Hit Big R today to look for some jeans. I was hoping to get into some Wrangler Aura jeans on sale, but that wasn't in the cards, and I can't afford to spend fifty dollars on one pair of jeans, right now. (And probably won't be able to bring myself to actually pay that much ever...)
Regardless, I needed to find some higher waisted jeans, because frankly, I'm not going to survive if I can't wear tank tops this semester. I haven't been out in the heat as much this summer and I'm not adjusted to it, and it's been high 90's and low 100's here.
And it's August. Hottest month of the freaking year.
So, must have tank tops at the barn, and in order to wear tank tops and not break the dress code, I have to have jeans that are high-rise enough to cover the portion of my long torso that is generally left bare by my tank tops. Lets face it, day to day, who cares if I show belly??
There are very few brands that fit the high-waist description that also come in sizes long enough to cover my legs, and throw in boot-cut and you're down to pretty much three brands. Rockies (great show and goin out dancing jeans, freaking expensive) Cruel Girl (a newer brand, they have the high-waist options but you have to dig for them, and they're freaking expensive) or, the old stand by, Wranglers.
Wranglers aren't as cheap as what I'm used to buying for work jeans (eleven dollah Wal-Mart specials, here we come!) but they're not as expensive as rockies, they're sturdy, and they come in whatever inseam your little heart desires, pretty much.
Now, usually when I'm buying women's jeans I wear a 0 or a 1. Shaddap, all of you. My main problem is finding "tall" or "x-tall" lengths.
Wrangler has a neat twist on their women's sizing, though. They size the waist like what most people think of as "normal" and that's your first size number. Men, and women who have bought western style jeans for men will recognize 32/34 as a size, and it's not like the size 10/12 you see on the Wal-Mart shelves.
That's a 32 inch waist with a 34 inch inseam. When I buy mens wranglers I buy 29/36. 27's are just too much of a struggle to get over my hips (shaddap, I do so have hips) and since men's jeans have a little more room in the crotch area (waistband to crotch, dirty) I buy a couple inches longer inseam than I need if I'm buying women's, to allow for the different fit, and prevent ride-up incidents.
So anyway, my size in womens would be anywhere from a 0/34 to a 1/36. I can wear those, although the 1's don't fit as well.
Now, generally, I've bought mens Wranglers, because I can get the inseam/waist combinations better in mens. Apparently there are more beanpole men than women. But, as I was perusing the women's jeans today I happened to glance at the rack on the wall and saw the big sign: "Irregular Jeans: $18.99"
Hmmmm. Went over and looked and about wet myself. I was standing in front of the largest collection of 0 sized Wranglers I had ever seen in my life. I went ape. Bypassing the garish red, stain-magnet white and heat-stroke black, there was still quite a selection to choose from.
Lots of pairs of standard dark blue denim, seen one pair of Wranglers you've seem 'em all style, which is fine, but there were others, that looked like a little different fabric....
Two pairs of stretch denim 0-waist Wranglers. If you're a woman, and you ride horses, stretch denim is a miracle. It keeps you from getting bruises on your thighs where your jeans bunch and pinch when you mount, which is only avoidable otherwise by not bending your legs at all. Or, you know never wearing new jeans. I love stretch denim, as long as it's denim, and not denim-like material that's paper thin and gonna tear at the first opportunity.
I bought both, plus a standard pair. At that price, I couldn't pass them up, especially since the "irregular" portion is simply a strip of slightly discolored fabric (lighter) on the outside seam of one of them, and the same discoloration in the fabric on the inside of the knee on the other. The dark blue ones were just a minor coloration problem as well. Who cares?? I'm gonna be wearing them to the barn anyway, they're gonna have a lot worse than a light/dark patch of fabric on them by the time I'm done with them. Three pairs for under $60. Barely, but still under sixty bucks.
So I get home and talk to Mamaw and brag on how cheap I got three pairs of new jeans and she tells me, "Well, why don't you just go down and get you another three pair on me, since they've got em."
Don't you just love grandparents? Thank you Mamaw, for helping to cover my skinny butt with spiffy new jeans!
Anyway, I have six pairs of jeans that I can wear my tank tops with now. Four of them I need to take back to the Old Homestead and run through the washer and dryer about a bazillion times, before I climb on a horse with them, but that's a small price to pay for ventilation when classes start.
I always knew I wasn't normal, but I never quite thought I was "irregular"...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
try carhart
I've found Lee Riders fit the specs you outline. I've got a 36" inseam and they are the only pants I've EVER been able to get that were long enough in the legs without the crotch hanging around my knees. The waist is above the belly button too.
They run around $17/pair at Wally World, but occasionally are on sale for $14.
They last well too- the last pair I bought made it 4 years before the seams started fraying.
To break in new jeans quicker bleach 'em. Seriously, when I get new jeans, I wash them by them selves with 2 cups of bleach on the large load water setting, just the jeans and the bleach, add 1 cup of the bleach first, when the washer is half full of water add the jeans when it's all the way full add the 2nd cup of bleach.let it run the full cycle, if your machine has the extra rinse use it otherwise after the load is finished run the rinse cycle again. That's how I break in my jeans with one wash cycle.
Snigglefrits- Lee Riders don't come in my size at Walmart. Actually, no jeans come in my real size at Walmart, they just come in "won't fall off my bony ass."
And, when I can find them in a size close to the right one, they're not boot cut, usually. I just have bad luck with jeans, which is why I tend to say screw it and buy cheap ones, or give up and go trendy, because they actually come in my size.
Mark- There's just something wrong with bleaching Wranglers....
Oops. Sorry FarmGirl. I've haven't looked for a size smaller than 9/10 lately. Maybe keep them in mind if you wake up one morning like I did and find 40 pounds of fat applied itself to your butt? ;)
I do it to Wranglers, Levi's, Faded Glory, you name it I bleach 'em. They will fade just a little bit, but the denim is broken in just right by doing it.
Ah... those were the days when I had this very same problem.
*sigh*
I know it's odd to comment on such an old post, but I felt compelled to say: Thank you! After reading this, I will be able to buy jeans for my husband.
It sounds like 29x34 isn't an anomaly where you are, but I almost never see them anywhere. Outlet stores have been my best shot, but even there it is rare to find his size.
Post a Comment