Good Jeans

Not great jeans, not yet.  But damned good jeans.

These are the Frankenpattern of the infamous Jalie 2908 stretch jean, the Ottobre jean and the fly front from the McCalls men's shorts pattern I made for Mario this summer.  I'll go over the pattern changes in detail in another post, once I lay out the various pattenr pieces and document what I did to them.

I wore these to work today; they've decided to give us casual Fridays from now on, so long as we don't "abuse it."  So I wore my new jeans and got abused because they weren't denim enough for a jeans Friday.

Whatever.

Also, having held off wearing these to work because I wanted photos, it was such a busy day that I never had time to ask Andrea to take a few pictures of me in them and instead had to make do with table photos and asking Mario if there was any way on earth that he could take a flattering picture of my ass.  Apparently it's too much to hope for, but this is what I have to show for now.

Basically it's the upper part of the Ottobre pattern (lowered slightly from Mom jeans rise to still-above-my-underwear rise).  The waistband is slightly narrowed, and contoured (Ottobre, not Jalie).  The back pockets are from Jalie, with random patterns done with the satin stitch on my machine.  I fused lightweight interfacing on the backs of the pockets before doing the embroidery; one of the things I hate the most about stretch jeans is that the pockets end up stretching out when you stitch them, and then they stretch more and look wonky when you wear them.  These stayed nice and flat. 

The shape of the lower leg is the Jalie boot cut.  Ottobre offers a straight leg or a boot cut, and I've tried both, but the I think the Jalie shape is more flattering. 

Structural changes that I've arrived at after several pairs of previous unsatisfactory jeans: the fly front application that I used on his shorts this summer, which is the applied fly piece along with a fly shield on the inside.  Yes, it adds a bit of bulk compared to that piddly little tab that both Jalie and Ottobre seem to think can adequately anchor a jeans zipper, but have you ever encountered a pair of jeans that didn't have that thickness at the zip?  It would feel flimsy without it.

Also regarding the zip - because of the narrow, cut-on fly on both the Ottobre and Jalie patterns, I can't get the zip to sink back far enough beneath the overlap so that it's properly invisible.  With the applied fly, I had much better luck with that, though I have hopes for better next time.

Pockets:  neither one of those patterns cut the pocket so that the lining doesn't peep out over the topstitching.  I've cut them lower and lower, but this time, since my denim wasn't particularly bulky, I just cut the pocket from the denim and then the pocket facing from a scrap of Liberty I had on hand.  I get a little bit of pretty, but none of it shows. 

Also with the pockets - if there are pocket stays at all on jeans patterns, they are again piddly, flimsy things that don't actually keep your pockets from creeping or shifting.  Since my pocket was made of the denim, I decided to take advantage of its stretch.  I cut the stay all the way to the fly, and anchored it on both sides in the zipper installation.  In doing so, I also stretched the section of the pocket from the pocket bag seam to the middle, which does a tiny bit toward flattening my stomach without feeling tight.

Every little bit helps, right?

I have no idea where this fabric came from.  It's been in stash a good few years, and I washed it when I got it, so there were no fabric.com stickers left or receipts rolled up in a fold.  It's nice quality, not too heavy and with just enough stretch.  I wore these for an 8 hour work day, out for drinks with a friend and then at home until after dinner, and while they accumulated a few creases from being sat in, all in all they held up really well and didn't grow much at all.  Can you tell I'm still haunted by the incredible growing Clover pants? 

All in all, I'm really pleased with these.  There are a few things I'll change next time (but aren't there always?), and I also want to try cutting the pattern a size larger, and make them up in a non-stretch denim.  I actually prefer jeans without stretch, they're just nearly impossible to find, as is non-stretch denim in a fabric store that isn't basically dress-weight. 

Working to finish a dress tomorrow that I would like to wear for my belated birthday dinner tomorrow night.  It's not looking good that I'll get it done, but you never know.  I also have a few other things I want to clean up in the workroom while I'm waiting for my first vintage pattern to arrive. 

Do it right the first time

And you won't be forced to wake up during the night, thinking about how you screwed up, and wondering just how much work it's going to be in the morning to take it all apart again.

I knew I wasn't going to get very much sewing done this weekend, what with one thing and another, so I decided to work on one substantial project. I think I'm one of about 10 sewists left on earth who haven't tackled the Jalie jeans yet, and it was time.

I'd already bought two different stretch denims, neither of which excited me all that much after I got them home. When I went to Joann's with Andrea the other week, I bought a piece of stretch denim that I still liked after I washed it.

Tracing off the pattern was no big deal, not after all the Burda tracing I've done. Now that I know what size I am, I'd be tempted to just cut the original pattern pieces out, but if I make these in a non-stretch, I'll have to go up a size, so let's just leave well enough alone, shall we?

