I’ve never really been someone who wears jeans. I think it stems from me being a bigger lady – I could never find jeans that looked nice, because I couldn’t fit pants from trendy young-people stores, so all that was available were shapeless numbers or mens pants. Sure, each winter I’d get jeans-envy from seeing everyone so comfortable in their jeans, so I’d go to the shops and buy which ever pair actually fit me. once the winter was over I’d suddenly look in the mirror and realise that I looked awful, so out they’d go.
I have had one pair of jeans that fit me well/looked good, which I bought from Forever 21 and took in at the waist so they didn’t gape (you can see me wearing them in lots of my 2013 makes). They recently died (hole in the inner thigh) and I’ve been pant-less ever since. I finally realised that I should take the plunge and try making my own jeans. The results are…. so so.
On the one hand: I made a pair of jeans! And I did it rather well! But on the other hand, I don’t like how they look at all, and they’re definitely reminiscent of all the Jeans West jeans I bought when I was a teenager.
I used the famous Jalie 2908 “stretch jeans” pattern and my own pants sloper; here’s where the issue starts. Laying the slop on top of the jalie pattern, it appeared that I needed WAY more room than the Jalie allowed. As in, despite being a size W in the waist and CC in the hips, my sloper was bigger than the FF size. I ended up cutting the sloper size and chalking in the Jalie sewing line. I made up one leg, decided it was much too small, and went with the sloper size.
Obviously I forgot about the stretch. I tried them off after I finished the fly (which took two attempts, the second one much helped by this blog post) and they were baggy. I pinched out some fabric, they were better, so I went ahead and finished the seams. Now, I think they could probably have been made exactly as Jalie had drafted them, as I think some of the fitting issues come from being a bit baggy in places.
They’ve ended up looking a bit like “Mom-jeans”, which is a bit mean considering I don’t know many mum’s who wear the kind of jeans I’m meaning, but I’m sure you all know what I mean. They’re a funny cut in the leg and a bit baggy in the crotch. The waist, at least, I’m reasonably proud of – it took me like 3 hours to draft that waistband and except for the fact that I hammered in the buttons 2cm from where they should be, it fits well!
Overall I’m happy with the construction, and that they look like jeans. There’s a lot of topstitching and Mr. Guy even complimented how straight it is. The inseams are flat felled (the regular way, I didn’t realise you’re supposed to sew wrong-sides-together so the bulk is on the outside), the outer leg seams are overlocked and double top-stitched. As mentioned, the fly took to me two attempts, and I hammered the buttons too far over so they pull at the fly.
I didn’t just want plain lines on the back pockets, so I sewed some mountains:
So I’m feeling very bleargh about these. When I look at the clothes I usually wear (skirts/dresses), these look awful in comparison, but I think jeans will always look average purely because of my body shape. Sure, these aren’t the worse jeans I’ve ever worn and they look pretygood from the side, but I still feel very frumpy in them. When I finished them yesterday I was feeling pretty crap, until I realised “these are the first pants I’ve ever made for myself”, and there’s lots of room for improvement. I can handle that although I had such hopes for these.
These will probably end up as “mucking around/working in the garden” pants, which is fine with me. Next time I’ll try using a slightly stretchier denim and make them tighter, and will try making the pockets larger so they reinforce the front (maybe that will help suck in my tummy) – I remember reading that on Tanitisis’s blog though of course I can’t find it now. I also would love to get hold of some polka-dot denim.
Details
Pattern: Jalie 2908 and pants sloper
Fabric: Sturdy stretch denim, $35
Notions: Jeans buttons, $1; interfacing and thread, stash; top-stitching thread, from Mrs. C, jeans zip $4.80. I bought rivets but didn’t use them.
Total: $40.80
Two other things: one, check out these most bodacious shoes. They’re “Vans for the ASPCA”, a friend posted them on facebook and I spent the next couple of days tracking some down. I even bought a pair of the matching dog ones for my nephew in Canada.
Secondly, I was awarded a second Liebster award by Lazylinchen (which makes me think of lazy lichen, which makes me laugh because lichen is amazing). I’ve already done the nominating thing so I’ll quickly answer the questions. Skip if you don’t want to learn more about me.
1. What is your favourite pastime?
It’s probably not hard to guess that it’s sewing!
2. What do you love cooking/eating the most?
Pass! I just love eating.
3. What is you favourite fictional character and why?
Probably Alanna from the The Song of the Lioness series by Tamora Pierce. I love all of her books and I think I owe a large part of my feminist ideals to those books. Girls that kick ass, having to prove themselves equal to males and proving that they can even be better in a mans world.
4. What do you like most about your life?
My husband, my job, family and pets ❤
5. How do you manage your stash (if you have one)? (This is shameless digging for solutions…)
I do have a stash, although I freak out if I have too many things in it. I’m trying to only buy things with a garment in mind but that doesn’t always work. I tend to just fold the fabric and put it on a shelf so I can see it easily and stroke it for inspiration, but I also have a box of fabrics that are my “one day I’ll have the skills/pattern to make that garment”.
6. What is your favourite make?
It’s probably still my Watson Jacket, it’s just so fancy. Or, more recently, my shirtwaist dress and Mr. Guy’s Jedediah trousers..
7. Which part do you dislike most about creating?
When I end up with a product that’s worse than RTW, whether because it doesn’t fit or because I goofed on the construction.
8. Winter or Summer?
Spriiiing, mainly because of all the flowers (this is more a thing in Christchurch, “the garden city” where the council plants thousands of daffodils around the city. Wellington doesn’t have many flowers)
9. If you could choose from any animal that ever existed, what pet would you like to have?
Dragon. Either a small one like a firedrake (that’s like a very intelligent dog) or a big one that I could ride around on.
10. Why do you sew/knit/create?
I started off sewing because I couldn’t find clothes that were trendy/cool that fit me. Later, when I could, I didn’t want to pay the price for those garments. Now I love creating for the sake of it, not being at the mercy of people who decide what’s in fashion (at the moment that seems to be “everything too short”), and it’s my way of expressing myself. Plus I’ve gotten to meet so many people through sewing, it’s rad
11. What is your favourite place on Earth?
Pass again! I think it’s cheating to just say “New Zealand” but we really do have it lucky. Favourite place that I’ve visited outside of NZ would be Mexico