finally found the absolute last pair in the store of this particular size/shape/style, and it fit surprisingly well, if possibly a bit large….hopefully they’ll shrink in the wash. Yea for semi-happy endings! So, in an effort to help raise awareness and possibly promote more production, I’m going to tell you the exact size/shape/style so that my apple-shaped sisters can run out and buy them.
They’re by Mossimo, they’re Juniors (this is important!!!) FIT 6. You might notice that they offer 6 different “fit” styles (of which three are supposedly straight but my stores only carry the 6 model) but only the ones in the Junior section (odd number sizes) have the true straight fit (miniscule waist definition). It appears that they only carry the junior sizes up to a 17, which I would guess roughly translates to about a 14 in “misses”. Typically, I wear a misses 10 which is tight in the waist and perfect elsewhere, and I ended up with the size 15 instead of the 13 I probably needed but they didn’t have.
****IMPORTANT**** If you try the corresponding “misses” sizes with the even numbers (10, 12, etc.) THEY WILL NOT FIT THE SAME!!! Even though they say that they are “Fit 6”, they have a much smaller waist than they do hips. Anyway, mine say that they are “flare”, but they also come in skinny (which doesn’t work for me at all. And if you’re lucky, they might even come in bootcut.
Anyway, I hope that helps someone, because I know how much I dread jeans shopping and the tears of despair when I can’t find any that fit.
* The “no pants” thing is an inside joke at our house. It has to do with only owning one pair of jeans and laundry day. You can do the math. 😉
Splinters & Stitches 
Good for you! Before I abandoned RTW jeans I had resigned myself to two brands that actually fit—Garage Clothing, which is fairly cheap, and Buffalo, which isn’t. At all. >_:)
Also, I HATE when stores carry that variety of fits—but just don’t have the one you want in the right size (or in my case, leg-length…)
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I can totally relate to that, I am short, but my jeans need to be at least regular, and sometimes I need the tall ones–depends on the brand.
Once I get settled into a weight for more than a couple of weeks, I’ll try making jeans again, since I just really liked the way the ones I made fit for the short time I could wear them before un-growing them.
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I think we all feel your jeans pain! I have the opposite problem, my hips are w-i-d-e compared to my waist, so I can’t pull the jeans up over my thighs, or if I can the waist is gaping wide enough to fit in both my fists! Sounds like I have a trim waist, but no. If I buy hip huggers, to avoid this problem, I still end up with a bread-doughy muffin top.
I should really try to sew jeans. I just find the prospect daunting.
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If you’re fairly steady weight wise, you should give them a try. They aren’t hard so much as tedious–all that switching thread back and forth. I really recommend the Jalie 2908 pattern to start, it fits well and is easy to tweak. Plus it doesn’t look homemade.
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