Revamp and Resize Jeans

Usually when family or friends are getting rid of old jeans I ask if they can pass them on to me and I use them for bags and pouches.  If you have a bit of a search on pinterest you will find there are all sorts of things that you can do with them.
A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine gave me a bag with a few pairs in and straight away I used a pair to make a bag (which I  shared on here). However there was another pair that was such good denim and although not my style or size I thought I will save that pair and see if I can do something with them.
Today I took the scissors to them and thought why not? If it all goes wrong the denim will go on other projects as originally intended.   They have a bit of bright fabric in the pocket if you read below you will find out why.
These are the finished jeans...

I tried them first and they were a couple of sizes too big, they were also loose all around the bottom and the style of leg was a wide boot cut.  The jeans are from Gap and have a slight stretch.

First of all I pinned them at each side of the waist how much they needed to come in.  Then I stitched that part first to see how the fit was.
 I had to cut a 'V' shape out of each side before I stitched to get rid of the rivets or the machine would not have been able to stitch over them .  If you are only adjusting  the waist of your jeans by a small amount then cut this 'v' out from the centre back seam only.
I also removed the belt loops at the sides at this point to add them on after if required.  Because of the amount I needed to take my jeans in I also had to remove the small riveted pocket within the front pocket.

I know one side is bigger than the other but that is easily trimmed to match.

Because I had removed this inner pocket I then added a piece of fabric that I like along with a piece of scrap denim beneath it for strength. I stitched this by hand over where I had removed the small pocket.  You don't have to add contrasting fabric you could just use another bit of denim.

Once this was done I stitched down the sides then tried them on for fit, I had to take a little more off.

Then I turned them inside out, tried them on  again and pinned all the way down each leg to make them fitted and straight legged at the bottom.

Then I sewed the seams following my pins as a guide.  Next trim away all the excess fabric and zig zag to finish.

I am very happy with the finished result and these are probably my best fitting pair of jeans now! It is very rare you can get a pair that fit you properly all over.

Here is the front...

Much better I think

I also like the fact that they come up higher at the back than most jeans now, I have a couple of pair that you don't want to bend down in without forever hoisting them up!