Jeans Sew Along

This is what I posted at PatternReview.com. Join us! I'll email Emilie at Jalie and see if she has any tips or pointers for us.
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Date: 3/15/09 3:14 PM
When Jalie launched their new patterns a few days ago, I know several people bought their new jean pattern (including me). The new patterns will ship March 24th so we should have our new patterns by the first week-ish of April. I'm thinking we can use March to gather materials and get metally prepared to fit a pair of pants (eek!). I'm no fitting expert but between all of us, I think we can get things to fit. What do you guys think?

Things you'll need:
Jeans Pattern
I'm doing the Jalie one but Burda has some good options too.

Denim
I'm going to use stretch denim I bought from Fabric.com. They still have some if you need to buy it. Denim on Fabric.com

Topstitching thread
There are a lot of options and we can talk about all the pros and cons. Certain threads are pretty but a pain in the butt.

Jean Style Snaps
I use the Dritz Dungaree Buttons and they work great for jeans.

Rivets
I've never used them and I don't know a source for them.

Interfacing
You'll need to interface the waistband. I use Whisper Weft on most things and I'll probably be using it for these jeans too.

Zipper
I usually use a regular Coats plastic coil zipper even though your standard jeans have a metal zipper. Jalie recommends an 8" zipper for the adult sizes but you can always cut down a too big zipper.

Odds and Ends
You'll need fabric for pockets. I usually use a cute quilting cotton. You want something thin to avoid extra bulk. Also, I couldn't do jeans without my topstitching and edge stitching feet. They make topstitching a piece of cake. Am I missing anything?

My lesson in contrast

While I was working on the 03-2009 #106 blouse, I was also embroidering. I love having the new embroidery machine next to my regular sewing machine. It sits over there are just stitches away. Occasionally it beeps and I change thread. It's like having another set of arms. Granted, the aprons aren't as cute here but I took my kids' names off because it seems a little irresponsible to broadcast my kids on the Internet. Although if you look hard enough, you can find them.



All of them have an 'a' in their name. Here are the three different variations to give you a taste of the rest of the apron. You can see I somehow moved the hoop. The outline is just barely off.



This is with rayon embroidery thread.



This is with regular Coats and Clark cotton/poly thread.



Here's a close-up of the owl (from Urban Threads).

Here's a close-up of the bird (freebie from Embroider This). Here is where I learned my lesson in contrast. The bird has curly plumes of feathers off the main tail. But, because I used that green thread, it's really hard to see. Next time, I'll be sure to use thread that really contrasts with the background. I drew in the curly tail regions with photo editing software so you could see it.

My son wanted a robot (from Urban Threads) and he thought this was hysterical. "Mom, he loves a toaster! A TOASTER! Mom, do you get it? He's a robot and he loves a TOASTER!! Har, har, har." Four-year olds are crazy.

Finished product.

This is random muslin fabric I got from somewhere. The back is a weird farm animal scene. I'm not sure what it's about but the front is just a rough khaki.

Burda 03-2009-106 Top with Gathered Neck

I present BWOF 03-2009 #106. Full review is here at PatternReview.com. I bought this fabric from Gorgeous Fabrics a while ago and love it. I'm glad I waited to find the perfect pattern for it. I wanted something that showed off the stripes. This has a front yoke that connects to the front parts of the blouse. The neck is gathered and the drawstrings come from two small buttonholes in the neckline. You can make it higher or . . .


. . . lower. Of course, this is when my neighbors choose to drive by. I'm standing on my front deck. Oops.


I love the play of the stripes. It was fun to cut out and fun to sew. If you are going to sew this top be sure to look at Christina's blogpost about how it goes together. It really helped me out.



On the inside I used some random bias tape. I have an entire shoebox brimming over with bias tape. I inherited this from my husband's grandmother. She was quite the crafter and she passed all of that stuff down to me. I love having all the choices at my fingertips.


I didn't do a swayback adjustment but probably should have.

Also, I've gotten several responses from people saying, "YES! Let's do a jeans sew-along!" Should I start a thread over at PatternReview.com and we can gather supplies/patterns/etc? I want to do the Jalie jeans pattern that just came out and they don't ship until March 24th. I'll probably get mine the first week of April or so. We could start sewing in April? We could gather supplies starting now. How does that sound? I'm no fit expert but working together we can certainly get the advice we need, I bet. Or, if someone has a better idea, pipe up.

Did you see these?

New Jalie Patterns!!!! I love the jeans; have already been ordered. That, and this pullover top. I got the pullover mostly for the kids' sizes. I will make one or two for myself too but BWOF has some fun pullover patterns for me. But, it's a great kid pattern. Jalie is such a great company when you think of their patterns that way. My kids will wear their patterns for years.




How great are these slacks? I love them but didn't ordered them because they are so similar to this BWOF pant I made a while ago.



