The Sewing Goatherd: Just Real Blue Jeans

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Just Real Blue Jeans

Jeans making? Who knew that was actually something I could do? Once I made my gold skinny jeans, a whole world of possibilities opened up to me. I could make jeans! I could actually make my own jeans!! Those gold skinnies proved it wasn't an impossible task. Suddenly my mind was filled with ideas. I could make more skinny jeans! I could make boot cut jeans! I could make high waisted jeans! I could make low rise jeans! I could make purple jeans! I could make blue jeans! I didn't know where to start!

A pattern. A pattern would be a good place to start. The pattern I used to make my gold jeans was good, but rather limiting. It's for one specific type of jeans - high waisted skinnies. What I wanted was more basic. Just a good jeans pattern which I could adapt to make jeans of all varieties - high waisted, mid rise, low cut, skinny, straight leg, bootcut, or anything else that entered my mind. Thus, when I had the opportunity to be part of the Winter Wear Designs "Just Jeans" blog tour, and try out their Real Deal Jeans pattern, I took it!

The Real Deal Jeans were just the basic pattern I was looking for. With an average rise and straight legs I could modify them to my heart's content! So that is just what I did.

With all sorts of possibilities before me, I was rather torn on what type of jeans to make. A pair of plain blue denim skinnies would be a good addition to my wardrobe, but I really wanted to try my hand at making a pair of bootcut jeans too. Decisions, decisions! Thankfully, the choice was made for me. In my stash I had a lovely piece of dark blue stretch denim, gifted to me by my grandma. It was the perfect weight for skinny jeans, but a little too light for bootcut. So skinny jeans it would be.

Just plain skinny jeans however seemed a little boring, so I decided to make an extra wide, double-button waistband, and accent the jeans with silver and gold metallic top stitching. (Because I couldn't pick just one color!)

It was pretty easy to turn the regular waistband into an extra wide one. I simply took the waistband pattern piece, cut in in half lengthwise, spread the top and bottom 1" apart, and taped a strip of paper between the two before trimming off the excess paper.

Once my pattern was ready to go, the jeans came together much quicker than I expected! The pattern instructions were clear, and I saved time by using two sewing machines. I threaded my sister's machine with regular sewing thread and my machine with the top stitching thread. This way I could just switch back and forth between sewing machines rather than re-threading one machine constantly. I was amazed by how much this sped up the jeans making process!

My favorite part of sewing jeans is actually making them look like jeans. I enjoyed planning out the top stitching design on my back pockets and loved adding rivets to highlight the seams.

And, of course, hammering in jeans buttons is great fun too! This may be why I decided to put two buttons on the waistband. . .

Once those buttons were hammered in place, my jeans were done! I'd actually made a pair of real live blue jeans!

Now that these are done, my mind is already running away with plans for my next pair. I already have the pattern, now to get my hands on some more stretch denim!

To see other versions of the Real Deal Jeans, and the other jeans patterns by Winter Wear designs, check out the rest of the blog tour! (And just in case you were wondering, the shirt I'm wearing with my new jeans is a modified version of the Outer Banks Boatneck Tee, also by Winter Wear Designs)