Sewing with a Plan 2016 0.8 Vogue Paris Original 1897 by Yves Saint Laurent
I saw this pattern – a Vogue Paris Original by Yves St Laurent, in my size, on eBay, and bought it (for £15). In all its glory – a full length evening dress, in white and silver heavy silk damask, trimmed at waist, neck and sleeves with jewels; matched with a gorgeous mink trimmed cloak – this outfit is suitable for court or a wedding.
I planned on using two metres of gorgeous shocking pink washed silk, reputedly Roland Mouret, that I had in my cupboard. Here is the fabric made up as trousers.
My version is truncated version B. A short dress without sleeves, but with silver trim and a nice, flared skirt. Yet it still has a very strong feeling of the 1960s to me. Here are a couple of ladies who may have inspired the envelop art. Did you ever wear your hair like that?
My decision on length was predicated on the amount of fabric I had. I would have liked to have done the sleeves (each with a tiny zip and heavy wrist bling), but barely had enough for the “street length” version. I went back to Simply Fabrics to see if there was any left (no). I had to do a bit of top and tailing, and the armhole facings are off grain. I underlined the skirt with cotton organdie, and the bodice with silk organza, as instructed. This is to ensure that the skirt holds it own, lampshade-like. Also I will be adding a lining as I like a smooth, slippery inner layer.
I cut out the pieces. I sourced some silver trimming on Bury market. I cut out the underlining. I tailor tacked the pink silk. I marked the underlining. I carefully attached the one to the other. I went on my indigo dying weekend, and came back with some inky, waxy fabrics. When I ironed the wax out I may have left some residue on the iron, or the ironing board, or even in the air around my sewing area. Just tiny specks. And of course, somehow the tiny specs of wax were transferred to one of my back bodice pieces. It looked like about fifteen greasy pin heads had been stuck in randomly! I washed it carefully in silk detergent and warm water. I tried the Stain Devil suitable for wax, crayon and grease. Every time I thought the spots had vanished back they came with ironing!
I went to see my local dry cleaner and had a long, and very depressing, conversation. Long story short – wax is the worst. Never ever get rid of it. I tried one last thing which was a hot (60 degrees) wash. I have previously removed wax residue from silk when I have done silk painting by doing a hot wash with washing liquid. When it came out I realised it had lost a little colour… I felt I could just about live with this so long as the stain had come out. But once I showed the piece the iron up those blasted specks of wax showed up again.
I do not have enough fabric to recut the back bodice piece. I putting out a call on Instagram and lots of people looked at what they had in their stash (how kind). Then I woke up and remembered Anne-Britt.
My dear friend Anne-Britt. Last time I met her for a coffee in Brixton we snuck into Simply Fabrics. She is a fairly new sewist and asked me to choose a couple of fabrics that would suit her beautiful colouring. I picked out some heavy navy silk and bright pink too. At £8 a metre it was a complete bargain. Sheepishly I put out an SOS asking her if she had any left overs. She said she had and we met at a south London tube station for the handover. I only needed a small piece 10″x16″.
What are friends for? They get you out of a big hole. By cutting a big hole in their lovely silk. However the story doesn’t end here.
A-B had a dear little piece for me, but disaster! I had remembered wrongly. Her silk was not the same as mine; her pink was a different pink. You can see in the photograph that it’s a different kettle of fish.
I have a few options:
- use the stained piece hoping no one will notice (and all clothes get stained eventually)
- use the piece but put some sequins over the spots
- do some applique
- piece the tiny left overs together (this would need about six strips, very pathworky)
- use a different colour of fabric – what about silver pu?
- forget the whole thing.
What would you do??
My Indigo Dyeing weekend
The story is quite funny really.
As you know I have been testing the Birkin Jeans, which call for stretch denim. There is all manner of denim available in shops and on the internet but I could not find what I wanted. I wanted light blue, like it is faded, not light blue like it’s middle aged Mom jeans. Plus stretch. Know what I mean?