I've made jeans before, from Ottobre. I liked them, they fit well, and the instructions were good. Same here, with Jalie. I think the fit is somewhat better on these, but I have to admit to liking Ottobre's instructions better. I got a better fly front with their instructions, and now I'll have to pull them out and compare to see where they differ, because I'm not completely thrilled with my zipper in these - the tab is visible at the top, so there's not enough of a flap over the zipper.

Easily fixed, but still.

I cut these out Friday, and worked on them Saturday and yesterday. I finished the jeans last night, and had Mario take pictures this a.m. The first three photos are from before I went back inside and took the jeans apart again.

I read a lot of pattern reviews for these jeans before starting in, but I basically decided to just go with the pattern as is (and the instructions) and see what I got out of it on the first go. Overall, I'm pretty happy - the fit is good, though it's easier to get a nice fit with stretch. It's what happens after you wear them all day that I worry about. Your butt's only going to sag so much in a non-stretch denim; with stretch, the floor's the limit.

One thing I did NOT like about the pattern is the waistband. They have you cut it on the bias. Stretch denim and then the additional stretch of bias? With no interfacing? Really?

I gave it a shot. As you can see in the first closeup, the waistband pulls - on the bias. It also folds over the button, and the buttonhole is stretching out from lack of interfacing.

When I finished them last night, I thought they were good enough. I don't wear my tops tucked in anyway, and I knew what I would change for next time. I was okay with the result.

Except I wasn't. I woke up at least twice during the night, thinking about that waistband. After having him take the pictures this a.m., I came back inside and retreated to the workroom with a large black coffee and my seam ripper and took off the band and made a new one.

Since my denim was stretch, I had to cut the band on the lengthwise grain to get no stretch in my new waistband. I cut it longer than the pattern piece, just in case I needed some extra. I used a light-weight interfacing, with an extra layer in the button and buttonhole area.

Sewed it all back together, topstitched, hammered the button into place and tried them on again. Much better this time. As you can see from the second photo, any issue of the jeans not fitting at the waist now is more body-related than clothing related. I can cope with that - I can't change the shape of my body, at least not in an hour and using only a seam ripper.

All in all, the Jalie jeans pattern is not the sewing epiphany it's seemed to be for so many people. Which is not to say I won't make it again, but I know what I'll do differently next time.

Possessed by a pattern

Ever have that happen?

While taking a break from the trench jacket one night last week, I cut out the main pattern pieces for the Ottobre 5/2007 #10 jeans. Since I only had one piece of denim on hand, I didn't want to use that and decided to use a nice plaid rayon/lycra woven from Metro Textiles as my muslin. I knew that these pants could only be so bad - Ottobre fits me well and the stretch would save me from any major fitting errors.

Turns out I could have used the denim.

Saturday I woke up to rain. Lots of rain, the steady kind that wasn't going anywhere, the kind that sent me straight to the sewing room. I cut out the rest of the pieces, and decided just to work on the pants for a little while. I made up the back pockets and put a couple of lines of ornamental stitching on them and pressed them. They came out nice and clean edged, so I decided that while I was in there, I should sew them onto the back of the pants. The plaid lined up nicely and the pockets went on.

Then I threw a load of wash in downstairs and decided to tackle the front pockets. Which again lined up nicely, plaids matching, and I sewed them together Hmmm, this was going smoothly. Maybe before my luck ran out I should do the fly front. It had been a while since I'd done one, having realized that I look better in side zip pants. Maybe I'd lost my touch? Nope. I did kind of forget what I was doing, but Ottobre's instructions for zipper insertion are really clear, though they do want you to do it after the pants are partly constructed and I prefer flat insertion. But it was simple enough.

Put the yokes on the back, topstitched. Sewed the backs together, topstitched some more. Joined the crotch seam and sewed the inside legs together. Topstitch one more time. Pin outer legs together, wiggle into pants, leave pin scratches on legs. Hmmm again. Fit seems good. Wiggle out, tweak pins, sew. Try on again - yep, they fit.

Mario knocks on the door after I get the bottom part of the belt loops sewn onto the pants. "Are you coming out for dinner?" Damn, it's 6:00 p.m., and other than popping in and out a few times to deal with the laundry, I've been at this for about 6 hours. I stop and we make dinner - omelets with all the leftover veggies in the fridge - and then I retreat back to my cave.

Construct the contoured waistband, check fit, smile, sew on waistband. Come out, watch a few minutes of TV with him so he doesn't feel neglected, come back in, attach the belt loops at the top, add a button/buttonhole, put the pants on one more time to mark the hems (another great thing about plaid), machine stitch hem. Press everything one more time, fold over stair railing for wearing on Easter Sunday.

The last time I made my TNT side zip BWOF pants, it took me 3-4 sessions. Much as I love my TNTs, maybe sometimes I just need to test drive a new pattern to perk myself up.

Though the next thing on my list (at least at this point) is cutting out another pair of these jeans, this time in the denim I was afraid to use the first time out.

BTW, I got a very cool sewing present for Easter from my aunt - pictures to follow.