A superb pattern for jeans

These Ginger Jeans have been one of THE most satisfying makes! I’ve only made two pairs of simple elasticated waist trousers before so it was a bit of a leap, but at the end I was in shock that I had something that actually looked like a real pair of jeans! I sewed these on Guthrie&Ghani 2-day workshop which most definitely helped.

Fabric:

I used 11oz stretch denim from Guthrie&Ghani since you get 20% off fabric for their workshops. It’s pretty stretchy so these are really comfy.

The advice on the Closet Core website was not to interface the waistband if you wanted it not too stiff. My denim had quite a bit of stretch and after basting it together, I could see that the waistband had a lot of give, in fact my waistband piece had stretched by 2cm after trying it on a few times so I trimmed it back again. I ended up interfacing both the waistband and lining.

Fit:

I cut a straight size 8 which was closest to both my hip and waist measurements, and made the high-waisted stovepipe version. With the paper pattern, this means overlapping two pattern pieces, but it does say on their website that the PDF version has extra pieces that means this isn’t necessary.

They fit pretty well straight off. I took in 0.5cm at the sides seams over the hips (didn’t need to adjust the waistband). As I did this I realised it meant adjusting more pieces than I thought – front, back, front pocket pieces and yoke.

I reduced the depth of the yoke at centre back by 2.5cm. This resulted in a more rectangular yoke piece as I had lost some of the classic V-shape, so I may adjust this and the back leg pieces on the next version.

I shortened the pattern by 2.5cm at the knees, but then once I’d sewn them up I took another 8cm off the bottom hem. Something had obviously gone amiss with my measurement taking!

The high waist felt just right for me and in proportion, ie not too high around the natural waist but more around the belly button.

Having now gone through the process, sewing jeans is not nearly as scary as I thought.

My full review is on the blog, with lots more details and photos.