I made nice deep blue ones (and yes, I am wearing them below), but I thought for summer, and especially for my SWAP I needed the lightest shade – a bit like a blue sweet pea. It’s a bit of a cheat as my Mother’s garden didn’t have any blue ones, but they do exist!
So for my Summer Sweat Pea swap I had the idea of getting some white stretch denim, and dying it myself, with indigo. Good plan? I thought so! I was thrilled to bits to find an Indigo dyeing class, in London, at Morley college – a full weekend for £80. I booked the course and ordered 2 metres of white stretch denim from Favourite Fabrics. A few days later Joe wrote a very apologetic email to say the batch of white was faulty. He agreed to send me the 1m they used for photography, free of charge, so I could test it. Nice of him, but it arrived a day late.
Anyway I attended the course which was great. I dyed lots of fabrics, mainly using Shibori (tie die) techniques. I also got my wax pot out overnight and prepared a range of pieces for dyeing.
Have you ever used indigo? I hadn’t, but of course it’s in our jeans!
I made about ten pieces over the two days. I was really happy with how the velvet scarves turned out. I made one by scrunching it on a plastic pipe; one was sewn with a large basting thread and gathered and one I tried to Ombre by dipping it in the vat over the day.
This turned into the scarf on the right. The one in the middle I tried to do an ombre effect – which was so-so. The one on the left is created by sewing two lines of machine stitches and gathering them up tightly. I really liked these scarves and will find it hard to give them away as Christmas presents.
Here are some hints if you are thinking of doing this at home.
- Buy your Indigo (if in the UK) from Kemtex as it is the best value. The synthetic indigo (still made from the same compounds) is more stable and doesn’t have to be kept warm
- Make it up in a plastic dustbin or similar as it will stain a bath and you need a fairly big vat
- You also need a flatter container to allow the fabric to oxydise after dyeing. It just needs to sit in the air for say 5 to 10 minutes. It goes from a yellowy green, to green, to deep blue (see the top picture)
- Put lots of newspaper on the floor, or if you have a yard or garden, do it outside
- You must wear rubber gloves because the dye is alkaline and burns and dries your skin. A pair of very long gloves is handy to reach into the vat although you can have your work on a piece of string so you can pull it out.
- You must be gentle with the vat, not letting air in under the reddish “scum” on the top. The process works anaerobically and stops working once it comes into contact with oxygen
- You can use metal tools; wood and plastic are fine but will stain
- Always soak your (natural) fabrics first in water to ensure the dye will penetrate effectively
- For a light blue a few seconds will be enough – for a darker shade around five minutes will suffice
- To build up a darker colour let the dye oxydise, then put it in the vat for a second (and subsequent) coat.
I am not sure when I will make these fabrics into garments but you can be sure I will write them up when I do!
“Britain’s finest Market” a review of Bury Market, Lancashire
I love markets. I used to sell fabric on them with my cousin David Ryecroft from the age of about 12 to 16, getting up at about 4am and driving to various towns in Yorkshire and Lancashire. We would unpack our fabrics – most of them seconds and feints and arrange them on a table, or sometimes on a groundsheet. We sold the fabric by the yard putting the cash into the zipped up pockets of our aprons. We would have cups of tea, bought from other market traders, and a bacon sandwich at lunch time, and be packed up by 2pm, earlier if it was raining.
My mother comes from Bury. She was brought up in Greenmount and lived there until she married. Her father had a factory that made slippers called Albion Mill.
Until last weekend I had never been to Bury Market, which has been voted as Britain’s finest market.
It is very popular with its 400 different stalls, inside and out. I spotted a stall that sells headstones for your grave, and a solicitor who sits in the open air (it was 1 degree C and snowing) trying to get business writing wills. There is lots and lots of food. Bury is home of the traditional (and quite delicious steamed) black pudding. They sell lots of hot, cooked meat – lamb, roasted chicken, pork (that is not yet pulled, but similar), sausages and kebabs. You can also buy many varieties of Lancashire cheese, black peas (which I love and just cannot buy anywhere else), wonderful local fresh fish, a wide array of vegetables, baked goods, cakes and biscuits. You can eat there – sitting at a table or standing up – lots of hearty, rib-sticking choices.
