Jeans

 I like a good pair of jeans that really fit.  I've found that I need to make the jeans myself to achieve that good fit.  Last week, I discussed how to make that good fit happen.  This week, I'll talk about how to achieve that classic 5-pocket styling in a pair of jeans.

I used an out of print Kwik-Sew pattern, but McCall's 5894 is an current pattern for classic jeans.  Jeans are different from slacks in a number of ways.  First, they feature a back yoke, rather than just a single piece with darts in the back.  Second, the pocket arrangements are different and a lot more flattering on most people.  Finally, the seams are both reinforced and celebrated with top stitching.

The back pockets of jeans usually have some decorative stitching, but it's a great place for adding embroidery.  It's easy to embroider anything you like before the pockets are attached.  Denim is a nice heavy material and can support even quite heavy stitching.  For this pair of jeans I chose a design featuring calla lilies.  Often, I make the pocket designs the mirror reverse of each other, but with this nearly symmetric design, I made the pockets identical.

Top stitching is important to the classic look of jeans.  Top stitching works best with special top stitching thread.  I've tried a couple of kinds and the Coats and Clark thread works best for me.  I can even use it with a regular jeans needle, rather than needing to use the special top stitching needle.  There's a lot of switching back and forth between regular thread and the top stitching thread in making the jeans.  I've read that some people with more than one sewing machine will set up one with dark thread and one with top stitching thread.  In either case, regular bobbin thread to match the fabric is used for all the stitching except the embroidery.

Here, the coin pocket is attached to the pocket lining.  The pocket lining should be made of some much thinner material than denim.  I generally grab some polyester-cotton blend broadcloth out of my stash that mostly matches the color of the denim I'm using.

Lots of different thread went into making these jeans.  Just for fun, I collected them all for a group photo.  There's 7 colors of embroidery thread, plus black embroidery bobbin thread.  There's two colors of regular sewing thread.  I used the orange for the basting to check fit, as described last week, and finally, white top stitching thread.  Wow!  That's 11 different threads!

As for the rest of the details of making jeans?  It's easy, just follow the pattern directions and change threads a lot.

Come back next Saturday for more Fun with a Sewing Machine!

Fitting Jeans

Jeans are a wonderful wardrobe staple.  Everyone wears them: men, women, and children. They can be work pants or dressy pants.  They go with pretty much everything.

The challenge with jeans is that they have to fit.  For those of us who are pear-shaped, jeans that fit in the hips seem to be always too loose in the waist, sometimes by several inches.  On tighter fitting styles, the seat still seams to be somehow not right.  The good news is, all of this can be fixed with proper pattern modifications.

Basic sizing of jeans is accomplished by adding fabric to the side seams, hems, and top at the waistband.  However, for those of us with an especially curvy butt, that's just not enough.

The first thing to do is to add to the back of the pants at the crotch.  As seen with the line of pins here, make the center back seam longer and taper into the inseam.  I cut the back long the pattern or the pins, which ever was bigger.

The back yoke also needs modified for best fit.  Take fabric out of the center back seam, tapering to nothing at the yoke/back seam.  Add extra fabric to the top of the pants at the center back.  

Assemble the pants in a different order than the instructions call for.  First, put the zipper in the center front.  Skip the pockets, because fitting the jeans might change the pocket locations.  Sew the back yoke to the back.  Then, baste the side seams, inseams, and center back seam.  I like to use contrasting color thread to make the remove of the basting stitches easier. 

With the jeans basted together, try them on for fit and adjust the side seams and back part of the inseam as necessary.  Yes, even pear shaped women can get jeans that just fit, without being excessively baggy anywhere.

At this point, the jeans should fit well, so it's just a matter of adding all the special touches that make jeans special.  Come back next week for a discussion of pocket embroidery and top stitching.

New Tools: Rotary Cutter

Rotary cutters have been around for quite a while, but I associated them with quilters.  I've been cutting my fabrics with scissors.  Recently, I bought a rotary cutter and mat.  I've been trying them out with a variety of fabrics and patterns. 

Cutting stabilizer with the mat and cutter proved very easy.  Getting the stabilizer cut to the right length was a breeze.  I was working on a project that required lots of pieces of the stabilizer all the same size.  Cutting them on the mat made that a lot quicker.

I tried using the mat and cutter for cutting fleece.  There were lots of long, straight cuts and the cutter made short work of those.  The mat had to be moved to cut some pieces, because the pieces were bigger than the mat, but that's not a big deal.

I also used the cutter for denim.  It worked like a champ.  It handled even the curves on this part of jeans well.  (I also used it for cutting out shirts.  No problem with the curves there, either.)

I used the cutter and mat to trim the hems of jeans.  It went through even the seams with no problems and the mat made getting the trim even and to the right length easy.

My only question about the mat and cutter system at this point is why I didn't try this sooner!  There's a few tasks, like very detailed cutting, that still require scissors.  The cutter is easier and faster than scissors on many different fabric types, including some heavy duty ones.  Measuring with the mat, rather than a tape has some real advantages also.

Mastering the Continuous Lap

The continuous lap is the most common way of finishing a vent on a long sleeve shirt with traditional cuffs.  There are a few tricks to getting it right and that's what this blog post is all about.

To begin, cut the continuous lap just a little longer than the pattern calls for.

The exact length required depends on the length of the vent.  If you cut the vent just a little longer than the pattern calls for, the continuous lap will be too short, which is a mess.  With a longer lap, you can just cut off any excess at the end.  Since this is a small pattern piece, finding a little extra room to make it 1" longer is usually no big deal.

Step 1 is to cut the vent, using the traced pattern markings.  For best results, the cut needs to be straight and correctly oriented, no big deal if the traced markings are right.

Step 2 is to pin the lap to the vent.  It's important to put the RIGHT side of the vent fabric next to the WRONG side of the sleeve.  Yes, this is very different from the usual right sides together.  The seam will be 1/4" on the lap and 1/4" on the sleeve at the ends of the vent, tapering to almost nothing (1/16" or so) at the center.

Here's what the seem should look like when sewn:

Be careful that the seam is still on the fabric at the top of the vent and that there are no tucks or creases.

Turn the lap to the right side of the sleeve and press.  Also press in a 1/4 hem in the continuous lap on the side where it isn't yet sewn.

Pin the lap on the right side of the sleeve, tucking the hem and the first seam into the lap.  Be sure that the edge of the lap is 1/16" to 1/8" beyond the original seam.  The idea is that the first and second seams should be on top of each other.

Sew the second seam of the lap right on top of the first.  Be very careful to catch the top of the vent in the lap and to not have tucks or creases in the top.  Yes, it's possible to make this happen.

As the last step, pin the side of the lap away from the sleeve seam under the sleeve.  You are now ready to sew up the sleeve and attach the cuff.

Come back next Saturday for more fun with a sewing machine!