The button positions on the fly and waistband need to be marked before installing the buttons. Begin by aligning the fly into its natural position, and then carefully pull back the top layer revealing the buttonholes underneath. Make a point in the eyelet of each buttonhole using a white colored pencil.

If you’re putting buttons on the waistband, the first buttons are typically aligned with the top edge of the front pocket.

The second button I put about 2 1/2″ from the first, though this does depend somewhat on your own suspenders and the width between the buttonholes there. Then mark about 1/2″ below the top of the waist band for each button.

Repeat for the other leg as well.

On the back side, mark another two points about 2 inches from the center back, again 1/2″ below the top of the waistband. This distance also depends on the spacing of your suspenders, so figure out what works best for you.

Sewing on Buttons

It looks like the 1873 jeans used traditional sewn on buttons, while by around 1873 they were using more of the doughnut style buttons. Haven’t been able to figure out the exact transition time.

If you’re sewing on your buttons, double up a length of thread on your needle (I think this is the only time I ever double up my thread), and knot the cut ends together.

Pass the needle through from the underside, just to the side of the button position.

Thread the button, I usually go across opposite holes.

And pass the needle and thread back into the waistband, on the opposite side of the button mark, so that the stitches are about 1/8″ apart. Keep the threads loose at this point, allowing the button to ‘float’ above the waistband by about 1/4″ or so.

Make another stitch in a similar manner, but imagine the stitches being made around the face of a clock, and stagger them slightly from the original stitches.

After this stitch, gently pull on the button or the thread to loosen or tighten the button to it’s desired height. You want about 1/4″ of space between the button and the waistband, and this second stitch is the ideal time to fine tune that spacing, as the friction helps hold it in place.

Continue taking more stitches, I do a four through each set of holes for a total of 8 stitches, and with the doubled thread that makes 16 layers of thread to hold on the button as strongly as possible. Keep rotating the stitches around the button point like the hands of a clock, and maintain that height above the fabric by pulling the button upwards after each stitch.

Now pass the thread through to the top side of the waistband once more, but not into the button. Instead, begin wrapping the thread around the stitches you made, about 4 or 5 times. Pull each wrap tight as you work.

After wrapping the threads, pull them tight one last time, and then push the needle through the mass of threads three times in alternating directions to lock the threads in place.

Finally, trim the thread close to the button shank.

Doughnut Buttons

The doughnut style buttons are definitely a lot stronger than the sewn on versions, I think the waistband would wear out before these ever fell off.

To begin, place an option leather washer onto the pronged backing, smooth side down.

Kind of hard to see here, but poke the prongs through the fly or waistband in the desired location. The rotational direction of the prongs probably doesn’t matter much but I tend to put them in diagonally to distribute any stress across different threads.

Place the button into position on top of the prongs.

With the button setting tool, give it a couple of light taps with a hammer just to loosely set the prongs. I like to double check after this to make sure they’re all bending in the correct direction – I haven’t had a problem with any of the buttons yet but it seems possible they could bend in the wrong direction if you’re not careful.

And here’s the button after installing.

And with that, the jeans are done! I hope yours turned out as well as you were hoping.

I’ll be adding a few updates in the future such as how to add a leather patch to the back and a few other details here and there.

We need one last buttonhole to close the waistband and top of the fly. Begin by drawing a horizontal line across the center of the waistband on the left side. It should be 3/4″ from both the top and bottom of the waistband.

Mark the widths for the buttonhole, about 1/2″ from the end of the waistband, and then another 3/4″ for the width. The buttonhole should be about 1/8″ wider than your buttons.

Finally, cut open the buttonhole and work the buttonhole stitch as shown earlier.

Note I’m using a sample here to demonstrate the one piece fly. Just imagine the leg extending to the left of the cut line just below the crotch. Will replace the photos when I make my next pair.

To begin constructing the one piece fly, lay the left leg wrong side up on the table.

Fold over the fly extension 3/8″ towards the wrong side and press.

Now turn the folded edge and the entire fly seam over a further 3/8″.

When you get to the curved crotch area you’ll need to gently stretch the seam allowance with your fingers, to give it length to roll over nicely. Don’t stretch past the 3/8″ seam allowance or you’ll start to distort the jeans themselves.

Here you can see the extra length that has been added by stretching.

Continue folding and pressing from the waist down to the crotch.

A bit of steam will help the crotch curve lay flat.

And here’s the left fly and crotch seam after folding and pressing.

Turn to the right side and mark the bottom of the fly extension – where it goes from three layers to two.

Go to the sewing machine and from the wrong side you can gauge the correct spacing of the top stitching – about 3/8″.

Top stitch from the right side using a 3/8″ seam allowance.

As you get to the bottom, curve in towards the mark at the edge of the fabric.

Here’s the result from the right and wrong sides.

Attaching the Fly

Lay the left jeans leg right side down and lay the buttonhole fly on top, the right sides of the buttonholes facing up.

Move the fly into position, aligning the waist mark with the waistband, and setting the front fly edge back about 1/8″ from the leg underneath.

Measure the distance from the edge of the front fly seam to about the edge of the selvedge and take note of the measurement.

