The Cone Mills Gingers and My Me-Made Me Pledge

Hey Everybody! What's chippin' your potato? We are back in BC, and enjoying lots of rain and overcast weather. And even though it's grey, it's still quite warm and looking out at White Lake is so lovely that I never want to leave. Anyway, I think it's official, I am Ginger Jeans obsessed!  Or as one of my lovely instagram friends (@carlalissa) pointed out, a few bars above obssesed (psychotically involved perhaps?). If you follow me on Instagram, you'll know I've been sewing up a jeans storm and having lots of issues along the way. I mentioned in my last Ginger Jeans post, that I had finally worked up the courage to cut into my Cone Mills denim (it's from the original jeans kit Heather partnered with Workroom Social to sell). So this is that pair. Anyway, I was pretty happy with how my View B (the highwaisted skinny) jeans fit overall, but I wanted to shorten the rise just a touch. So I lowered the front by 1 inch at the lengthen/shorten line in on the front leg pattern piece, then I shortened the back leg 1/2" at the lengthen/shorten line, and I also shortened the back yoke by 1/2" (I had to make my own line because there isn't one). I thought that if  I removed the whole 1" from the back leg alone, the yoke would be really disproportionate and look weird.

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So off I went sewing. Of course I like to live on the edge, so I didn't baste everything together and test the fit before I jumped in. This was probably a mistake, but I thought I was safe because I had made these up before and this denim seemed quite close in weight and stretch to the Girl Charlee denim I used for my last pair.

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I got to the stage where both the front and back were done, I sewed up the inseam with topstitching and then decided to baste the side seams and try them on.

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All of the sudden, there seemed to be some weird crotch issues going on. There was way too much fabric, and weird smile lines. I thought that maybe I had made a grave cutting error, or maybe I had used the wrong seam allowance somewhere. But after some double checking, I couldn't find a mistake. It was really quite weird.

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So I grabbed the seam ripper, ripped out all of my inseam topstitching which was a big pain (I never did redo that inseam topstitching) and some of my beautiful front fly topstitching (I was convinced it was my best topstitching so far, so it was really hard to rip it out), and then I made some "on the fly" alterations. I took in the front crotch curve (to try and get rid of excess fabric) as much as I could with the zipper being there, and that seemed to help quite a bit. It's still not perfect and there are still lots of wrinkles, but the dark denim is pretty forgiving and they are still very wearable.

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So the question is, what went wrong? I think there are a couple different variables. The denim is different. And I have to say amazing. The Cone Mills denim is lovely to wear, feels really sturdy but not stiff, soft but not wobbly, and it retains it's stretch really well. I can easily wear this pair for 4 or 5 days and they won't bag out. So there's that. But after further investigation (and making 2 more pairs - yes really) I think it has a lot more to do with the crotch curve, my shape, and the rise alterations that I did. I won't get too into it right now, because I am planning a separate post where I will go into much more detail, but I have discovered that where your waistband sits on your body can drastically alter how pants fit (I know, some of you might be like "Hello Heather, of course it does", but I never thought about it like this) and even tiny changes to the crotch curve can make huge differences too.

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I also really struggled with my topstitching thread on this pair. When I initially tried them on and discovered my fit issues, a bunch of the topstitching popped. I'm sure you can imagine how I felt - the fit wasn't right, the topstitching popped, I almost tossed these in the bin! But I couldn't let them win - sometimes it's good to have a stubborn streak! Anyway, it was extremely frustrating, and I had to go back and re-do some of it.  I even had to go back and re-do more after I washed them once, which is really not fun on assembled jeans. I've never had this happen to me before, and I have worn and washed all my previous pairs a ton and the topstitching has never popped, or broken like this. I think it might be the Gutterman Topstitching Thread included in the kit. It was my first time using it, and it was a bit weird. Maybe it's made for industrial machines? I've used other Gutterman topstitching threads and they've been fine, but they come on a different looking spool than this stuff, so I'm not sure if it's different. Anyway, I'm not going to use it again. I would love to know if any of you that bought the denim kit had this same issue. When I went back and replaced some of the popped stitching I used Coats & Clark denim thread and it worked just fine.

