Jeans that are a size or two too small can be stretched out with good results

I have quite a few blue jeans and cotton Docker-type pants that would make great working-around-the-house jeans, but they are just a size too tight to wear since I’ve gained a couple of inches around my waist in my older age. I measured and found that my "casual" jeans fit only because they read size 36, but actually measure 38 inches around the waist and the jeans that don’t fit anymore measure exactly their listed size; i.e. 36-inch waist. Everyone knows that jeans stretch out a little when you wear them, but not the couple of inches that I needed for my still-in-good-shape,10-20-year-old trousers, so I devised a way to slowly stretch out the waist to get about 2-3 inches size increase. Stretch them out however you like, for those interested this is how I did it:

I used two split-firewood logs and a scissor-type car jack. I use a cloth measuring tape around the pant belt loops so I can read how much I'm stretching out the waist with each turn of the jack (I shoot for about a quarter-inch stretch between each session) and how much further I want to go in total (size 36 to size 39). I keep the pants waist wet while stretching and over a few days I'll stretch them out about two to three inches at most. I use a staple gun to reinforce the waist at the button/zipper area where the two sides overlap, I just put a few staples through the overlapped waist sections right into the firewood log to reinforce that area during the stretch to take the load off the button. I figure washing them in hot water could shrink them back, and they did not shrink at all during their first cold-water wash. After doing blue jeans with great success, that is, they were very comfortable; I ripped my first pair of Docker pants by being too aggressive/quick with the car jack stretching. That is when I started using a tape measure on the waist and going only one-quarter inch at a time twice a day.