Worn In Gingers

 I have made a pair of experimental jeans.  These jeans are the product of lots of Internet browsing and one Craftsy course.

A few weeks back I happened across an advertisement for a Craftsy course sale.  All of their courses were $20.00.  Having never done a course before, I was keen to give it a try.  After debating the merits of lots of those available I settled on Sewing Designer Jeans by Angela Wolf.  I know I have made quite a few pairs but I am at the point that any little tricks and tips are gratefully received.  The course did not disappoint.  I watched the entire course in one marathon session, some 5 hours from memory.  Once I had finished I was keen to try out some of the techniques I had learnt.  

I had some slightly stretchy denim in my stash that I had bought through Trademe i.e. someones unrealized sewing dream that became my treasure.  It was relatively cheap from memory so perfect for experimentation.  

I bought 2 litres of cheap bleach from the supermarket and dumped it and 6 litres of water into a plastic bucket.  I put in 2 metres of the denim and left it to soak for an hour or two, checking and agitating it as I went.  When the bleach had just about burnt out the lining of my sinuses and everyone elses in the house, I tipped out the mixture and put my now very patchy denim in the washing machine.  I had been hoping for an all over bleaching effect but this is what I ended up with and I must say, I don't dislike it.

Once again I used Closet Case Files Ginger Jeans as my pattern.  I did consider making up Morgan Jeans and I haven't ruled this out for a future pair but this time I made up the stove pipe version in a size larger than my normal size to account for the lack of stretch in the fabric.

I did a knock knee adjustment, ran the leg in slightly, widened the inner front leg and narrowed the inner back leg and also altered the yoke and waistband to account for my sway back.  Usually I would just run in the centre back seam but this time I actually put darts in the yoke and waistband pattern and used my newly curved pattern for the fabric.

As I sewed my jeans, I sanded all of the seams with 220 grit sandpaper before top stitching and also sanded the fronts of the thighs.  It is a bit hard to see where I have done this but along with the bleaching it has resulted in a lovely soft fabric to wear.

To speed up the stitching process on this pair of jeans, I used my vintage Bernina 830 threaded with topstitching thread I bought from Aliexpress.  To line the pockets, I used some lovely quilting fabric that was left over from an apron Courteney made some time ago.  I finished my jeans off with a jean button and rivets from Aliexpress.  The pocket design was freehand drawn with tailors chalk before topstitching it.

I am really happy with the resulting jeans.  They are soo comfortable to wear.  For my next pair I think I will bite the bullet and buy the Morgan pattern.

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