Oh one more thing: My Me-Made May pledge! May has really snuck up on me - how can it be May already!! I followed along with everyone on Instagram last year, and I loved it. It was so fun to see everyone rocking their handmade wears (wares?) and seeing how people actually wear the garments they make and incorporate them into their wardrobes - I am a big fan of the daily outfit photos too. I would have loved to play along last year, but I didn't have enough wearable garments, and to be honest I didn't know what it was until about a week in. This year, I am proud to say that I rock me-made clothes pretty much everyday, and my wardrobe of RTW just hangs in my closet looking sad most of the time. Anyway, if you want more info about it, see Zo's (the creator) post here. And here is my pledge:

I, Heather of Where Heather Grows, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '15. I endeavor to wear at least one me-made garment each day for the duration of May 2015!

Will you be playing along this year? I would totally encourage you even if you can only wear one handmade thing a week. It's a fun challenge and I think it's kind of cool being part of a group making a really big statement. Anyway, if you search the hashtag #mmmay15 on Instagram you are sure to see lots of cool outfits and find lots of amazing and inspiring makers. It's actually how I found a lot of the blogs and sewists that I follow now. Hope you have had a lovely April!

High-waisted Ginger Jeans (View B)

Hey Everybody!! How's spring treating you? (Or Fall I suppose depending on your hemisphere). Or I've heard some of you out east are still suffering with winter. Blah!! Come on Mother Nature!! It's starting to warm up in Cowtown (Calgary), but right now we are at the cabin at White Lake (near Salmon Arm in British Columbia) and it's super springy here. There is still a bit of a chill in the air, but it's sunny, and as long as you stay in the sunshine, it's feels warm. Anyway, I've been going jeans crazy! I want to make all the jeans! I finished these bad boys about a week or so ag0, and I am now working on another slightly modified pair using my kit denim. Yep! I finally worked up the courage to cut into the beautiful Cone Mills denim I purchased from Closet Case Files months ago. I am really excited to see how it wears, but so far it feels wonderful. But enough about that, let's get to the pair at hand: the High-Waisted Gingers. I have wanted to try out Version B of this pattern for quite some time now. There have been all kinds of amazing looking high-waisted Gingers out there, and every time a new pair popped into my blog feed, I thought "I gotta try those".  So I finally put the pdf together (which went swimmingly, by the way), traced it off, cut it out and got to work.

Full disclosure: I would never tuck my shirt in like this, but I wanted you to be able to see just how high-waisted these bad boys are, and how they look on a round, smooshy, vertically challenged figure such as mine. I made a size 10, and didn't change anything except to shorten the legs (at the lengthen/shorten line) by 2 inches.

Unfortunately, when you can see the whole jean, I don't think it is the most flattering garment for me. I think rather than suck things in, they just squish things around. That being said, I think they look great with my t-shirt untucked. I also think if I would have went with pocket stays, that may have helped quite a bit too. From now on, I will always make pocket stays!

I do totally dig the vintage/retro feel of the high-waisted jeans, especially with cuffs and paired with my chucks. (Shanny is going for the money shot in this pictureˆ - she's such a ham.)

Here's the back, again I think they look great with my t-shirt down, but not so much with my t-shirt tucked in. The yoke is much to long for me, and the pockets need to be moved up a tiny bit.

I think with some minor tweaking, this version will look really great. I'm just a bit too petite/short-waisted for it as is. My plan for the next pair is to shorten the rise a little (about an inch), and for the back I will take that same length out of the back leg and the yoke (so 1/2" each).

The fabric I used for this pair is some of that designer denim that Girl Charlee has been selling. It's my second pair using their denim, and I am happy to report that it's really nice. The recovery is great, and it seems to stand up well to multiple washes. I don't think they have this exact fabric in stock anymore, but they do have some other ones that look promising.