Turn to the right side of the left leg and draw a parallel line that same distance from the front edge.

At the bottom of the fly, use your hand as a compass and draw in a curve towards the bottom of the stitching you did previously.

Lay the fly into position on the wrong side again. The most important thing here at this point is to make sure the crease lands directly at the bottom of the fly extension and stitching underneath.

While carefully holding everything in position, flip back over to the right side and take the fly and left leg to the sewing machine.

Sew a line of top stitching along the line you marked out, ending at the exact place where the previous top stitching ends.

As you’re stitching, flip the leg back every inch or so to ensure the fly is still in the correct position. It’s easy to let things slip, finish the stitching, and find out your fly is a half inch from where it should be.

Curve around towards the crotch seam, keep as smooth a curve as possible.

Here’s the fly after sewing the first row of top stitching.

Double check the wrong side to ensure your stitches landed on the fly correctly. And yes, my tension was wildly loose for some reason . . . showing here as an example to avoid!

Finally, turn back to the right side and make another row of top stitching just to the inside of the original stitching. Try to keep it more parallel than I did (don’t check cameras while sewing!), and then taper the second row of stitches into the first as you round the curve to the crotch seam.

The one-piece fly is my preferred method of fly construction, and I believe it to be the strongest method as well since you’d have to literally wear through the bottom of the fly for it to fail.

Begin with a piece of selvedge denim about double the length of the fly plus 2″. The width is up to you but I’d recommend 4″ total, or 1 3/4″ finished width front and back plus a 1/2″ seam allowance.

Fold over and press the 1/2″ seam allowance to the wrong side. You can measure this out but I usually do it by eye.

Now fold the fly in half lengthwise, positioning the folded edge ever so slightly behind the selvedge edge underneath. This way it won’t be visible in the finished fly. Press.

Here’s the fly so far after pressing.

Just showing here how the folded edge is set back from the selvedge by maybe 1/16″.

With the selvedge side up, sew the fly closed along it’s length. I like to keep the stitches just to the side of the selvedge for a tidy appearance.

Now fold and press the fly across the middle.

Buttonhole Positions

Orient the fly as they would appear in the finished jeans. The half closest to the camera is the inside of the jeans which the buttons will be attached to. The farthest selvedge edge is where the buttons will be placed.

Open up the fly keeping the same orientation, and place the buttonhole section of the fly onto the jeans front as shown. The fold should align with the fly extension on the jeans front and there should be about an inch of extra fly at the waist.

Mark the position of the waist as shown.

Then make another mark 3/8″ above the waist which will denote the top waistband buttonhole.

Mark another point 3/8″ below the waist indicating the seam. This just helps to clarify the positions of everything.

Now mark the position of the lower buttonhole about 2″ to 2 1/4″ above the fold in the fly.

And mark the positions of the remaining buttonholes, evenly spacing them between the lower buttonhole mark and the upper mark that’s above the waist.

I just realized while writing this that I spaced mine improperly, using the seam allowance mark in place of the top buttonhole mark.

The number of buttonholes really depends on the length of your fly. This is a really short fly so two or maybe three buttonholes work best. On my personal pair, I like a very high waist so have 7 buttonholes, including the waistband buttonhole.

When you’re happy with the positioning of the buttonholes, square the marks across width of the fly.

Now mark the outer edge of the buttonholes about 3/8″ from the folded edge.

And finally, mark the inner edge of the buttonhole, at your desired width. Buttonholes in general should be about 1/8″ larger than the buttons. I ended up going with 3/4″ buttonholes.

And here’s the completed fly with the buttonhole positions marked out. The markings indicate the right side of the buttonhole, so go ahead with the next section and work all of the buttonholes with this in mind.

With the sewing out of the way, we can finally move on to attaching the rivets. You’ll need an awl, small metal anvil, rivet and backing, optional leather washer, a hammer, and the rivet setting too (not pictured).

The best way to go about finding the position of the rivets is to use the awl to poke through the fabric from the right side. The first rivet is at the top edge of the front pocket opening, about 1/4″ from the waistband.

I then like to open the hole from the back as well.

Insert the rivet backing into the leather washer (optional).

And insert the backer into the hole from the wrong side.

Place the assembly onto the anvil. Using a block of wood is helpful to get a good set to the rivet and avoid damaging the table.

Place the rivet on top of the assembly, and then place the tool over the rivet.

Give the tool a few light taps to start and then firmly secure the rivet. It will compress the fibers underneath, and the backing will spread out under the rivet, hopefully permanently securing it. But if you don’t hit it strongly enough, it is possible for it to come undone.

And here’s the set rivet.

Repeat for the lower half of the front pocket opening, the top of the watch pocket (though not on the 1873, let me check on that . . .), the tops of the back pockets, and optionally the bottom of the fly (for the 1873 version).

To put together the back cinch belt, you’ll need your pattern, a length of selvedge denim, and a jeans belt buckle.

Trace out the pattern onto your denim, being sure to mirror it for the other side, and keeping one edge on the selvedge. You could also add an additional seam allowance for turning under instead of using the selvedge, if you prefer.

