My New All Consuming Project Where I Neglect Housework and My Husband

So after the Grinder Dress, I needed a project that paradoxically provided a challenge and would be a probable success . . .

So I returned to Gertie's high-waisted pants/jeans, Butterick 5895.  As you might have guessed, I absolutely love this pattern:

(If you ever wanted to make pants, this is the pattern to use!)

Counting the two muslins, the two pairs of pants of cotton sateen, and the skirt I made, I've made 5 garments from this pattern.  This time (the sixth!), to provide the challenge, I wanted to 1) make it in actual denim and 2) I wanted to make the pockets deeper, and more like jeans pockets so that the pocket bags aren't made of the fashion fabric, but of lightweight cotton.  I don't normally make clothes with pockets, but if I am going to have them, I want them big enough to put my whole hand in.

I recently had purchased this 3 oz stretch denim from Gorgeous Fabrics as an impulse buy (It was on sale!  And it was pink!), a cotton and lycra blend which was a fabric I have never sewn before, so I was all set.  And I successfully drafted new pattern pieces to make the pockets deeper.  Here are the original pattern pieces: # 5 is the pocket facing and pattern piece # 7 is the front side piece.  

The pattern envisions that you cut both from your fashion fabric.  I wanted to take these 2 pieces, make them longer to deepen my pockets, and also draft a new front side piece that would be considerably shorter which would be the only one cut from the fashion fabric. This is what I ended up with:

I lengthened the pattern pieces # 5 and 7 by two and half inches, which is the amount I figured I needed in order to get my entire hand into my pocket.  You can see the difference here:

I cut the first two pieces from an old pillow case which had suffered an unfortunate hair coloring stain incident not worth mentioning.   (I discovered that pillow cases make excellent pocket bags - the thread count is high enough to create a strong pocket and the pillow case has been washed about a hundred times, so there is no chance of shrinkage.  Plus, the pillow case is already doubled thickness - very handy for cutting out!)  The last piece was the only one I cut from the pink fashion fabric.  I finished the bottom edge and lined it up with # 7, and assembled the pants front and pocket as usual.

The pants turned out great:

 That's a lotta pink!

 This time I used a button and buttonhole as my back closure, rather than a hook-and-eye.

I did all the topstitching that the pattern contemplates, and I made mock fell seams, which I had never done before.  No problems:

I'm thrilled with how these turned out and the denim I used works better than the cotton sateen I used previously - it wrinkles and stretches out less in the wearing.  I wore these to work on "Jeans Friday" and a coworker remarked how much slimmer they made me look.  I think it is because the high waist emphasizes where I am the slimmest (the waist, duh!).  And, of course, any time you have a pair of pants that fit you perfectly, you are going to look your best.

My success with these denim pants allowed me to admit to myself what I had been trying to deny:  I want to make jeans.  Perfectly fitting jeans.  Of cotton.  Real cotton - no stretch.  Today's jeans all have stretch in them and are lower rise (that's why your jeans need the stretch, so your jeans stay on your body since they aren't held up at the waist - the narrowest part of your body).

I've had a devil of a time finding 100% cotton jeans.  I finally found some Levis, but Levis in the 21st Century aren't the jeans I grew up with.  The denim is thinner and comes "distressed".  That's not what I want.  

So what do I want???  These are my idea of the perfect jeans:

 These are the jeans I wore in college until I was about 26 or 27, when I "grew" out of them.  Yep, I have kept my 32 year old pair of favorite jeans, no lie.  I just love them too much, even though I will never, ever fit into them again.  (I was 105 lbs in college.  I am not 105 lbs now, and let's just leave it at that.)

These 505 Levis jeans are a heavy cotton twill that has been washed and worn to the softest, but substantial, cotton you will ever feel.  They even still smell like college.  And they were naturally "distressed" by me just by wearing and washing them:

 They didn't start out this faded blue color; you can see the dark blue they once were:

They were made in the USA.  Let's just say that the Levis I've bought recently were . . . not.  