Something I did differently with this pair is that I used a different topstitching thread. Instead of going with my usual Gutterman topstitching thread, I used some heavy weight, lavender Sulky thread (specifically it's called Premium Sulky Heavy 12 Wt. Mercerized Cotton - it comes in tons of colours which is awesome). It worked great! I had way less issues with my machine being finicky and getting thread caught in the bobbin area, and it was so much easier to make bartacs with. I also used a topstitching needle, instead of a denim needle and I think that really helped too.

So I could easily end this post here, and you could go off thinking that everything is hunky dory over here in the Where Heather Grows sewing land, but that would not be true. After I wore these jeans for a couple days, I decided that the waistband was just not comfortable. It felt great when I was standing, but when I sat for more than about 10 minutes they felt really uncomfortable. The waistband was digging into my belly, and I just didn't like it! I had used denim for both my waistband and the facing (which I didn't do on my previous pairs - I used quilting cotton for the facing), ao I decided that this was the problem. The denim was making the waistband too stiff. I debated just leaving it, but then I thought, "No way, then they'll just sit in my cupboard and I won't wear them". And otherwise these are a perfectly wearable pair of jeans, and the curiosity cat part of me really wanted to know if changing the waistband would help. So off I went, I cut myself a new waistband (I'm short so I had extra denim leftover) and a new facing out of some quilting cotton. Then I patiently and carefully unpicked the waistband. Everything was going great until I pulled up the zipper, and completely pulled the zipper pull right off!!

I was so choked! Anyway, still not wanting a pair of jeans I worked so hard on to go to waste, I proceeded to repair the zipper. I did a google search, but I couldn't find a way that I would be confident with, to put the zipper pull back on. So I unpicked the whole fly, and inserted a new zipper. It was not easy, and I ended up having to redo the topstitching around the fly (four times!!), but I got it done. Then I installed the new waistband, and I am happy to report, they are much comfier!! Yay!!

Unfortunately, I have started work on another pair of Gingers (yes, those kit denim ones I mentioned above) and I am having all kinds of problems with them too. I'm not sure what went wrong, but I was thinking that everything was going great, my topstitching was looking awesome (probably the best I've ever done) and then I got to the place where I could try them on. The topstitching proceeded to come loose in a couple different places (what's up with that?) and for some reason, the fit in the front is all screwed up (I'll spare you a photo but lets just say there is a toe of the camel variety and it is very unwelcome!). I do not know what I have done. I didn't change anything with the crotch curve, and I don't know what is going on with the topstitching. The only thing I can think of is that the topstitching thread that came with my kit is either a) too heavyweight for my machine or b) faulty. And I must have screwed up a seam allowance or something for the fit. Anyway, last night was a dark night full of feeling sorry for myself, ice cream, and wanting to cry over my horrible sewing skills, but after some great pep talks from my Instagram buddies (thank you all so very much!), and a good night's sleep, I am feeling much better. I'm going to try and salvage this project, but in the end if I can't, then I'll just throw it in the bin and move on. I mean, it's only fabric (and yes it's really gorgeous Cone Mills denim fabric) but no one's going to die if they end up in the trash. I mean it's not open heart surgery or something like that. And we all know I have lots more jeans, so I don't have to go naked. Anyway, I think it's really good to share my fails, and my faults too, so there you have it!

Sending you all lots of good sewing vibes and hoping you aren't having any disasters like me (but if you are, trust me it will get better!).

Forever in Blue Jeans...Ginger Take 3

Do you ever have those days where things just don't work out? That seems to be the story of my week with photos. I'm just in a bit of a funk. I finished these jeans on Sunday afternoon and have made several attempts to photograph them, but I am just not happy with how I look in the photos. I finally decided today, after 4 attempts that I was just gonna go with it. I mean come on, I made another pair of Ginger jeans!! I can't just hide them away from my blog because I'm having a bad hair/skin/shoe day.  So with that in mind, I am presenting you with quite a mish-mash of photos, but I think this combo showcases my latest Gingers quite well.

