I finally have a pair of jeans that I LOVE and will wear for ages. I made Ginger Jeans with some Cone Mills stretch denim from Fancy Tiger Crafts. It’s 12 oz denim, but oddly enough it was much easier to sew than the 12 oz bull denim I used for my first pair. Maybe the stretchiness was a factor in this, or maybe I’m getting more experienced and learning how to use the machine better. I was able to do this one entirely with the Janome 525s and I’m really grateful for that.
These jeans has their ups and downs, the downs mostly related to user error. I finished them and tried them on and the zipper area was gapping open. I thought I had messed up in my zipper placement, so I ripped one side of it and sewed it down again. That wasn’t it. I had a little fit, shed some expletives from my mouth, and threw the jeans down in disgust. Matt picked them up and examined them and suggested a line of stitching at the fly to fix it. The error was that I hadn’t put the topstitching in the right place on the fly. There is a topstitching guide included and I made one of the lines correctly, but made the second line a quarter inch to the outside of that one, when it should have been a quarter of an inch on the inside of that one. That would have prevented the gapping. After wearing these a couple of times I ripped out the outside line of topstitching and put a new line of it where it should have been. I did the bottom of the curve of the fly topstitching by hand because the zipper, etc. were in the way and preventing me from doing it by machine. My hand sewing is not fabulous, but I’m going to be ok with something that works rather than something that’s perfect.
They fit and they’re comfortable. Next time I might go down one size. I made a 14 based on my measurements, but I ended up taking a bit more in at the seams, and the waistband could be a smidge smaller as well. I’d also like to raise the rise for these next time and make them super high waisted but I have to do more research before attempting that.
Did I make the top as well? Yes, yes I did. It’s a Lark Tee by Grainline Studios. This tee has four different neckline versions. I made the scoop neck. This tee is nice and long, more like a tunic length on me. I should have taken a pic without it tucked in, but I forgot. I think I made a size 12, but I wish it was more fitted in the shoulder, so I might size down or aim for a narrower shoulder. I got this stretchy knit fabric at Joann’s. It’s soft, but polyester and was a bear to knit. I’ve noticed that when knit patterns have a quarter inch seam allowance and are stretchy knits I struggle a bit. I think these ended up being more like 3/8 inch seams to keep myself sane. This particular knit is more stretchy and difficult than others I’ve used recently.
I think I’m hooked on sewing my own jeans and I’ll definitely be making several more of these tees! Both are great wardrobe basics.
These look so good! The back topstitching is chef’s kiss, and the hand sewn fly is also incredibly even. I found a metal thimble my size at an estate sale, and purchased some Thread Magic through WAWAK a few weeks ago, and both have really helped my hand sewing. I had to take in some snow pants at the waist, and that literally wouldn’t have been possible (so thick) without those two.
I was having a similar thought myself about 1/4″ SA on stretchy knits while doing my Rowan… I thought the neck was a little tight and when redoing it I went out to 3/8″ and it really did make life so much easier. I was even able to do it with a standard presser foot! (Okay, I was too lazy to swap out for the walking foot since there are screws involved in that process).
Thanks so much! I recently got a thimble and that definitely helped here, but the moment I got high enough on the fly to switch back to the machine I did! 🙂 I LOVE WAWAK! They have such amazing thread prices and lots of cool things. I’m gong to try out learning some Sashiko stitches for future pretty mending, so I’ll get to have more hand dewing practice. I haven’t learned about Thread Magic yet, so I’ll have to look that up.
Idk how peeps do those tiny tiny seam allowances with knits and regular machines. I suspect some of the designers are anticipating some people have sergers. For this project the regular presser foot seemed better than the walking foot. I was frustrated for awhile getting settled into this. This knit seemed more slippery, maybe due to being all polyester.
OMG! They look great! Finding the right jeans is a life long journey. Good for you and good for having Matt around to see you through the frustration.
CONGRATULATIONS on the jeans!! The best thing about this must be that you can have sufficiently large pockets – I have seen so many women being angry with the pockets being too small, this would definitely be a solution! Also KUDOS for doing the top stitching by hand, I can imagine that this is more difficult to do when using denim?
The top looks great on you – both the fit and the colour! You’re really taking off with that sewing machine! 🙂