When you reach the end of the spool, it's probably time to stop [making jeans]

[rebeccmeister]

I am working on sewing my own jeans because I am tired of pants that are poorly made out of flimsy fabric and that don't fit well.

Saturday, I taped together the pattern, then traced it onto newsprint, then cut out the newsprint, pinned it to the fabric, and cut the fabric. I am making a pair of these jeans, for what that's worth. I wanted to do this so I could learn more about the order of operations for pants-making, because I'd like to make other pants for myself. Maybe not always jeans, but good work pants.

Today, I started sewing.

So much top-stitching. It appears I haven't chosen the easiest thread for top-stitching. Typical.

The steps were a bit unclear for some of the bits about positioning and putting in the zipper, so I had to re-do some bits several times. The pockets were also an interesting exercise in spatial reasoning skills because the seams at the bottom of the pockets were French seams.

I had to stop before the stage where I get to put the front and back together, because I ran out of denim thread, plus I am tired and more prone to making mistakes. So all told, this is going to wind up being around a 3-day project.

If I do this all again, I suspect I could get it done in 2 days.

They aren't kidding when they say it would be a lot faster to use two machines, one set up for top stitching, one set up for the remainder. I have threaded so many needles today.

I think the end product will look pretty good, though, and fit well, and the fabric is very good.

I already had a lot of respect for people who sew my clothing. I have even more, now.

Comments

[threemeninaboat]

YOU ARE BRAVE!

[rebeccmeister]

But on that note...where have you been ordering your pants, most recently?

I don't think I'll ever go to the lengths of making most of my own clothes. But I thought I might as well give things a try, at least once!

[threemeninaboat]

https://www.lee.com/shop/curvy-fit-maxwell-trouser-modern-series

[rebeccmeister]

Ah! Yeah, I think Lee are my current go-to if I'm paying someone else to make pants for me. That said, I had one pair of trousers from them that had a nice herringbone pattern on them, but when I reordered the same style, the quality of the workmanship was noticeably worse. I hope that was just a one-off experience. Pants, man. Pants.

[threemeninaboat]

I DID get a really shoddy pair (1 of 8), but they quickly exchanged it for free.

[myka]

I always wanted to learn to sew as I dislike shopping for clothes. Unfortunately, the one sewing class I took was not very good...

[rebeccmeister]

Working on the jeans has reminded me that sewing requires a LOT of different skills. I think the creators of the pattern I'm using have tried pretty hard to include everything that a novice would need to know to succeed, but even so, I'm finding information gaps left and right.