This is Version A again. I made a few changes this time: I lengthened the rise by 1 inch, and I lengthened the front crotch curve by 1/4" (I thought I would start small). I had a few smile lines on my last pair, so I thought that might help, but I don't think it made much difference; the lines are still there, they are just a bit straighter now. I might add another 1/4" next time, but I'm not sure. I'm pretty happy with the fit as is, so I don't really want to mess around with it too much more.

I also slimmed the leg down by an inch. I took 1/4 inch off each side seam on each leg, grading to zero about mid thigh. This made the legs skinny, but not super skinny like my last pair. I quite like it, although I am struggling with shoe choices. I have these cute booties, but they just look wrong, and I don't always want to wear tall boots. Yeesh! First world problems. But seriously what kind of shoes do you were with stovepipe legs?

For something different, I went with blue topstitching thread. I really like how it turned out. My machine had some troubles making barracks with this time, and I'm not really sure why. I'm thinking that maybe this thread was just a pinch too thick, or I might need a slightly thicker needle. Anyway, I took what I could get so the barracks don't match and are a little bit longer than I would have liked.

This lovely dark stretch denim came from JoAnn's in Palm Desert. We were in California back in November for a work thing for John, so we hit JoAnn's and we found lots of great fabric. I know that some of you American sewists don't think too highly of it, but I found a number of great bottom weight fabrics (at good prices) and some great flannels and shirtings too, plus I got a wicked deal on Olfa blades for my rotary cutter (half-price - and they were regularly priced half of what I pay for them here). So I have nothing but love for JoAnn's myself. (For my fellow Canucks, JoAnn's is like a combination of Michaels & Fabricland/Fabricville, i.e. Crafter's Heaven.) Anyway, I think this denim is awesome. It's stretchy, has great recovery, and it's kind of brushed on the wrong side, so it is super soft and it feels like pyjamas! Hooray for pyjama jeans!

As you can see, this pair isn't as highwaisted as the pattern's Version B, but they still hit just below my belly button. I really want to try Version B, but I'm afraid they might be a bit too high for this petite lady. I'm afraid the waist would sit right underneath my boobs, and I'm not sure that would be very flattering. But who knows? The 70's are making a comeback right? I may still give them a go just to see. I also went a bit rivet crazy on this pair. I changed the coin pocket so that you would see both sides of it (basically I just folded it under and topstitched) so that I could have more rivets! You can't see it, but I put rivets on both corners of both back pockets too.

I'm not sure I am in love with the high-waistedness. I can't decide if it's really flattering, or too mom-jean. You pretty much never see my waist anyway, cause my tops usually cover it, so it's not really a big deal, but I'm still not really sure about it. I probably just need to get used to it. I also went with the built in pocket stays as described in Heather Lou's  sew-a-long. I think they do make a difference in taming the tum, and adding a bit more structure.

As you can see I have also made 2 more Linden Sweatshirts. I opted for the short sleeved, hemmed version this time, but I'm not entirely sure it's for me. Super comfy, but I think my figure benefits from the hem band, so I may just stick with the long-sleeved version. Or maybe I'll just add a hem band next time. I have already professed my love for Linden in my last post, but I have to say it again, it's a great pattern. I whipped these up on my serger in just over an hour, and they are so comfy!! Both are made out of hacci sweat knits I had in my stash, but I think they are both from fabric.com. So that's it for now.

Do you have bad photo/blogging days? How do you cope, and/or what do you do to get out of the funk? Also have you made Ginger Jeans yet, if not, what's holding you back? 

