So these jeans have been finished a while now, I just haven’t had the desire to blog about them. Don’t get me wrong, I like them, but they don’t fit quite right now thanks to me dropping a few kgs. So, I fell a bit out of love with them. Anyway, here’s the last piece to their story.
There was so much frankenpatterning on this garment I ended up like a crazy, multiple personalitied person…
So we left off here, with pattern traced, slashed and spread.
Then there was a calico created, and a calico adjusted. Unsurprisingly there was waaaaaaaay too much room in the leg of these pants – even with the wide legged look I was going for. This was rectified with some quick cutting. The photo below shows what was cut off and then transferred back to the pattern. Like my floral ‘calico’? I got a bolt for equivalent $2 p/m at Spotlight – bargain! 
There’s also a whole lot of drafting that’s gone on up top.
Pockets
The back of the pockets (side pieces) were re-drafted in to two pieces to avoid uncomfortable bulk in the pocket bag. So now, they’re denim up top and cotton down below. You might recognise the pretty floral cotton from my Happy homemade shirred tunic. Also, the shape of pockets was changed – bringing the entrance up higher – clearly a very technical description 
Pocket facings
These have also been re-drafted. You can see below shown with pink dotted lines how the pocket was reshaped, and also the whole pocket facing changed. The facing will now join up to centre front, this should help to keep the pocket back in place and not scrunching up. The front pocket bag is shown with the blue dotted line too.
Enough about that – let me now introduce the finished product:
Some notes:
- Belt loops: If you’re going to go down the path of v8774 watch the belt loops. If I had my time again I’d make them thinner. Just personal preference.
- Belt loops: Also, for some unknown reason the pattern has you put the side back belt loops joining to the top of the waistband down to the bottom yolk seam… weird. I blindly followed the instructions without thinking and then had to cut them out of the yolk and reposition the bottom of the loop to the bottom of the waistband. What. the.
- Fly: I had never made a fly before. I didn’t really have any dramas which was nice! Only change I made was instead of bias binding it, I just overlocked the edge.
- Buttonhole: The worst bit of these was the freaking buttonhole!!! It would just not do what it was told!!! Fabric wasn’t feeding properly, stitches were all over the place, I had to unpick the thing something like four times! What was more frustrating is that on two layers of interfaced denim, testing the buttonhole, it worked perfectly, every goddam time!!! GAH! Oh well, the buttonhole eventually got there and the jeans have a keyhole shaped buttonhole now.
- Pin tucks: Those pretty lines on all the pockets are just super tiny pin tucks. Length was measured and drawn straight on with tailors chalk. Taken from my inspiration jeans.
So that’s it. My new jeans. What do you think? Have you made a garment and straight away filed it under ‘meh’?
Hope everyone in Melbourne had a great Melbourne Cup Day too
Z xx
wow! They look amazing. I particularly like the pin tucks, they’re great! Good job. I want to try jeans but havent had the guts yet.
Ow thank you! You should give jeans a go, denim is a dream to sew with!
They’re gorgeous! I love the pintuck details. Congratulations on making a pair of jeans – I’m too scared, but really want to have a go!
Thanks so much! You should do it! I think the fitting is the hardest bit, and if you make wide legged jeans, well, there’s less fitting
It’s a pitty that you’re not in love with what appears to be a labour of love. Those pintucks are awesome! Well done.
Thank you Blogless Anna! (I love that name so I had to say it
)
I agree with Anna, too bad you’re not in love with them. Especially after all that work. I definitely have made items that went straight tot he back of the closet. But those jeans are totally wearable and the pintucks are a great added detail.
Thank you! Maybe it’s one of those, ‘I’ve spent so much time staring at you during construction that I can never ever wear you’ moments. Hopefully if I hide them from my eyes long enough I’ll pull them out and heart them
Yes! That is a good possibility. You may just be so over the sight of them. You will love them again.
Dude those pintucks are rockin’! Great job, sometimes love takes time.
haha, too much time!
These are fantastic! I am very envious of anybody who can make trousers. I love the pintucks too!
Thank you! You should try some trousers
I think all the detailing is amazing, those pin tucks!! We have all been in the ‘meh’ basket at some time or other with our sewing, even if you don’t love these because of the fit you should be proud of the details and you can learn from that and apply then to a better pattern
What a positive outlook! Thank you! In fact, everyone who’s commented has made me quite chuffed about these – still may not actually wear them, but I’ll appreciate them
Jeans! Amazing!!! I don’t think I will ever attempt jeans – shopping for them is hard enough, fitting for them will probably make me suicidal.
I’m trying pants next.
Re ‘meh’ garments… my me-made wardropbe is full of them! I recently separated my me-mades to one section of my wardrobe and I reckon I only wear about 1/4 of them regularly… sometimes the fit is wrong, the colours, wrong, the style doesn’t suit me… MEH!!!!
I’m still glad for the learning experience though… but I’m wondering how much money I’ve spent on the fabric and notions on those unworn Meh-Me-Mades.
Yelck, shopping for jeans is the worst – if you happen to stumble upon a pair that work, you gotta buy them at the time! Yayaya, make some pants, can’t wait to see
I think over time my ‘meh-me-mades’ (p.s. love that and I totally think there’s a blog post in it!) are dwindling, now that I actually think about whether that hot hot hot garment in the illustration or photo will actually suit ME. Likewise with fabric. I like your outlook on the learning experience though – don’t think about the spend lol 
Maybe one day you’ll love your meh-me-mades.
Great jeans! Love the pintuck detail! I’ve yet to try sewing a pair of jeans, although I do have a pair in my SWAP queue. These are great!
Oooh look forward to seeing yours!!
Hats off to you as you made pants, something I’m never going to do. I love the pintucks on the jeans. If your not in love with them, maybe put them away for a while and then get them out later, I find this helps for items I fall out of love with.
Looking forward to meeting you at the both the fabric shopping day and the cocktail date.
These are my third pair of pants – yay! I actually really like making them, because store bought pants never fit me right and gape in all the wrong places
I think I’ll pull them out in a few months and be all like, ‘oh yeah, nice pintucks, might wear these’ – hopefully anyway 
Look forward to meeting you too and some other sewing locals (and not so locals maybe!). Thanks for organising 
It’s a good thing denim is a dream to sew, coz it’s a b*tch in just about every other aspect (fitting, buttonholes, bulk when you have too many layers…) Reckon you’ve got a pretty schmick copy of your rabbit boys – I’d love to know where you got the rivets from though?
OMG I very nearly had a tantrum dealing with that buttonhole… Rivets are from Darn Cheap – Glenhuntly road
These are great! If I seen them in the store I’d totally buy them. Love the pintuck details! I’m working on my first pair of jeans right now.
Oh that’s so awesome of you to say! Hope your jeans are going well – look forward to seeing them!!
These look so cute! I love them! The pintucks are a great detail!
I think they look wonderful and I am very impressed! JEANS! I am not sure I have the guts to even attempt a pair!