Comfortable AND Fashionable Adapted Jeans

Back-to-school means new clothes. Jeans are the fashion choice for most kids. But for kids in wheelchairs or with feeding tubes, the waistbands on many jeans can be uncomfortable. How do we help our kids go back to school in style AND comfort?

A couple years ago, Junior’s mom posted this great tutorial on adapting jeans on her blog, Adaptions4Kidz. She has so many fantastic ideas there! If you haven’t bookmarked her site, I highly recommend that.

But there are decorative features on jeans that my daughter wanted preserved, so we came up with a slight variation to adapting jeans that made her happier and feeling very stylish. This variation also works well with junior girls’ tops that are shorter in length than boys’ t-shirts. Let’s celebrate back to school with some comfortable and fashion-forward (sh-h-h-h...pull-on) jeans!

Three pairs of adapted jeans

 You’ll need:

·        1 pair jeans

·        1 pair worn pull-on stretch pants or yoga pants (okay if they show wear in the knees or crotch, as these will be discarded. We recycled last year’s stretch pants)

·        Thread, seam ripper, sewing machine, serger (optional but nice)

1) Prepare the jeans.

·        Pick out the lower end of any belt loops using a seam ripper, being careful not to nick holes in the fabric. Cut off the remainder of the belt loop/s and discard.

 

·        Cut out the zipper, snipping away the zipper tape. Be sure to remove all teeth, the zipper stops at both ends, and the pull. This decreases bulk and increases comfort.



·        Stay-stitch (stitch straight through all layers to hold together) the front half of the jeans about ¼” below the waistband stitching to secure the fly and pockets.

Stay-stitch 1/4" below waistband seam

 

·        Cut off the waistband where it attaches to the pants. Cut above your stay-stitching.

2) Sew jeans openings closed.

·        (Optional, to simplify dressing) Pin pockets closed and stitch just next to the decorative topstitching on the pocket, through all layers. Your stitching will be hidden in the shadows of the commercial topstitching, especially if you use thread that matches the color of the denim. Stitching the pockets closed keeps them smooth and flat when dressing.

Stitch just beside the decorative stitching. Here, the
presser foot is removed so you can see the needle position.

·        Fuse pocket bag to inside of front leg. Use a permanent fusible adhesive web, such as Heat N Bond, following the manufacturer’s directions. This keeps the pocket bag from riding up inside the pants.

Add the fusible webbing between the pocket bag
and front leg. Fuse with an iron according to
manufacturer's direction.

·        Pin fly closed and stitch. Follow beside the decorative stitching on both the right and left sides of the fly to secure it completely flat.

3) Attach knit waistband.

·        From discarded pull-on pants, cut down 2” to 2 ½” from top of waistband. This will add about 1” in height from the original jean's waistband, helping prevent exposure of undergarments. Enough said. If your original jeans are cut very low, you might choose an even deeper portion of the stretch fabric. Smaller children may require smaller depths.

For a teen, 2-2.5" of knit waistband and fabric
will probably be appropriate. Feel free to vary the width
for your child's needs.

·        Right sides together, match knit waistband to jeans at back, front, and sides. Pin as needed and sew with a 3/8” seam. Be careful not to sew over any decorative rivets in the jeans so you don’t break a needle.

·        (Optional) If you own a serger, overcast the seam for strength and comfort. Otherwise, overcast with a triple zigzag stitch on your sewing machine.

My daughter's service-dog-in-training, Mercer, holds down
the waistband so you can see the overcasting inside.

 

There you have it. In 15-20 minutes, you have converted a pair of fashionable but restrictive jeans into fashionable and comfortable ones. All the decorative pockets and stitching are preserved, with the exception of the waistband. You’ve put those outgrown stretch pants to good use for another year as well.

 

 

 

 

 

Speed up bathroom time with the "grocery.bag.trick"

Ah, toileting. It's a mixed blessing for those families whose kids are semi-continent and wearing pull-on style undergarments. 

There is the obvious good, which is very, VERY good! It's definitely worth the hassle. Success promotes independence and self-confidence. And it's beyond wonderful to kids and caregivers not to have to deal with, er, unpleasant clean-ups. Enough said.

Then there is the incovenience during those times we need to change out wet pull-on, especially if  foot orthotics are part of the mix. It can become a rather involved to remove the shoes and orthotics in order to take pants off so clean pull-ons can go on. Because then everything after the pull-ons must be replaced in a very lengthy ordeal: pants, orthotics, shoes. For anyone who does this multiple times a day, you know how much time it adds to toileting.


Aha! "grocery.bag.trick!" to the rescue! By sliding the child's foot (orthotics, shoes, and all) into a plastic grocery bag, you now have a delightfully slippery package that easily slides through the pant leg, provided the the hem is wide enough or the fabric has enough stretch.

Sock, AFO, and shoe are all wrapped inside this plastic bag.
Nothing has been removed from the foot.

You can do this one leg at a time if you like. Off comes one pant leg, on goes one leg of the pull-on, back on goes the leg of the pant. Move the bag to the second foot and repeat: pants off, pull-on on, pants on. The child does need to stay seated through this, because the bag is slippery and could cause a fall if she tries to walk with it covering her shoe. Do not allow the child to walk with a bag over the shoe!

Pants, even denim jeans or most knit leggings,
slide off and on over the slippery plastic bag.

If a single bag is confusing, try using a separate bag for each foot, removing the entire pair of pants, put the pull-on over both feet, then put on both legs of the pants. Remove both bags before standing.


This technique has saved us countless hours over the years and reduces the chance for bunching socks inside hurriedly-applied orthotics. When our daughter was small enough to fit into pull-on style underpants with Velcro side closures, life was much simpler. Why such garments are not available (at least at a cost Medicaid is willing to cover) for teenagers or adults, I do not know. But it allows us to exercise our creativity...



And so, the grocery.bag.trick was born. Use it in good health!