I’ve been regularly sewing clothes for myself for nearly 20 years now (and sewing in general a lot longer) but I’ve never tried making a pair of jeans. At first it was because I didn’t have the skills, then because I could fit into off the rack jeans, and then, even when finding off the rack was getting tricky, it seemed too hard to both sew and fit a pair.

Well, five years of regular gym-going and the unstopping march of time means I don’t have a chance of fitting into anything off the rack now–there’s nearly an 11-inch difference between my waist and hips (most commercial blocks assume an 8- or 9-inch difference). I’ve just avoided jeans since the pandemic, but I started seeing a new pattern pop up on Instagram with raves about how it fits those of us with a big boo-tay.

Enter…the Daughter Judy “Worship Jeans” pattern. Reader, this is a baste fit before I went too deep into the pockets and other details and the there are ZERO mods. I haven’t had a pair of jeans fit this well at the waist and hipsĀ at the same time in YEARS.

I’m also delighted by the flare silhouette–that was my preferred shape in the early 2000s and it’ll always have my heart–and all the little details that make it look like REAL JEANS:

I only have the belt loops and waistband to attach (for real this time) before they’re finished. Suddenly I’m excited about jeans again!