Ginger Jeans Take Two

Or the tale of the stretchy-not stretchy-too stretchy denim and the crappy pictures (because E was home sick that day so I didn’t get to take my time like I usually would).

It starts with my favorite skinny jeans needing more and more mending.  They’re from Gap but they stopped making those ones so instead of looking everywhere for new ones, I decided to make some.  Because shopping for jeans is just so ugh. I still have some of that Cone Mills denim that I got from Closet Case Files and I was going to use that but, I dunno, grey felt more interesting.

So these are the Closet Case Files Ginger jeans, size 14 again.  I combined the lower rise view with the skinny leg of the other view.  Also, I’ve been having a bit of gaping at the back waist on my first pair so I fixed that.  I basted the jeans together, pinned the extra out and transferred it to the pattern.  And check it out!  Perfect fit in the back!

The wrinkles there are mostly due to the fact that I hemmed them a little long.  I’m a bit afraid they might shrink up in the wash and I don’t want them too short.

You can’t see properly but I put in a single star rivet on the back.  The rest of the rivets are flat, not your classic jeans rivets.  And a star button.  Everything from Pacific Trimming. (Star button, I think these are the flat rivets, and I can’t find the stars I bought on their website.)

I used some pretty leftover stripes for the pockets.  It’s a woven in design so there’s no wrong side so the jeans look all pretty on the inside but I still get to look at the right side when I look in my pockets.

(Wrinkled because I had been wearing the jeans)

Now the less good.  I’m finding some issues with the front.

M doesn’t see anything wrong so I’m guessing part of it is just that obsession with fit that you develop when you dive into the sewing world. Regardless, next time, I’ll copy the crotch curve from my Gap jeans to the pattern.

I think the other issues are from the fabric.  When I bought it, it felt like a nice weight, not too stiff but not as light as some other denims at Mood. It seemed to have good stretch.  I brought it home and for some reason, it didn’t feel stretchy anymore.  I pulled it out again and it turns out it has plenty of stretch.  Now that I’ve made the jeans, that stretch makes them unbelievably comfortable but I think it might be a bit much.  Usually, jeans kind of hold in my lower belly and these ones just don’t. And can you see a bit of pulling at the pockets? I think maybe that the stable pocket fabric pulling against the denim? Finally, despite the fit being close to perfect, they still want to fall down without a belt.  I don’t know, maybe the amount of stretch means I should have gone down a size?  I wouldn’t want my jeans to feel painted on!

(It figures the best picture is the one where I wasn’t prepared for the camera to click!)

I still like them though and next time, my jeans will be that much closer to perfect!

About deuxsouriceaux

Creative mommy at home to two wonderful little girls, trying to juggle family, sewing, exercise, family, knitting, photography, and did I mention family?