Top 5 Hits of 2014 (+ reflections & goals)

This was a tough list for me to make. I have been lucky to have a number of hits this year, although a lot of them have come in the last six months or so. I really love making a garment that fits me well and looks nice, but that I also wear a lot. So anyway enough blabbing, here are my top 5 hits of 2014:

1. Self-drafted Beetle Blouse - before you get too excited, I drafted this blouse with a pattern-maker template, so it was pretty easy. It was the first button down shirt I ever made, and I still love it to death. I wore in once or twice a week all summer and it still gets a bit of wear this winter with a cardigan thrown over top.

2. Sleeveless Moneta - the sleeveless part of this dress isn't the greatest as there is a lot of gaping, but throw a sweater or a jean jacket on top and you would never know. I wore this dress a ton in the summer and then I paired it with boots and tights for the colder months. It is super comfy and so easy to throw on. Plus I find it goes with everything. 

3. Grainline Studio's Archer - Dudes!! So far, this is my all time favourite pattern - to make and to wear. The buffalo check one was my first attempt - a bit of a wearable muslin. And then my Crazy Cat Lady version is where I really perfected the fit. I have made this shirt up 5 times for myself already (with 2 more in process right now) and once for my Mom. Now that I have my pattern altered perfectly, it is a cinch to make up. I have done an FBA and added a bust dart for my TNT version. I know some of you don't like bust darts, but it make a world of difference in the fit and look of a garment - I promise you it's worth the effort to add one. Someday I may try a dart less FBA, but for now I'm quite happy with how this baby turns out.

4. Ginger Jeans - I have made 2 pairs of Gingers so far (here and here) and I love both of them. I wear them all the time. I honestly can't rave about this pattern enough. It fit me pretty much perfectly right off the bat and the instructions are fantastic. I see many, many more pairs in my future, and I have a really hard time seeing myself buy another pair of RTW pants again.

5. Holiday Party Anna - okay, so this dress isn't really a wardrobe staple, but I absolutely love it. And everybody needs a good party dress, right? I felt so amazing wearing this at my husband's work Christmas party, and I was so proud that I made it myself. I think the colour really suited me, and the border print worked out amazingly. (If I do say so myself LOL.)

So as I said before, this was a tough list for me to make, so I also wanted to include some honourable mentions. I love my Nettie bodysuit and Chardon skirt, I love my Sutton blouses, and I love my Hudsons (see below). I have actually made 4 pairs of Hudsons and they are my go to lounge pant.

I also have to mention my Pyjama Eaters. I had so much fun making them (and posing them, photographing them, and writing about them), and every time I look  at them I smile.

Okay, time for a recap and some goals now: I have had a ton of fun sewing this year and I have learned a ton. I really feel like I have found my calling. It seems I have been searching and searching for a hobby my whole life, and this is one of the first times that I have stayed really passionate and thrilled about something for such a long time (well a year anyway but I'm just as excited about it, or maybe more than the day I started so I think that's pretty good). I look forward to fine tuning the skills I have learned so far and also tackling more complex patterns this year. I am trying really hard not to be intimidated by anything (especially patterns labelled intermediate or gasp! advanced), because I am one of those people who has to do it to learn it. I would also like to attempt making a coat or a jacket this year (hello #rigelbomberjacketjanuary!), and I would really like to make more jeans and some shorts. I am hoping to eventually have a complete handmade wardrobe, but we'll see.  I would also like to make my husband some things - maybe a shirt or two and some lounge pants. I'm trying not to set lofty goals as that seems to make me want to do the opposite - apparently I have a thing about rebelling against rules.

So there you have it - I am finished my wrap up for 2014. I have a bit of a backlog of projects to show you, so I'll get on that soon too! Hope you had a fabulous 2014 and I look forward to sharing my 2015 with you!

Ginger Jeans Take 2

First off, thank you all so much for the comments on my last post, for all the helpful tips and support, and also for reading my blog. I have never had so much feedback and I am super grateful for it! Best blogging/hobby community ever! Yay Sewcialists!! Secondly, I have to apologize for these photos. Not my best photography, but the day I took them it was cold and I was having troubles with my tripod, so I took them inside. The colour/contrast is not as good as it usually is but I think you can see well enough to get a good idea of how these Gingers fit!

