Encouragement

I recently finished the muslin test garment and it gave me a much needed boost.  They almost fit!  "Almost fit," you say.  Then why are you so happy?  Because they look great! They are see-through white muslin pants, and they are already more flattering than most of my store-bought jeans.  I really needed that little bit of encouragement because I had become convinced that (1) my draft would not resemble my pattern jeans at all, and (2) no pants will ever, ever, ever look good on me.  Seeing the muslin pants gave me exactly the type of positive feedback that I needed to reinvigorate me for the next step of the process.

Fixing the pattern:  The fit problem was an all-around snugness, mostly in the thigh area (what a surprise!).  They were actually so tight that I could not pull them all the way up, and I was worried that the seams would rip!  (Longest stitch length, huh Kenneth?)  To fix this problem, I should have changed the pattern and created an entirely new test garment.  Needless to say, that is not what I did.  Instead, I just moved the seam a quarter-inch outward at the top of the thigh (thus adding 1/2 inch overall to each leg).  That seemed to do the trick for just that area, but it made me realize that the lower thigh was too tight as well.  Ultimately, I decided to just add a quarter inch of width to the outseam from the waist all the way down to just above the knee, both front and back. I also added a quarter inch of height just to make sure that I had enough coverage (the denim will be thicker than the muslin, but it does have some stretch to it).

As of now, I have almost completed my pattern and am about ready to move on to the actual jeans.  Wish me luck!

Also, for anyone out there who is beginning the project anew, there are some recent questions and answers regarding the organza slipping.  Someone suggested that they had luck using paper.  Wish I had asked the question earlier.

now I have jeans!

 Do I look tired?  Yeah, but they were worth it!  I love these very much.  There were difficulties along the way, but nothing insurmountable.  Here were the toughest parts:

1. Be careful when you sew the yoke on.  I totally sewed it on wrong even though he tells you to be careful and didn't realize until I had serged and topstitched the yoke and done the side seams and serged them.  That was a lot of ripping and I was not happy.

2. Top stiching is hard.  My machine had a tough time top stitching through the uneven layers.  I would do a sample and it would look great, then I'd go to the jeans and the machine would whine and groan and have a conniption.

3. I had trouble getting the hang of the burrito, but once I figured it out, no problem.  Let me just say that if it seems too easy and your burrito doesn't seem necessary, you might not have it right.

That's it! Making jeans is not that hard! Totally doable.

 Modifications that I made to Mr. King's directions.

1. Used a double needle for topstitching since I was going for a traditional 5 pocket look. 
2. Didn't do the facing on the top of the back pocket.  Instead I put a normal seam allowance on my traced pattern piece.  Then I just serged the top edge, folded it under and top stitched it.
3. I put the pockets on last since I changed their size a little from the original jeans.  Pocket placement is the most important part of making your butt look good.  How did I do?  I feel like My butt could (should?) look better.  Where would you move them?
4. Sewed the rise, inseam, and outseam in that order so I could top stitch up the back of the booty, then on the inseam and then just down to the hip on the outseam to mimic some ready to wear jeans that I was looking at. I did the top stitching to attach my pockets using a single needle because I couldn't get the hang of doing corners with the twin needle.
5. I did a hand-worked buttonhole using a doubled strand of my jeans topstitching thread and the instructions from this awesome sewing blog.  I did not feel like my machines could handle the job.
6. For the waistband I pulled my stretch denim tight across the center back to make sure my waistband doesn't gape and show my business.  I also added a little height to the top center of the back pattern piece and the yoke piece to make sure I had everything well covered back there.  I am a mom and I do a lot of bending over, my custom jeans need to help me out.

You can see the trouble I had with my bar tacks.  Clearly, I was ready to call it good enough.  Ideally I would have bar tacks on the tops of the back pockets as well, but it was not going well, at all.

I love these jeans very, very much! I already have a second pair cut out.  Here's what I'm planning to change for round 2:

1. After wearing these, I have decided that the front rise could be a little shorter so I folded my pattern piece down a little right below the zipper.  These are medium/high rise jeans and hit me right below my belly button which is exactly what I wanted but the front kind of buckles a little.

2. The next pair will have a tulip hem to show off my boots a little better.  As you can see, these look awesome with my slippers, ditto sandals and they are narrow enough to tuck into my uggs easily.

3. I'm doing a rounded back pocket to go with the tulip hem.

4. Different color of topstitching thread, though the denim is exactly the same.  Maybe navy?

5. I'll do a wider pocket bag to go all the way across the front and get sewn under the zipper facings.  My original pair have this, but I was worried that the jeans would not work with that non/stretch material all the way across the front.  As a result, the pocket bags can bulge a little and my mama-tummy is not as camouflaged as I would like it to be.

I'll do a follow up post with construction pictures and a few closeups.

hugs and kisses!

love,

Karin

Karin's Organza

Man! That is a bummer that Liz had so much trouble with the organza.  I didn't have much trouble with it beyond rolling the back side (since I don't have a sleeve board?!).  Up there is what I ended up with, heavily photo-shopped so you can see a little better.  The red lines are the back and the yoke and the black is the front. Down here you can see how I pinned the crotch. 

Tip: do not pin through all layers when pinning the back grain lines.  That makes it very hard to roll to get each side.  I had to repin many times because I kept pinning through both sides.  Try to just pin to the top piece of fabric.

And here's my lovely assistant. 

Ok, I know I said I'd try to get these guys done by 12/8, but I forgot about holiday crafting.  Project Jean-ius will be put on hold until 12/25 unless I miraculously finish my Christmas crafting early.  Hugs and kisses! love, Karin

I hate to say it, but I think this organza has the better of me. I finished basting last night, andi have been struggling all day with the organza markings. It just slips around when I try to measure and mark. A line that was perfectly straight turns all wiggly, and lines that were perpendicular to each other somehow change their angles. I eventually gained a lengthwise grain line and a crosswise grain at the knee, but I am having no luck with making the crotch line because I can't get the other two to hold still for two seconds. So I'm moving on to pinning and hoping for better results down the road. Grrrr.... I have plenty of pictures of my troubles, but can't upload them from my iPad. Update the next morning: I redid the organza a third time. So, in the video it looked like Kenneth ripped the selvage before he measured up from the bottom. I read the notes and he says DO NOT rip the selvage. I still had a hard time getting the upper cross grain, but it seems to be better now. Also, my cross grains were not perpendicular to the lengthwise grain when transferred to the back. Again, Kenneth addresses this in the notes and says that you should adjust to make them perpendicular; it is a common problem with mass produced items. Now I need to finish transferring lines to my organza so that my jeans will be back in commission before the week starts! Wish me luck!

Getting started

These photos shows my original pants marked up for info transfer. I now have them pinned to the organza (not shown) and am ready to use my colored pencils.

Tip: mark your pants on the side with the zipper top-stitching, oops!

These are super stretchy cords so I had a little trouble with the threads pulling out if I accidentally stretched the fabric, particularly on the cross grain. I am planning to use stretch denim in my new jeans as well, but I doubt that it will be as stretchy as the original. These cords fit perfect straight out of the wash but then get saggy by the end of the day. I'm hoping that slightly less stretch will help them stay put better. hugs and kisses, love Karin