We can all agree that shopping for the perfect fitting jeans is not only time consuming, but often frustrating! Either they fit in the waist but the booty is to tight, or they are perfectly tapered down the leg, but the rise is way to low. Not to mention, each brand uses a different sizing style, am I a size 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, or a 26, 27, 28, 29, 30? More than likely, if you finally find the perfect jeans, you need to take out a second mortgage to pay the cashier. And THIS is why you may want to try your hand a making a pair.
 |
| My new Safran Jeans and Tea House Top |
 |
| Here they are with my Tea House Top from Sew House Seven |
 |
| Getting ready for Layering with my Decades of Style, Threes a Charm Jacket, Grainline Studio's, Scout Tee and my new favorite Deer and Doe, Safran Jeans! All available over at Stonemountain & Daughter Fabrics! |
This month, we are making Deer and Doe's Safran jeans. I love the higher waist and the slim, but not skinny, legs. The front pockets are unique - perfect for some great top-stitching details.
 |
| Could these Saran Jeans be any cuter?! |
 |
| Choosing "outside the box" with Neon Top Stitching Thread! - Yes we can! |
Laurel came up with a swirl detail that we will stitch in all three colors. She drew it freehand on paper for a pattern and pinned it to the pocket. Is that an "S" that I see?
She stitched around the edge to the S shape pattern in pink, then removed the pattern and echoed the pink stitching as a guide for the other two colors.
We decided on a single row of top-stitching to attach the pockets.
 |
| It's all in the details! |
Top-stitching thread is a lot heavier than normal sewing thread, so getting the tension right can be a bit of a challenge. The important thing to remember is that people can only see the outside of your garment, so don't stress out if the inside stitching is a little wonky. We notice that this often happens when you plant your needle, raise the presser foot and turn a corner, leaving a little loop of top-stitching thread on the inside. Oh well.
Finishing off the end of the stitching line works best of you gently tug on the bobbin thread to bring the top-stitching thread to the inside of the garment, then tie it off.
We were pretty sure that the Safran jeans would fit, so Laurel installed the fly-front zipper before sewing the pants together. If we needed to adjust the waist, we could reduce the back or side seams.
Don't forget to be creative with your lining fabric. Of course you can always use the same denim for the lining, but why not make it fun? One of our many cotton prints would work beautifully! Shop them here. We used scraps of this paper crane cotton from a previous garment. Laurel is the master of reworking scraps!
 |
| Great way to use your left over fun scraps! |
Another Thursday with Laurel - checking the booty for fit...
 |
| Hey, these fit! |
Love these pockets!
 |
| Look how the top stitching thread pops! |
Marking the hem...ready to send them back to Laurel's studio for the final steps.
Back in the Studio, Laurel attached the waistband and belt loops and finished the top stitching and hems. Nothing left but that pesky buttonhole and jeans button. Everything was going great until that perfectly sewn buttonhole was on the wrong side of the fly. Making mistakes is part of the creative process - we all do it, but Laurel finds it particularly annoying.
We were both reminded of one of my favorite books, Debbie Ford's The Dark Side of the Light Chasers. In this book we learned that we ALL have aspects of our nature that we don't like, but more to the point, we ALL have things that annoy us about other people. Debbie contends that it is these very things that we hate in others that also exist in us, perhaps even hidden. This hidden "Shadow" side of our personality, as Debbie calls it, is something that we must learn to embrace so that it no longer has an emotional charge.
Assuming that Debbie is on point (which we believe she is SO on target), after reading Debbie's book, Laurel shared that one of her trigger words was "stupid", as in not very smart or not smart enough. We won't go into all her issues with this word "stupid", but after reading about this concept of embracing her dark side, she can now easily admit that she too is sometimes "stupid."
Yes, that buttonhole is on the wrong side...rookie (stupid) mistake!! But hey, at the end of the day, she laughs at it, let's it go and let's her creativity kick in. Throw a patch on that mistake buttonhole, attach the jean's button and call it a day!
Aaahhh. Embracing her stupid side turns out to be a good thing for me!! Actually, I don't think this is a mistake after all - looks like it belonged there all along.
XOXOXO
Going to love these jeans!!
 |
| Laurel and I! She looks great in my Tea House top - so much that she's making one for herself! All my indie me-made clothes are all working so well together :) |
Feel like embracing your own "Shadow"? You can pick up Debbie's book The Dark Side of the Light Chasers from Amazon Books, or at your local bookstore. It will definitely give you something to think about. As women, we want to love our whole selves, not just the parts we like or that others find pleasing. It's okay to be "not good enough" once in a while!
And meanwhile, embrace your whole self and your creativity and sew a little heart in your jeans!
Yours Creatively,
Suzan
 |
| More Cotton Ikat choices on this Link! |
 |
| Layering garments can be so much fun with the the Three's a Charm Jacket, Scout Tee and the Safran Pants! Denim Dot Jacket fabric is at this link...Shop any of our Woven Cottons at this link for the perfect Scout Tee! Check out all the great "Bottom weight" choices for making pants at this link, too! |
No comments:
Post a Comment