So as I mentioned last time, I decided to go down to a size 10. This was a great decision as I think the fit is even better now. I also decided to make the legs a bit slimmer as this time of year I mostly wear boots, and skinnies are so much easier to tuck in. I took a 1/2" off of each side of each leg, grading to nothing about mid-thigh. So that takes a total of 2" off each leg. I used this tutorial and it worked really well.

The denim I used is from Girl Charlee and I am really happy with it. It's got a nice stretch and it recovers really well. I have been wearing this pair for about 3 days now and they haven't bagged out. They stretch with wear for sure, but not so much that it's noticeable to the outside eye and not so much that I feel like I have to wash them again to get them fitting properly.

I used a different colour for the top-stitching thread this time too. It's more of a coppery-orangey colour. I like the gold, but I though it would be fun to switch it up. I was debating doing red or blue topstitching too, but I chickened out and went with something more "regular". I don't have much to say about construction this time. The pattern instructions are still very straight forward, and I found things went more smoothly and faster the second time around because I had done everything once before. I really like making jeans. It's so soothing and satisfying; challenging but not overwhelming. I also love wearing jeans so I'm sure there will be many more pairs to come.

Check out that fit? (I can't believe I am posting a photo of my butt on the internet again, yikes!) I was a tiny bit worried that by going down a size the fit might change, but I am happy to say that I think it just got better. There are still a couple little wrinkles in the front, so for my next pair I might try to lengthen the front crotch just a smidge as Katie suggested in the comments of my last post. But other than that, I don't really want to mess around with them too much.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this last time, but I had a heck of time getting the topstitching around the fly to look right. I unpicked it three times before I was happy. On this pair, I only unpicked it once. You know what they say, practice makes perfect. Also, I used barracks to sew on the belt loops this time. My beautiful Pfaff actually has a barrack function, so it makes it really easy.

I also took a few shots during construction, so you could see the insides this time.

I know Heather Lou suggests having the right side of your pocket fabric showing, but that just didn't seem right to me. I had some kind of mental block about it for some reason. This way if my pocket turns out you see the right side of the fabric.

I love this rainbow variegated thread with denim (well really, I love it with everything, but it looks extra awesomesauce with denim). One of my favourite things about sewing my own clothes is being able to add little details like this. I love having a unique piece of clothing that no one else will ever have. I can't believe it's taken me so long to really start sewing my own clothes. I can't imagine all the craziness I would have come up with when I was younger. I do remember cutting my jeans up the side seams and adding a strip of fabric. Did you ever do that? A couple of older cool girls at school were doing it, and I loved my pair that I did it to and wore them to death. I wonder why I stopped there? I was probably just too intimidated by fancy patterns. If only I had had the internet back then. The things I would have gotten up too...oh well, I am happy that I am doing it now!

I obviously haven't worked up the nerve to try flat fell seams yet. The serger/overlocker way is just working out so well for me, and it looks pretty too! As you can see, I skipped out on the rivets again. It's not because I don't like rivets, it's because I couldn't find any locally. I have finally ordered a bunch so I will give installing them a try on my next pair. Or I might even add them to this pair, we'll see when they get here.

So there you have it, Ginger Jeans take 2! I have been wearing them pretty much non-stop since I finished them. I can't wait to make more!

What is your favourite thing to sew? Are you doing any handmade Christmas gifts this year, and if so, have you started making them, or are you procrastinating really hard like me?

And just in case you are going through pug withdrawals, here is a picture of Quincie checking out my butt:

Happy Sewing!

JEANS! I Made Jeans!!

I made Closet Case Files Ginger Jeans to be exact - and I'm pretty tickled with myself. Can you tell?

