Since my current jeans have holes that I keep patching, I recently purchased my usual favorites which were shockingly horrid!
Searching around, I couldn’t find anything better.
The funny thing is that I never wore blue jeans often in the past.
MY FIRST BLUE JEANS
When I pled for my first pair of blue jeans, mom my was horrified, so it was my dad who took me to a little boutique near our home where the lady helped me find a pair that fit.
I loved them because they weren’t typical manly jeans, but feminine.
Then I wore lots of dresses that I sewed in college and teaching, during which time I could no longer find blue jeans that fit.
That’s when a friend recommended Lee jeans to me, because they actually sold tall sizes at the store.
Finding cute pleated ones, I loved their feminine styles and ease of finding a style that fit and suited me.
When I became a stay-at-home mom, I determined to never wear blue jeans all the time, except that is exactly what happened.
What happened to the dresses, which I could have easily sewn in simpler active-lifestyle cuteness?
Oh, yeah…contemporary fabrics and patterns became wonky.
NO MORE JEANS?
More recently I wondered, what happened to the blue jeans?
Made of spandex, they now stretch to odd proportions becoming five sizes too large throughout the day.
Finally, I was driven to sew my own blue jeans.
Although they were always on my daunting “I could never do that” list, I discovered they are much easier to sew than expected.
FABRIC
After prewashing, I ironed my 100% cotton denim fabric from Hancock Fabrics.
Then from my quilting stash I chose a blue/red floral for the pocket lining!
NOTIONS
For my Texas flair I chose these fun starry buttons!
PATTERN
Choosing McCalls 5142 View D, which was designed by Palmer and Pletsch, I hoped it lived up to its motto of the “perfect jean.”
Although my off the rack jeans are a size 8, the McCalls measurement chart shockingly put me to a size 16.
Having read reviews that the pattern runs large with an enormous amount of ease, I was discouraged because that is not perfect.
After going through a few toiles, I found that size 10 would be my best size from this pattern.
Further adjustments included taking in the massively wide legs.
Since I’m tall, I lengthened the legs to accommodate.
PFAFF SEWING MACHINE ENDURANCE
Fearful that my sewing machine might not survive all the layers of denim, I took a deep breath, since there would be no handsewing with this project.
With each step of the sewing process, my Pfaff amazingly worked like a charm.
When it was time to sew the fly and zipper, I wavered a bit, since I had only ever sewn a button fly in a few historic 19th century pants for my son.
However, the Pfaff easily handled the zippered fly.
After machine finishing all the inside seams, it was time for the edge stitching and top stitching which creates the flat fell seams.
Again, my Pfaff easily powered through!
Now I greatly feared how well (or poorly) my sewing machine would sew a buttonhole, since I always have trouble with that.
On any other garment, my machine sews beautiful buttonholes on test samples, until I stick my garment underneath the needle, and the process gets stuck midway, leaving a huge bulk of thread that is annoying to rip out.
Carefully I started the buttonhole…
which beautifully completed the stitch! What’s the difference?
Only when I sewed the belt loops did I have a wee-ish bit of trouble, but a gentle nudge of the fabric from the back was all it needed.
One of the selling points for my Pfaff was that it advertised that it sews over thick layers well, as a result of its Integrated Dual-Feed technology (IDF).
I’m now totally loving my Pfaff for not only sewing quilts, but also blue jeans!
NON-SEWN BLUE JEAN BUTTON
Now it was time to hammer the blue jean button like a grommet!
MY BESPOKE BLUE JEANS
Finally, my blue jeans were completely sewn and recognizable!
Preferring a simple look, I opted to do without the watch pocket and no rivets.
Time will tell if I regret their lack.
Also here is my first attempt at edge stitching and top stitching which came out evenly!
Since I don’t care for brightly colored threads on jeans, I simply used a matching blue thread, like my favorite jeans of yore.
However, I love my pop of color coming from the floral pocket lining!
I opted to not decorate the pockets with fancy stitch since I prefer plain pockets.
ANNIVERSARY OF GOLD DISCOVERY
Coincidentally, my jeans were ready to debut, on this day of the anniversary that gold was first discovered in California, which led to the development of blue jeans!
More importatntly, they fit and are comfortable!
I would definitely sew these again!
I’ve already promised my daughter that I will sew some for her.
Fortunately, she wears the same size as me in width. I only need to reduce the length for her.
I’m sure she’s already thinking about which prints she can pull from the stash for her pocket lining!
These cost me less than $30!
Stay tuned for future jeans and possible style variations!
So, if I can sew my own pair of bespoke blue jeans, you can too, in the style that you prefer! 😉
For more photos, check my Flickr set.
COMMENTS FROM MY OLD BLOG
The Quintessential Clothes Pen – January 30, 2016 at 4:10 PM – Congratulations! Making your own jeans is quite an accomplishment! They look very nice and it’s so great to have them customized to the way you like them to be.
Best,
Quinn
Black Tulip – February 2, 2016 at 3:44 PM – I’m in awe; I’ve never so much as made a pair of trousers, let alone jeans! It does seem to be impossible to get shop-bought trousers or fitted skirts which actually fit these days – thank goodness for being able to make our own.