Cut out the pieces, and then place the pattern on top. Align the ruler with a long edge, flip the paper back, and trace the finished seam line onto the denim. Repeat for the other long edge and the two short ends, on both pieces.

Here’s what you should be left with.

Press over the seam allowances on both ends, just barely bringing the chalk lines to the wrong side.

Press over the raw non-selvedge edge.

And then fold and press the selvedge seam allowance over everything. Tidy up the ends as necessary.

Just tidying up the end here, making sure the seam allowances are all falling into place properly.

Draw in the center line across the length of the cinch.

Here are the results so far. You’ll want to make sure both pieces are identical in size, and that the back buckle actually fits, and adjust as necessary. I usually have issues with one or the other.

Keeping everything in place firmly using your fingers, sew across the length of the cinch belt from end to end.

If everything has been drafted correctly, you should have the stitches aligned with the selvedge underneath (yours may have more or less selvedge beyond the stitching than I do).

Now take up the left cinch belt (the selvedge should be pointing down when you look at it from the right side).

Slide the buckle on, ensuring it’s facing the correct direction, and overlap the back on itself by about 1″.

Secure the buckle by top stitching through all layers. If you have a zipper foot, this is a good time to use it, though I tend to use a regular foot and just be super careful about not running into the metal with my machine needle.

For the 1873 jeans, they used a simple box stay here as shown. I like to double back on the stitching to make it extra secure.

Here’s what it looks like from the wrong side.

Now with the right cinch belt oriented correctly, secure it in the buckle with about an inch extending past it.

Place the entire back cinch assembly and place it on the jeans, centering it vertically on the waistband seam, and horizontally centering it as well. Take measurements from the center back to each end to ensure they’re the same. When you’re happy with the look, mark the end positions in chalk on the waistband.

On the back cinch itself, make vertical lines 1″ from each end.

Moving everything over to the sewing machine, make sure your back cinch belts are aligned still, and then sew box stays at each end, about 1/8″ from the edge of the belts, and across the lines you just made.

And that completes the back cinch belts, as well as the sewing portion of the jeans construction.

Drafting the back cinch, used on the 1873 model and other more recent models, is pretty simple, with a slightly complex method of adding the seam allowances.

First, draw a horizontal line from 0 to 5″. Five inches is a good length for the back cinch, though for larger sizes you may wish to make this a little longer (or use the graduated rulers to determine the length.

Then mark lines square at each end. From 0 measure 5/8″ up and down, and from 5 measure 1/2″ in either direction. The 1/2″ end is pretty standard, giving you a final 1″ width that fits most buckles, but you can play around with the widths at 0 if you wish.

Draw in the outlines as shown. So far you’ve got the entire finished size of the back cinch.

We want the selvedge edge to fall just below the horizontal center line, so that makes for some interesting seam allowances.

• Extend the vertical line from 0, 3/4″ on each side.
• Extend the line from 5 a further 5/8″ on each side.

Draw in the top and bottom seam allowances, extending them a bit in both directions.

Finally, add a 1/2″ seam allowance on both ends. This completes the draft for the back cinch. You’ll want to cut one of the long edges on the selvedge.

I like to add some leather washers to the inside of my rivets and buttons to take some of the stress off of the denim and prolong the life of the garment. These are definitely optional, and while not found on the original 1873 jeans, I decided to add them for the benefits given above.

You’ll need some fairly lightweight leather, maybe 2 to 4 ounces in weight, an awl, a 1/8″ hole punch, a large 1/2″ leather punch, and a small hammer or mallet.

Begin by cutting out the washers using the 1/2″ hole punch.

I found finding the exact center with the 1/8″ hole punch to be a little challenging, so I use an awl to find the center instead. It doesn’t have to be perfect but should be as close as possible.

Then center the 1/8″ over the washer, using the hole from the awl as a guide, and chop out the center hole.

And that’s all there is to it. Cut out as many as you’ll need for all of your rivets and buttons.

These are the instructions for installing the 1873 watch pocket, which while similar to the modern version, extends about halfway up the waistband.

Mark off 1/2″ seam allowances along the sides and bottom edge, and 7/8″ on the top edge of the watch pocket lining.

Trim the lining, and then mark out 3/8″ seam allowances on the bottom and sides of the watch pocket, and again 7/8″ along the top edge.

Press the top seam allowance towards the wrong side along the line, and then tuck the raw edge under and press firmly.

Place the watch pocket lining into position. you may need to trim the lining a little further to get a good fit.

Top stitch a single row of stitching about 3/8″ from the top, catching all layers.

Press the remaining seam allowances to the wrong side along the chalk lines.

Attaching the Watch Pocket

Place the watch pocket into position on top of the right front pocket. The top of the watch pocket should extend about midway up the waistband, while the bottom edge should be just below the front pocket opening.

You can pin the pocket in place or just hold it while you sew.

Starting from the left side of the pocket (I accidentally start on the right in the video and run into trouble!), top stitch the watch pocket around the sides and bottom edge, about 1/8″ from the edge.

Then make another row of top stitching about 1/4″ from the first, keeping the stitches parallel throughout.

Here’s the waistband area after top stitching the watch pocket in place.