What is the secret to shopping for jeans?

This week I had a little time to myself in between errands. What did I decide to do with that time? Get a pedicure? Treat myself to a coffee date? Go to the park? NO, I did my most favorite thing… Fashion research! I do it for you because not everyone is as crazy as I am about clothes and I’m OK with that!

I went to a store that had a bunch of different brands of jeans and I tried on 5 pairs in my size. I used some of my own fit tricks but I had read about a new one that I really wanted to try. Let’s see what really worked.

Tip # 1. Wrap the waistband of the jeans around your neck.

This one is new to me and I decided to try it. It’s supposed to help if you’re online shopping for determining if the jeans will fit your waist.

When I tried it I found that some jeans worked and some were still tighter than a corset!

Here’s the catch…

It only works for certain shapes. Your neck size can be roughly half of your waist. So when you wrap those jeans around your neck and they wrap all the way around it’s a good indicator they’ll fit your waist. HOWEVER, if you’re pear shaped, and you don’t want to wear your pants at your natural waist, which can be pretty high up your torso, it doesn’t work. I like my jeans to sit a little closer to my hip bone so I need an extra inch around my neck for this trick to work.  But if your natural waist sits a little closer to where you want your jeans to sit than this trick just might help a lot!

Tip #2.  Measure the rise.

This doesn’t mean bringing a measuring tape with you everywhere. There’s an easier way but you gotta answer this question first. Where do you want your jeans to sit? High rise, low rise or mid rise?

The rise is determined by the distance between your crotch to the button on the waistband. Here I measure out with my hand the rise of these jeans to give me an idea of where they will land on me. I don’t want low rise, because my butt will fall out of them, so I’m looking for a pair that happily sits near the mid rise area. I can comfortably bend over without mimicking a plumber, and I feel more “held in” and thinner with the mid rise/ high rise cut. You might make a different choice.

I use my hand to measure the rise of the jeans and then I can tell where these will sit. I’m guessing under my belly button.

Tip # 3 Will they fit your thigh?

Ever pick some cute jeans that you held up and are SURE they’ll fit only to try them on in the fitting room to discover they don’t go past your knees? I HATE THAT! If you’re a pear shape you might deal with this more often than say an apple shape who has a more narrow lower half. No big deal, this is how to solve it.

It’s similar to the neck wrap technique. Wrap the width of the leg of the jeans around your thigh. Do the seams go to the middle of your thigh or do you need to stretch them to go half way around? Chances are if they don’t go around they won’t in the fitting room either. Pass on them.

Tip # 4 Don’t stress about length.

If you are short and pear shaped like me chances are you’ve found many jeans that fit your waist and hips but are inches too long for your length. I get it. Happens all the time.

The trick is to roll the pants to the length you want and see if they still work for you.  Roll under, because cuffing them will give your eye the wrong illusion that they are too short. This might seem like a no-brainer, but I have skipped this step in the fitting room before and realized that I don’t like the look of the jeans at my length after I get home.

If you love them you can modify them with stitch witch when you get home. No sewing required, just iron, or you can have them tailored.

You can get Stitch Witchery Here.

Don’t forget that you are 3 dimensional. Jeans come in all shapes because we do too. If a pair doesn’t work there is another that will. Don’t lose heart.

If you have any questions about these tips or have other fitting room issues email me and I’d be happy to help!