Almost two years ago, I broke the zipper on a pair of my jeans (I've never done this before or since, happily), and I thought, "WHAT could you possibly do with a pair of jeans with a broken zipper?"

And then I remembered that I'd made myself a pair of maternity jeans once upon a time, and this pair might be a chance for me to do it again, now that I knew a little better what I was doing.

So I stashed them away for many many months until I was pregnant again.

And then after I made them, I bought a pair of maternity jeans from Old Navy for a whopping $13 and they came and I loved them and I thought, "Who would ever choose maternity pants with a panel that goes over your stomach when the low elastic waistband is so much better?"

I'll tell you who -- me. Because although I loved that low waistband, by the last eight weeks of pregnancy, I was carrying so low that my stomach was constantly pushing my pants down AND it was hard to find shirts long enough to cover my stomach, so I suddenly found myself turning to my previously unloved homemade panel maternity jeans.

Whew, why do I always have so much to say before I get to the actual point? Do I think anyone REALLY needs that much back-story (no, but I can't help myself).

Either way, it was really pretty simple to make these and since I already had the jeans AND a hole-y tank top, it cost me about $2 for elastic and nothing else. Beat THAT, Old Navy.

Supplies needed:

• Jeans
• Stretchy t-shirt or tank top (the stretchier and thicker the better).
• Elastic (I used one about 1.5 inches thick)
• Your usual sewing supplies: sewing machine, thread, pins, scissors

Note: I struggled with my first pair of homemade maternity jeans because they kept slipping down. I did two things to counteract that on this pair. First, I didn't cut the back at all—I left the entire back waistband intact. Second, I put elastic at the top of the stretchy fabric to help hold them up. Full-length denim is just too heavy for the jersey to keep up on its own.