OK.  So that is the dream.  Taylor has achieved my dream.  He made a fantastic pair of jeans from real American denim woven in North Carolina.  It was his fourth sewing project ever, his prior projects consisting of an apron, a vest, and a shirt. (I'm trying to be inspired by Taylor, rather than hate him.)

So where to start?  A great pair of jeans is going to require the right fabric and the perfect fit.  And a fly front.  And real flat felled seams.

Every major pattern line has a jeans pattern.  (Jalie has an extremely popular pattern but it is for stretch jeans.) Taylor drafted his own.  Or you can order a jeans sloper based on your measurements. 

I decided to start with Butterick 5682, mostly because it was on sale at Hancocks for $ 1.99:

In addition to being cheaper and immediately available, the pattern had the added advantage of having different leg styles:  straight, boot cut, slim, etc.  I decided if the pattern worked, I could use it for straight jeans (in the summer, more likely) or for boot cut (for winter when I wear boots, of course).  Also, because it was Butterick, the crotch curve was identical to Gertie's pants pattern and I felt that was good omen.

I bought a 100% cotton twill fabric at Hancocks as my muslin fabric because I thought it would important to mimic the weight and feel of denim.  The Butterick instructions were very good; I blindly followed the fly zip instructions, having no clue as to what I was doing, and I think it worked.  (It's my first fly zipper so it's hard to tell.)

I'll save you the suspense; the pattern did not work for me.  Here it is with the side seams sewn to the outside for fitting purposes:

 I made a size 14 which matched my body measurements, but a size 14 was too big.  Also, the rise was too low for me.  Here's a back view:

I learned a lot from this pattern; in addition to the fly front, I practiced my topstitching for all the seams you would topstitch on a real pair of jeans.  But rather than muck about with this pattern, trying to make it fit right, I just moved on.  Next up was Kwik Sew's pattern, 3193:

I didn't have high hopes for this pattern, but I decided to give it a try because Peter hosted a jeans sew along using the men's Kwik Sew pattern, and I discovered the instructions for the women's version are the same, right down to some of the mistakes.  I could follow Peter's sew along instructions, which I felt would be helpful and I thought would learn a lot.

For this version, I decided to use real denim.  I ordered Robert Kaufman's denim fabric I bought from Fabric.com, which was a good muslin fabric, but I don't recommend for "real" jeans.  (The denim suffers from the same problems as today's modern denim - it's too lightweight and has a loose weave.)  

In trying to decide on size, I was in the "medium" category, but laying both Gertie's Butterick pattern and the Butterick jeans pattern pieces on top of the Kwik Sew pattern indicated I am probably in between a medium and a small.  So I cut a medium everywhere but the outside seams where I cut on the "small" line. I also added two inches in length because they finish 30 inches long, and I usually prefer a 32 inch inseam.

I used regular thread and a 70 needle to sew the denim together, but I used topstitching thread and a 100 needle for the topstitching. (I used regular thread in the bobbin even when I was topstitching.) I wanted to practice topstitching on real denim even though this was a muslin.  Again, I made mock fell seams rather than real flat fell seams since it was only a muslin.  For my regular seams, I used a 3 mm stitch length; for the topstitching, I went longer at 4 mm.

The only issue with this pattern was switching the needle and thread out with nearly every seam.  This is definitely a situation where having two sewing machines would come in handy.

Peter's instructions were excellent, and I had a good time putting it together.  I had no confidence in the fit, however, after the Butterick muslin, so this morning, I finish up to the point where the jeans are assembled, but the waistband had yet to be put on.  I was pleasantly surprised:

 The Carpenter said, "Those fit better than your store-bought jeans!"  Yep, that's the goal.  Here's the back:

 No pockets, of course, it's just a muslin:

The fit isn't perfect, of course, as I think the legs, especially the back legs, are too roomy, but they can be narrowed in a future version so these jeans look less farmer-like.  

