Today I was out and about, running errands and getting ready to put 2008 to bed, thank goodness!  While at the bank, there was a woman in front of me standing there patiently talking with her husband about odds and ends.  We were in line for a short while and of course one's eyes wander when you're just hanging out.  I noticed her left lower pant leg - cool embroidery!  There were lots of chain stitches and some nice satin areas on these flowers.  

The design started at the bottom of the jeans and stopped right below the knee.  The thread was thicker than what we usually see.  Only one pass was made over each area and she did let me reach down and touch the thread.  It was not as thick as Burmilana and was shiny.  There were lots of loops, no swirls.  The loops formed a pattern of large flower heads with small satin areas that were the centers of the flowers.  The colors were bright.   She'd purchased the jeans at TJ Maxx and said it was the only pair.  She'd have purchased more pairs if possible, she said.  This gets me to thinking!  In the last 6 months I've seen two gals with embroidery on the legs of their jeans.  The women were opposites in looks, stature, build, the whole 9 yards.  And both of them loved their embroidered jeans!  The britches I saw today looked like the work was done  in India.  The jeans were not pegged or straight legged, they were large and sort of billowy.  I'm thinking here that any of us could do this on pants like that when they are already stitched.  This design did not go through the seam but was on the left front of the leg. 

I see a niche here and no one filling it that I am aware of.  The jeans I saw 6 months ago had embroidery from the bottom of the leg all the way up the side to the hip.  They were narrow jeans so likely were stitched on the inside leg seam after the outside area was done.  But the ones today?  Easily done with the right tools! 

Often we think of embroidery as being for shirts or jackets.  I've seen 2 cases of leg embroidery in 2 states - Arizona and now here in Washington.  I really think there is something to this.  People like embroidery in unusual placements but it's hard to find.  The woman today would have purchased at least two more pair if she could have, that's how much she liked this single pair of jeans, and she felt lucky to even have that one pair. 

I'd love to see someone go after this market...............