How many is too many? According to the Great Google, the average American woman owns seven pairs of jeans. 25% own ten or more. Now, I'm including my Black Moto jeans and my Corduroy Flares in this list (as well as my first-ever pair, which were technically a wearable muslin) - but this is my sixth pair of Closet Case Files Ginger Jeans. Apparently, I'm still below average. It feels like a lot of jeans.
So, the story: I muslined my first pair of Gingers (High rise, skinny) in Denim of Unknown Origins, ended up with a leg twist problem but overall a fantastically fitting pair of jeans, so I moved on to other styles. The whole time I was thinking how much I wanted to recreate that first pair in a better quality denim, and solve the leg twist problem. Eventually, the leg twist bothered me so much that I caved and bought another batch of denim - and here we are!
The denim is a 98% cotton 2% lycra from Draper's Fabrics (Fun fact, except the Denim of Unknown Origins I found at a secondhand fabric market to use for the muslin, all six of my Gingers are made from Draper's Denim.) and I've made exactly zero fit adjustments from the last pair. I scoured the fat quarter bins at the quilt shop for the perfect pocketing, and the hardware is from Miss Maude's - leftover from my last order when I wisely decided to order four of everything. I've chosen antique nickel instead of copper for the hardware this time, and it's taken some getting used to but I think I like it.
I also used the same pocket design from my corduroy flares, which let me tell you, is a lot more obvious in contrasting topstitching thread than it is in matching thread on corduroy. It was a bit of a shock at first butt-glance, but I think I like it. Kinda stuck with it now, anyways.
Since it's TNT month over on the Sewcialists blog, I've decided to do a bit of a roundup of my single most-repeated pattern, so you guys can see how they've evolved, and how I work them into my life.
One.
High waisted, skinny. Original post here. Added leg length, modified waistband and back yoke.
Living with these jeans: The denim doesn't quite have the required stretch which is fine everywhere except the backs of my knees when I crouch down, or try to sit on my feet. Leg twist is problematic. I rushed through the finishing and didn't add a butt pocket decoration. I'm going to need to do a better job of sewing down the belt loops at some point. I'm seriously considering chopping these off into shorts now that I've completed #6, as all my non-fixable issues with them are in the legs. I wear them maybe once every two weeks, less now that the sixth pair has replaced them.
(Bonus: evolution of 8 months of hairstyles!)
Two.
Mid rise, bootcut. Original post here. Added leg length, modified waistband.
Living with these jeans: I love this denim. I made these because I wasn't sure I would want to wear high waisted pants all the time, but as it turns out I do, in fact, just want to wear high waisted pants all the time. There's nothing really wrong with them, I just don't wear them very often. I have other, more appealing options. Maybe once every few weeks.
Three.
High waisted, flare. Original post here. Added leg length, used waistband/yoke from version 1, wide hem.
Living with these jeans: These were not supposed to be the jeans I reached for every day. They were an experiment to see if I could work high rise flares into my wardrobe and the verdict is I totally can. They're probably my most worn of all. My one regret is that I used a regular zipper instead of a jeans zipper, and the bulky head pushes the fly away from my body, which makes for a kind of unattractive silhouette if viewed from the wrong angle. I am afraid to fix this, lest I mess up my favorite pants. I wear them at least once, often twice, a week.
Four.
High waisted skinny, moto hack. Original post here. Modified pretty much everything.
Living with these jeans: I seriously regret interfacing the waistband on this pair. Never. Again. I've got it on my to-do list to remove and re-set a new waistband, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. Other than not wanting to wear them while eating/not really being able to breathe, I do love them. I will definitely wear them more frequently once the waistband is fixed. This was the first time I'd made them with a higher rise, and I like them a lot more with that extra height.
Five.
High waisted, corduroy flare. Original post here. All mods from previous pairs, no rivets for the first time.
Living with these jeans: TRUE LOVE. This pair is only about a month and a half old, so maybe I've still got my rose colored glasses on, but they're so good. The merlot color features prominently in my wardrobe architect, so they actually match pretty much everything I might want to wear with them. I've found through doing Wardrobe Architect at the beginning of the year that the clothes I most enjoy are the ones that are just a little bit different, and these definitely qualify. The corduroy has good recovery, so it doesn't bag out, and it's insanely soft. This was also the pair where I made my waistband breakthrough so they sit beautifully. I wear them at least once a week, sometimes more.
Six.
High waisted, skinny. Jury's still out on living with these jeans, although my initial observations are very positive and it looks like I've fixed the leg twist ;)
The eagle eyed among you will note that I have not yet hemmed these jeans. I serged the edges and I've been cuffing them under or over depending on the outfit, until I wash them a few more times to give everything a chance to shrink up to its final position. One nice thing about being able to sew my own pants at 6' tall is that I'll never, ever have to deal with pants that are too short again in my life. And for the first time, too long is the issue! I'm totally fine with that.
Interestingly, even given the number of times I've made this pattern, I realized when I was finished cutting this pair out that I'd made a major judgement error concerning the amount of denim I needed! I have nearly .8 meters leftover, plus the leftovers I've got from the first pair of flares (just over a meter, plus some large chunks) - but the awesome news is I think between the two remnants, I've got enough leftover to make myself a denim jacket! I think I'm going to bleach it, or at least distress it, because I don't think I need them all to match my pants exactly, but I've wanted one for ages and now it turns out I've already got the fabric! I'm still riding high on the success of my sleeve drafting experimentation, so I think I'm going to draft the jacket pattern myself. It's a long term plan, but keep an eye out for that in the future!