I give my topstitching solid marks:

Although not everything went smoothly.  Here's the backside of some of my topstitching.  Sometimes this would happen:

Ick.  Not pretty.  But most of the time it went fine.  Kwik Sew's fly front was a little confusing to me, even with Peter's instructions.  The fly had cut-on fly extensions, rather than the sewn on instructions that Butterick had.  I'm not certain I did it right since the outside topstitching on the front of my jeans didn't line up with my zipper.  Something to work on.  

OK.  This post is long enough, but you get the drift of my current obsession.  More to come . . . .!

A Quick Update

 

The reason you haven't heard from me following Gertie's awesome sewing retreat is two-fold:  1)  I've been sewing up a storm since I got home, and 2) I replaced my laptop computer (it was 7 years old) which required a stay at the Geek Squad, and a complete relearning of everything I have ever known about how to use a computer since I now have Windows 8.  Of course, the key is to just spend time with the computer, trying it out and seeing what works, but who has the time?  And when I do have the time, I'd rather be sewing.

So then, of course, I couldn't write the brilliant post I felt the weekend deserved, because all this time had passed, coupled with my perfectionist's tendencies.  It's time for me to get over that and just tell you the whole experience was marvelous and if you ever get the chance to go, just go.  Gertie and her husband, Jeff, are delightful, down-to-earth people who truly want to help and make sure you have a good time.  And everyone who attended couldn't have been nicer.  Jenny, Lauren, Kristen, Joanna, and myself were the bloggers in attendance.  We had lawyers, a microbiologist, costumers - such a wide range of amazing, intelligent women.  We had three Brits (counting Gertie's trusty assistant, Fleur), two Canadians, a Dutch-American, and a Cuban-American.  All were looking for help on fitting and we had come to the right place.  I watched Gertie do a full bust adjustment in about 45 seconds.  I watched 

Jenny do a full bust adjustment in about 30.

Of course, I took my green peddle pushers with me for fitting and it took Gertie about a minute and half to take 1/2 inch out of the front rise and add about 1/2 inch to the back rise.  Then for the rest of the weekend, I made pants.  I made another pair of green pants with the altered pattern:

And then I got started a polka-dotted version from some cotton stretch sateen I found at Joann's before I left:

(Look at that bootie fit!)

To say I can't be more pleased is a massive understatement.  

One funny story:  I really admired Jenny's Simplicity 2343 skirt she wore at the retreat and I was determined to make it when I got home but found the pattern was out of print.  One of the attractive features was that it had pockets like my Gertie pants.  But then I thought, wait a minute!  I have a pants pattern that fits me like a dream through my waist and hips - why can't I draft a skirt pattern?  Which, of course, I have never done before.  But I did it, dear readers:

And I used the left over polka-dotted fabric!  I anticipated having to sew the side seams multiple times to get just the right fit, but nope, it fit perfectly on the first try!  One of the great things about the retreat was that it really did de-mystify the whole "altering patterns is hard and time consuming" mindset.  Seeing it done in person, and so easily, made me realize that this isn't brain surgery - all I need to get good at it are more classes and retreats like this one.  It won't be my last!

P.S.  1) Gertie is stunning in person.  Really.  And Lauren is astonishingly pretty!  We kept urging her to try out for the Great American sewing bee, but she lives in Austin, Texas, not the Tri-State area of NY/NJ/CT they are looking for.  We think she should move.

2) I hope to get the whole camera photos/new computer issue resolved soon so I don't have to keep relying on crappy cell phone pics.

3) It took me HOURS to write this post.  I'm sure this new computer will become second nature to me in due time.  Like 7 years.

Muslin Take 2 - Butterick 5895

Well, y'all, today went better than yesterday's horrific pant ordeal. This rainy afternoon I managed to make the size 14.  This time I used the cotton sateen that will be my final pair of pants (I bought twice as much as I needed so I could make a muslin in my actual fashion fabric.)  The fit was much better, in that I could get the pants around my body:

Working with this stretch cotton sateen was a LOT easier to work with than the stiff twill stretch icky stuff I used yesterday:

 It was soft, and much easier to pin.  Just like yesterday, I sewed my outside seams so the allowances were on the outside, for future fitting purposes.

