You can take the band off and lower however explain to the customer that the pockets can not be moved, which means you can only come down so far. The band could be stitched on with a chain stitch in which case it would be easy to unpick, or you may have to unpick each stitch. A quick way to do this is to slice using a razor blade or Stanley knife blade. Be careful, but this technique is excellent for unpicking jean stitching quickly. The belt loops are a little harder to unpick, but I carefully slice the zigzag on the back and then it should undo quickly.
The problem with lowering at the waist is that the customer must understand that the band is going to get tighter because it is lower on the hip. That means you may have to put an extension in the band. If the jeans are a bit loose you dont have to but usually this is not the case. Measure the width 1″ down, and I would be measuring the client as well. Or ask her to push the jeans down to the position she wants the band, which means it will look baggy in the crotch. That way you can see if the band is too tight at the position she wants it. The extension can go in the back (a piece of denim same colour) or you can put some imitation suede or leather. Something that looks ok.
The other thing is to put the extension on the end of the band that goes UNDER the buttonhole. But there is usually a jean button which means taking that off but that means the extension is longer.
Happy sewing
Judith aka genie
Posted in Jeans