Maurices is a great place to shop for plus size jeans. I love their store brand. I wear their Briana Midrise and love them. And they're only around $35, which is great for in-between-jeans :) And as someone mentioned, definitely wear a belt, it works wonders.

For me, it's not so much the jeans as it is the shirt that goes with them. I am in an 18 now, but I just went through the "20's are loose, but weird" stage myself.
I wear my jeans higher waisted, but I layer shirts. Ex. Cute tank top under a blouse so the layer underneath hides my lower tummy buldge and the blouse or T-shirt, or whatever covers the muffin top at the waist. Just depends on your body type, I guess.

I wear Torrid's Virtual Stretch jeans - they fit perfectly, have plenty of give and take and have been very forgiving with weight loss and weight gain!

I wear the mid rise stretch jeans. i need to cover the tummy to feel comfortable in them.

I'm in the same boat with the stretch jeans. They're amazing. I wear mine JUST below my belly button. I have a very short waist. It prevents it from looking like I'm wearing some bad shapewear and just bulging/spilling out at the top. I have an apple shaped friend who wears her jeans below her belly and I just think it honestly looks awful. It's how she's most comfortable though. I have some stretchy size 18's if you'd like them! Very comfy! Lol. I just smalled into some 16s and some old 17s I had from when I was a teen and I'm not sure what to do with those and my old size 20s. Charity is most likely where they're going.