I did order these jeans. The Jalie pants I have are my favorite pants. They fit so well and are super comfortable. I'm excited to try them. I pre-ordered them from Pattern Review today. Here's a link so you can get yours too. ;) We should do a jeans sew-along with this pattern.

Woot!

A little hat and a top for me

I'm currently working on 03-2009 #106. It's the drawstring blouse. Christina's version is what made me decide to try it. Not only did she visually document the yoke/collar attachment (thank you!) but her finished blouse looks great.

I'm going to use this Gorgeous Fabrics shirting. I bought it a while ago.



Last night I whipped up a baby hat for my friend and her new baby, Scarlett. Isn't it a great name? The pattern is my own design. I leave velcro off the little baby hats so they don't scratch sensitive skin. Yes, another embroidery. *blush* It is getting addictive. This is some of the Seafoam Polartec 200.



Close-up of the embroidery. It's from Urban Threads.

I'm off to cut the fabric.

03-2009 #105 Pleated Skirt

So I wasn't a huge fan of this in the magazine but when I looked at the pattern pieces I figured it would be perfect for this fabric I had in stash. My only requirements were a big swath of uninterrupted fabric.


Here's the front. I think it looks like culottes when my legs are together like this.


Here it is in it's full glory. You can see the top if the facing peeking out on the top left (my right). The belt is at my natural waist.

You have to be really careful with the pocket. I wasn't as careful as I could have been and I have some hip wrinkles.

It's pretty high; about an inch over your natural waist.

Embroidery detail. I bought this fabric from Fabric.com a looong time ago. I didn't realize the motif was so big when I bought it. It's been hard to find a pattern to use with it.

Here's my little one "helping". This is to show the width of the pocket.

It's an unlined skirt with side invisible zipper. You can see the pockets here. I could have used matching thread but how boring would that be? Instead I decided to match the outer embroidery and overlocked everything with orange and red. The gray you see is the interfacing around the pocket edges.

I decided to just do a narrow folded under hem.

All in all, I really like it. I was lukewarm on the pattern and fabric but I really like them together.

Whore Faces, Kids, and Embroidery

My kids keep growing or losing pajamas. The pajamas they currently have are very tight or non-existent. I made a set for each girl and a set for the boy. All of them are embroidered, of course. This machine is so much fun. I used KS 3234, my go-to kid t-shirt and pajama pattern. I have made t-shirts no less than 10 times from this pattern. My son received 4 sets of "cozy clothes" this Christmas. I made them out of microfleece for cold cabin winters. These pajamas are made from Siltex knit I bought from the FabricandNotions Yahoo group. It's wonderful knit. Soft, thick. and cozy. These pajamas are extra big so hopefully we'll get a lot of wear out of them.


Here's a close-up of the bird applique I embroidered. It's from Urban Threads. I love her stuff. It took me a few practice runs to get the applique thing down but I think this one looks pretty good. The dark purple is melton wool from my coat and jacket. The wing is made from an old, old fabric that was passed down to me from my husband's grandmother when she died. I have about 300 little 4" squares that were probably going to be a quilt. I will use them here and there are infuse everything with Gina-Love. My kids never got to know her but she was a super caring, loving woman. Maybe through her materials the kids can learn something about her?



Here is the top from the set I made my son. The octopus was his idea. I went to Urban Threads and when he saw this one, he said, "That's it mom. Stop! Mom! That was it!!! Mr. Oc-to-pod. He should be on my shirt!" I still need a little help with that whole "centering" thing.


Here is Mr. Oc-to-pod. I love his googly eyes and hat. My son picked out the orange fabric ("It's my FAVORITE COLOR mom!") and the eyes.



Because I have chosen mostly applique-type embroideries, I had to figure out a system fast for storing all the little pieces. This is what I came up with. In each envelope holds a pattern for the little pieces that get cut out. On the outside of the envelope is the name where I got the design, the parts, and a very crude drawing. Anybody got a better idea? Eventually, these will have to go in a binder or something.



This was me practicing. I'll be sending this to my girlfriend in California. Yes, it really says, "whore face". It makes me laugh every time I look at it. She'll find it amusing too. I really like the juxtaposition of the two way different themes. Embroidery, up until a year or so ago, seemed like an old lady hobby (no offense!!!!!) and pairing that with the words "whore face" cracks me up. I see more things like this in my future. And really, no offense about the old lady embroidery thing but you hear about older ladies embroidering, I know better now!!!! The colors are all washed out. It looks nice in real life, not so . . . pink.

Another practice run. I love this applique thing. You can see on the wing where the thread broke. I realized a little too late I was using black buttonhole thread. Stupid Dawn, very stupid. After I switched to regular black poly thread it went fine.

Tomorrow I'll be tracing off a March pattern from BWOF. I haven't figured out which one but I think it might be that blouse with the gathered neck.