There all kinds of jeans styles out there. Some styles would lend themselves to altering the waist but regular Levi style jeans with the watch pockets and yokes would be a little daunting. I suppose you could separate the yoke portion from the rest and and either face the waist or put in a waist band. You would have to move the zipper down and you would lose the watch pocket. The front pockets would be higher as well as the back pockets unless you chose to take them out and move them down too. This is if the width of the yoke is enough to lower the waist where you want it. Then again, I looked at a pair I have and I know that different designers have varying yoke widths. Also, the yoke doesn't go across the front, only the back so you would have to lower the front by hand without a seam to guide you. Personally, I know that cool weather is coming so I would be more inclined to go back to Goodwill and look for some shorts to wear this summer. (sitting here in S. Texas in 100+ weather.)

They will look bulky because they are gathering up enough fabric to fit around your hips. That's the way they are. If you are using a non-stretch fabric then make a casing leaving an opening at a seam. Slide the elastic into the casing (a large safety pin will help you work that around, be sure to pin one end to the opening so it doesn't get lost in the middle of the casing. Then stitch the ends of the elastic together, and let it slip completely into the casing, then stitch the opening of the casing shut. If you are using a stretch fabric, it's quite different....we used the pin and quarter technique and then stretched the elastic to match the fabric as we did a multiple stitch zigzag onto the waist. Then we'd flip it over and stitch it again with the multiple stitch zigzag. This is based on stretch n sew techniques I learned way back and using stretch n sew patterns. It's a tad complicated to explain, but easy to execute. Because we were using stretch fabrics though, you didn't have as much bulk at the waist as the fabric stretch would help accommodate the hips. Here is a link that might be useful: Stretch and sew

Divide the elastic and the skirt into 4th's and match the 4th's stretching the elastic while you sew and it should come out even. I'm not very god at explaining things especially when i can't use my hands,so hope this makes sense to you. Kathi

You might want to take a look at One Hanes Place. They have some of the products you are looking for. There are reviews of the products. One Hanes Place