Hey Dudes! How's the weekend going? I think you can tell by this dorky smug pose that I'm pretty happy with this pair of jeans - actually, if I'm completely honest, I am totally in love with this whole outfit, and I don't think I ever need to sew anything ever again because I'm just going to wear this outfit everyday for the rest of my life. Ha!! I kid - well only about that last part, I mean really? Me give up sewing? I don't think so!
Anyway, after my success with both the Ginger (which hasn't really been mentioned much during this Quest, but I've sewn it up numerous times, see here, here, here, here, here and here, plus a couple of unblogged pairs - oh my gosh have I really sewn that many?!?!) and Angel patterns I decided it might be fun to mash them up.
I really like the back pockets of the Angel jeans so I stuck with those. I also used Lisa's awesome flat-felled seam tutorial and finally got that centre back seam to look like it's actually centred. It's a bit of a nit-picky thing, but it always bothered me. If you just sew the back legs together, serge, then topstitch, then the actual seam is in the centre, but when you sew the topstitching it looks a bit off. Using Lisa's method, it ends up looking perfectly centred. I plan on using it from now on, and I expect the more I practice it, the better I'll get (just like anything right?).
While I do appreciate having a good bootcut in my jean arsenal, I am pretty addicted to skinny jeans. Especially in the winter, as they are super easy to tuck into boots, so I decided to go with Ginger for the legs. I used my modified front and back leg pieces (by modified I mean that I increased the rise of view A by 1" and skinnied the legs to match view B) and the back yoke from the Gingers too. I really love the pocket shape from the Angels, so that's what I ended up using for this pair, and by doing that I also had to reshape the coin pocket a little bit - but I just eyeballed that.
Then I used the super curvy waistband of the Angels. I really like how it hugs my body and doesn't gape at the back. For this pair, I made it slightly narrower so that I wouldn't need two buttons.
I also decided to do something a little different with my topstitching. Somewhere either on the internets or maybe in really life, I saw a pair of jeans with red bar tacks and I loved the contrast, so that's what I decided to try on this pair. Lucky for me, my machine was in really good spirits and it totally cooperated with me. I love how it turned out! I used my favourite Sulky thread again, do I sound like a broken record? I love that stuff!
I should also mention that this denim was sent to me free of charge by Caroline from Blackbird fabrics to test out. She had it in her shop, but she didn't have time to sew up a pair of jeans and she really wanted to make sure it was up to snuff. So of course, I happily agreed to try it out; a bit of fabric testing if you will. It has since sold out, but I'll tell you about it anyway. I really like the colour of this denim, but I don't think it's *perfect* for skinny jeans. It's got a nice hand but it felt slightly plastic-y on the wrong side when I was working with it. It does feel comfy to wear though, the right side is quite soft. It's a cotton/spandex/poly blend, and for my preference, I think the poly content is just slightly too high. I think they add poly to denim for it's recovery and I've noticed it in the labels of lots of designer denim lately (I'm always researching!), but I think the key is finding the right amount. I will admit that the recovery is pretty good though, I can get about 2 days wear out of these before having to throw them in the wash, which is more than I can say for some of the other denims I've tried out. Anyway, I passed on my review to Caroline and she has decided to look for something else, so keep an eye on her shop if you're interested.
While we're on the fabric subject, I have to say that I am so delighted to have so many amazing sewing friends with fabric shops that I get to support. It makes me feel so happy to be able to support small, independent businesses, and ecstatic to support ones owned by my friends. I think that between Caroline, Katie, and now Sonja - I'm pretty much set. Hooray for sewing friends!
Anyway, lets get to the list of gory details:
- started with a size 10 low-rise view of the Ginger Jeans, and a size 6 of the Angel bootcut jeans
- slimmed the legs down to match the high-rise skinny Ginger jeans, and shortened them by 2" at the lengthen/shorten line
- used back pockets and front pocket shape form the Angel pattern
- used the curved waistband from Angel but narrowed it down about 3/4" and interfaced one waistband piece with fusible knit interfacing
- lengthened the back crotch curve by 1"
- used pocket stays as described in the Ginger Jeans Sewalong
So there you have it - I think this pair is pretty much close to perfect. There are a couple of tweaks to make, but they are very, very minor. I had a bit of a hard time writing this post, because with this pair, you might think my quest should be over, and I really don't want it to end. I still have a few patterns in my stash I want to try out, in particular: the Jalie Jeans pattern, and the Hot Patterns Boyfriend jean, but I do have a couple others in the stash too (I'm a collector). So I guess I'll leave it to you, dear reader, should the quest stop here? Do you want me to keep going? Is there a particular pattern you'd like me to try, and review for you? Or are you totally sick of reading about jeans? I have acquired quite a large stash of denim, and jeans have become one of my favourite things to sew, so please let me know if you have any requests.
Also, I should mention my shirt! This is the first of 5 Granvilles I recently cut out, and I absolutely love it! I worked really hard on the plaid matching across the front (a first for me, as I usually don't), and the fabric I made it out of is so luxurious. It's a japanese cotton shirting I bought from Blackbird a few months ago. It's so soft and the perfect shirt weight. I also used some liberty fabric for the inside yoke and collar stand which coincidentally matches the pockets in these jeans. Sewing outfit win! If you want to know about what fit changes I made to this shirt, see this post.
Also, I think this picture pretty much captures the essence that is me. LOL. Hope you are having a lovely weekend!