I would love to tell you that I am a pants fitting wizard and I make pants all the time getting the fit perfect, but I think we all know that just isn't true. This pattern did all the work for me. I feel like Heather Lou drafted this pattern just for me; the fit is amazing! I honestly did nothing to it, well I shortened the legs by 3" but that's it! This is how it fit me right out of the envelope...err..computer pdf file. You know what I mean.

I took these photos when these babies were fresh out of the wash so there is something going on with the one leg in the picture above, but I assure you it's just cause I didn't straighten them out as I was super excited to get them photographed. Upon looking at these photos, I know there are some wrinkles in the front and the back, but I'm not anxious to mess around with anything as I think the fit is so much better than any RTW jeans I have. But that being said, if you have any advice for me, I would love to hear it.

I made version A - the mid-rise stovepipe leg version. I am a little scared of the high-waisted version as I am so short, but after making this version and seeing all the awesome high-waisted versions out there I may just give it a go. My top-stitching isn't perfect, but I'm quite happy with it, and unless you get up close and personal, you probably won't notice any wonkiness. I added bar tacks to the back pockets as I didn't have any rivets on hand for this pair, and I really like how it turned out. You want to see another picture of my butt now, don't you?

I made a straight size 12, and while the fit is pretty spot on, I find them a little loose after wearing them for awhile as jeans always seem to stretch out. They are perfect when the first come out of the wash, but after about an hour they stretch out quite a bit. I took these babies with me when we were away last week, and after about 3 days of wear they were pretty baggy, so for my next pair I plan to size down. In my experience, that's just the way jeans are. On my hunt for the perfect fitting jeans over the years, I've worn high end designers like Citizens of Humanity, J Brand, Paige, 7 for All Mankind, AG, and I've worn Jessica Simpson, Gap, Old Navy, Next, Top Shop, and Joe Fresh (and many, many others). All of them stretch out with wear, so I always try to start with a snug fit. I'm sure going down a size will fix this issue.

I bought this denim from Corrine at The Sewing Affair and it's awesome. It's a gorgeous dark wash, and it's super comfy and soft. After sewing with it, and wearing it, I would definitely recommend it. It's a great weight for jeans, but I imagine it would work perfectly for a skirt or a jacket. I really want to make a denim jacket; know of any good patterns out there?

The leg on this jean is great (although I usually wear something a little skinnier in the winter as it makes them easier to tuck into boots). It's slim and it looks great cuffed too. I should also mention that I interfaced the waistband with a medium weight fusible interfacing. I love this feature. It makes the waistband maintain its shape. I have a round belly and I usually find that after wearing a pair of pants for awhile, the waistband folds over and kind of bunches up, but that isn't a problem with a little bit of stabilization (is that a word?). It's so awesome to be able to make your own jeans and add little things like that. I also used my rainbow variegated thread to serge all the seams, which looks awesome if I cuff them, and I used a really light weight cotton to line the waistband and for the pockets. For my next pair I will use a little bit heavier cotton as I think it will wear better next to the heavier denim over time.

So there you have it: my Ginger Jeans. I really enjoyed the jean making process and I am just in the process of cutting out another pair (I took a break to blog - FINALLY); I see many more pairs in my future. I am so happy I bought this pattern because it fits me so well. I am now having dreams of cords and chinos, and even dress pants, the possibilities are endless! The instructions with this pattern are really good and the sew along is great for visuals. If you have ever been intimidated by sewing pants, this is a great pattern to quell your fears (well it was for me anyway). And don't be intimidated, it's just sewing. Go slow and sew one seam at a time, it's easy when you break it down step by step. (Another great tool I would recommend is the Pants Construction class by Sandra Betzina on Craftsy. It's awesome and has lots of tips and tricks. Plus Sandra Betzina is a hoot and a wealth of knowledge.)

Have you sewn jeans, or pants before? How did it go? Got any fitting tips and tricks to share? Do you have a favourite RTW (ready-to-wear) pair of jeans that fits perfectly or have you always been searching, like me?