I always struggle to find jeans that fit properly, usually its only the most expensive ones that look somewhat decent. This week I decided it was finally time to make myself some Jeans. The folks at Sew Altered is running a 2 month “workshop” on fitting casual pants. Katie had some good suggestions for Jeans patterns & choosing your size in this post, I was inspired. Project two for my #2018rtwfast, here we come.
Which Jeans Pattern to choose…
I chose the Jalie 2908 Jean pattern, it’s a bootleg jean pattern and is supposed to flatter my inverted triangle figure. Bonus as I like wearing bootleg jeans 😉 The Jalie 2908 comes in a regular waist & low waist version and I cut the latter.
I ran into my 1st problem having to choose the size. According to Katie’s blogpost you should pick your size based upon your hip measurement. But mine was 1cm bigger than a 6 and 2cm smaller than a 7. After picking the brains of fellow members in the Sew Altered & Capsule wardrobe facebook groups, I decided to start with a size 6 and see how it goes.
Then I ran into my 2nd problem, I only had 1m of stretch jean fabric. So I made shorts! It is summer here after all and I don’t have jean shorts…well now I do!
The Construction
To compensate for the fact that I chose to cut out a size which is technically to small for me, I sewed the side seams at only 0.5cm from the back yoke downwards. If I hadn’t done this, they would’ve definitely been very tight. Even now they are quite tight and I’m having some minor fit issues.
Overall I found the construction of the Jalie jeans very similar to other pants with fly’s I have made before. The only significant difference for me was the way they attach the waistband. However, I can see why they do it that way. It definitely makes it easier to do the top stitching and make sure you catch all the layers.
The Details
Before I could even start on the construction I had to decide on top stitching my back pockets. Off I went to ask my friend google for advice. Along with a whole lot of Pinterest ideas this post from Closet Case patterns popped up. I signed up for the download of their e-book with back pocket top stitching templates and found one I liked. I did the top stitching on the back pockets using embroidery thread and a triple stitch on my normal sewing machine.
For the rest of the top stitching I was very lazy and put my cover stitch machine to work. It gives me 2 perfectly even rows of stitching without too much effort.
As a little surprise touch I used a bright, coloured cotton woven for the lining of the pockets. Its not something others will necessarily see but it makes me smile when I put on my “me made” jeans.
What will I do different for my next pair?
I will make my next pair a size bigger but grade the waist to the current size so keep the fit there. I might even do a small sway back adjustment on my waistband as it definitely has a bit of a gap.
Have you sewn jeans before? or are you planning to add it to your projects to try? Let me know what you think?
