Project 51 and my Sewlution Progress

My 52 projects were inspired by Karen (Didyou make that?) sewlution.  She challenged us all to make a commitment to a sewing related goal for 2013 by posting it on her blog. 

My sewlution was to get Jeans and their fitting sorted in 2013.

I did make an attempt at Jeans about a year ago, but wasn’t ecstatic with the fit.  I have a lovely print that I am keen to make a summer pair of jeans with, but didn’t feel that I wanted to “waste” the print until I was sure I’d be able to do it justice. 

My first step this year was a pair of red ¾ jeans.  Rather than rush back to a pattern that didn’t work last time, I started with my pant block this time.

 

 

The best thing I can say about this garment is that I have something to do the gardening in!  Standard trousers don’t adapt well to the weight of jeans, and even my embellishment didn’t lift these “jeans” at all. 

Rather than declare this an epic fail I’d like to re-brand it a learning experience!  I now know that jeans and trousers are not interchangeable and that same colour embroidery gets lost on denim.  A standard pair of pants fit at the waist and crotch, but skim, rather than hug from the hip down, while jeans tend to hug the thighs and butt much more. 

I am, however, not deterred.  I’m still not happy to use a fabric that I actually like, so I picked up a blue/grey striped denim from trade-me and returned to McCalls 5894 for another attempt.

This went slightly better.  I pre-washed this fabric several times before starting, so I could be confident that it wouldn’t shrink further.  I also top stitched the inside leg, so I could continue to adjust the outside leg seam to fit. 

Overall it’s definatley better than my last two goes.  The back feels as though it fits well, hence the dreadful butt picture.  I’ve still got a bit of gapping in the waistband, but I get that in RTW Jeans too.  I need to suss out a sway back adjustment for next time.

The front still needs a little work, but these are wearable with a top that covers the waist area.

 

Needless to say, I let the embroidery machine have a little play on these , just because I can.  Yes, those are daisies on the left leg!

This is the closest I've got as far as jeans are concerned, and I will wear them out of the house.  I still think I can improve further, but I'm probably ready to tackle project 52 now, and actually use a fabric that I don't want to muck up