Monday 28 May 2012

Emergency sewing

Ok, I give up, I can't go a whole month without a pair of jeans.  Does this mean I'm giving up on MMM12?  Not at all.  I just need to make some jeans - like now.  I have two possible fabrics in my stash.  One is a classic blue denim and the other a white denim-weight cotton with blue and green flowers.  Much as though I love the blue and green flowers:

There are several compelling reasons to use the denim
1. I need something casual and the print wouldn't be truly casual jeans
2. I really like the print and have never made jeans before so I'd rather perfect jeans before I cut into the print.
3. The print will make a very summery pair of jeans and it's definitely winter here now - I'm even using the electric blanket.
4.  Jeans pocket seems like an ideal opportunity to play with the embroidery machine again, and the blue denim lends itself to that more than a print.

I've not bought many patterns lately, especially since I started the pattern drafting course at the local high school, but I decided that I needed a lot of guidance with this.  I've had quite a bit of success with McCalls, so I bought McCall's 5894 which was described as "The Perfect Jean".  It's higher waisted than most of my jeans, but was described as below the waist.

Of course, I couldn't resist a little bit of embellishment on the pockets:

The pattern has very large seam allowances to allow for fitting adjustments, but I still found it hard to get a good fit.  I'm not incredibly happy with the fit, but I only pre-washed the denim once so I'll let them go through the wash a couple of times before I pull them apart and tweak the fitting.

I didn't do flat-felled seams, but I did double rows of top stitching on the outside leg as well as round the pockets.

I studied several pairs of RTW and it seems that most of the women's jeans I examined had the fancy topstitching down the outside leg, while the men's ones I found were topstitched on the inside leg seem.

Overall I liked the pattern, it went together easily and was true to RTW.  I will use it again, but in future I will put the topstitching on the inside leg then adjust the fit on the outside leg.  I will also make them a little tighter.

I now have the jeans and T shirt option available without giving up on MMM12 - this was my Monday outfit.

3 comments:

  1. Oh my gwad that print denim is awseome. Can't wait to see how they turn out. Should fit well from the looks of it!

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  2. Oh I wanna see the print one as well .... The blue look good from the picture too, so rock on summer hey?

    I also wonder what you did with all your jackets? You do wear them right?

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  3. OMG...jeans - well done! I haven't even ever thought about attempting my own jeans, Thanks for the inspiration xx

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