 These photos don't really show the true greeness of this fabric - they are a little washed out and make the fabric look a little minty instead.

Here's a shot with flash:

 I'm no expert on fitting pants, but I suspect I need a little extra room in the high hip, a little less fabric in the front rise, and a little extra in the back rise.  But I don't know - it's hard for me to tell without a waistband attached.  

I timed myself this go around, and from the time I sat down and sewed my first stitch on this muslin until I finished the zipper was one hour and sixteen minutes.  Now, I didn't finish seam allowances, or do the waistband, or hem, but still:  these pants are a quick make.  One thing I did do that I didn't do yesterday, I edgestitched and topstitched the front pockets to see if I like it.  Verdict:  I like the edgestitching but the topstitching, not so much.

 Here's a photo that shows more of the true green!

I pray this gives Gertie something to work with while fitting this coming weekend.  I'm hoping these pants become my sloper for any pants in the future!

Goin' to See Gertie - Butterick 5895

I'm going to Gertie's sewing retreat next weekend which I'm pretty excited about (I leave Friday), and the consensus was that pants should be my project for the weekend.  Vicki pointed out that having the opportunity to have someone help me fit my first pair of pants - by the person who drafted the pattern, no less - was an opportunity not to be wasted.  Butterick published Gertie's pattern for a pair of peddle pushers last year:

I wouldn't say it's my style, but it is an easy pair of pants - the zipper is in the back seam, and a good place to start.  I bought the smaller sized pattern that went up to size 12 because size 12 in the Big Four is my usual pattern size.  I plan to make my pants from a gorgeous green stretch cotton sateen I got from, where else?, Gorgeous Fabrics.  

Gertie recommended to the retreat group that we make a muslin prior to our arrival, so we can maximize our time fitting and sewing.  This is my last weekend to make my muslin (nothing like waiting until the last minute to do my homework . . .).  So this morning, I looked at the pattern.

Huh.  Those size 12 finished measurements printed on the pattern look kinda small.  But I'm going to use a stretch fabric, right? That's going to affect fit.  But still.  Those are small measurements.

So in abundance of caution, I went to Hancocks to get the larger size pattern that contained size 14.  Of course, the Butterick patterns weren't on sale today, so the pattern cost me $ 11.00 as opposed to the $ 1.99 I spent on the first one a few weeks ago.  I also bought some stretch twill pictured under the pattern as my muslin fabric.  When I got home, I decided to give the size 12 a try - if it worked, then I could return the larger, $ 11 pattern.

Well, y'all, I can say that the size 12 is definitely too small.  I'm glad I muslined it.  It saved me some major embarrassment at the retreat.  And it wasn't that bad to make.  I didn't worry about topstitching or finishing or trimming seams.  I didn't attach the waistband.  It went pretty quickly.

And then I tried it on.  Well, I tried to try it on.  

To say it was snug was an understatement.  It took a lot of strength to get the zipper up.  I can't believe I'm going to show you my fat behind, but since this is in the interest of science, dear readers, I will sacrifice my dignity:

You can see that I sewed the side seams wrong sides together so the seam allowances are on the outside.  My thinking that I could more easily make alterations, if necessary.  My thinking was correct only if I didn't need like, at least two more inches all the way around:

OK, size 14 is definitely required.  I felt like I needed to lay down after taking these photos with a cool, damp cloth on my forehead.  And never eat again.

I realize this pattern is deliberately close-fit.  I realize that the skirts and dresses I usually make have some fudge factor in them - a precise fit isn't usually required, limited only to how tight you like your skirts.  

So I'm recovering.  Slowly.  I'm trying to learn that no muslin is failure because you learn something as result.  And I've learned to trust the measurements printed on the pattern!

By tomorrow, I'll be recovered enough to make the 14.  Wish me luck.

: )