Apparently, one stall holder told me, there are at least a dozen coaches arriving daily, from “as far away as Southampton”, attracted by the variety, the keen prices and the Lancashire vibe. He told me there is not a stall free at present – which is interesting. The rest of the town is decidedly run down, and compared to its heyday, a bit sad. Many shops are shut and people are quite poor. But the market is full of life, providing a wide range of good produce and products at the lowest possible price – “soft and comfy” knickers at a pound a pair, for example.
But I was there for the fabrics, and trimmings. I did buy some things, but the prices are not competitive, sadly. I bought wool with polyester which in Brixton would be £5 or £6 a metre, for double that. The cotton was £8 – again Simply Fabrics would be half that. But I wanted to chat to the man who ran Annis which has been on the market in Bury since 1945. It is a family business set up by Michael, now run by David and his son Simeon – both were very chatty and informative.
Sewing With A Plan 2016 0.7 – thinking about patterns
I am making up a YSL Vogue Pattern Originals dress as my first SWAP garment. I do enjoy using these old patterns, especially the “designer” versions. I like to think about Yves St Laurent himself drawing the lines that got translated into this 1968 paper pattern. I find the idea of wearing something that was designed by one of the great designers of the past very exciting – wearing fashion history.
So I am beginning to think about doing my SWAP entirely with vintage designer patterns. Last year I the core of my collection was a 1960s Nina Ricci dress and jacket which I worked through in seven different ways.
This year I am thinking of using more than one old pattern, and trying to make it all hang together. I am not sure it is achievable, so I will allow myself to depart from the plan a little if I need a few simple garments to pull it together, in which case I will use modern patterns or self draft. The issue with SWAP is that it is not just 11 garments, but 11 garments that constitute a collection or workable wardrobe. This means I need flexibility in the outfits so they can mix and match.
Quite a lot of my nice old patterns are for adorable dresses and I will definitely need separates. But maybe with thought and planning I can get there. I wouldn’t mind doing a Pucci type pant suit although I don’t have a pattern.
The packs would have to go something like this
Pack 1: Skirt suit with blouse
Pack 2: Dress and jacket, silk skirt
Combo (I really want jeans and a lace top so I think I will use modern patterns here)
Wildcards; Dress, dress, silk blouse
That would give me
3 dresses
2 jackets
2 skirts and 1 pair of trousers
3 tops
This is back to the old SWAP formulae of 3 bottoms, 5 tops and 3 extras (dresses). I know this is successful in wardrobe terms. If I get a nice vintage designer pattern for the evening trouser suit I could substitute this for the modern (jeans and lace top) or for the silk blouse and skirt.
What do you think?
Being a pattern tester
Independent Pattern designers – of whom there are many these days – do not have the luxury of a professional pattern testing team. They cannot afford to pay people to make up several versions of their designs. So they often seek others – family and friends, or keen amateurs they contact through the internet, to make up a version of their design and give feedback about what works and what doesn’t. The designer can then amend the design and directions to make them better.
Here is a debate that happened on Artisans Square in response to a call for pattern testers. One person wrote:
Do I understand correctly, that you want us to:
– sign up to test your patterns
– spend money on muslin material, fabric and notions to test your pattern
– invest time to fit a muslin to test your pattern
– invest time to make a garment to test your pattern
– provide all above services for free?
Another wrote:
I think it would be fun to pattern test, mostly because I’ve never done it. I’m long since past the “needing to sew” stage–for many years it’s been the “wanting to sew” stage for the experience, the creativity, and the fun it brings. I would hope that no matter what I would learn something new from the experience.
I am firmly in the latter camp. I joined in for fun, and for the experience. That said I knew something about the designer, Lauren Dhal. In fact I had done one of her courses (which was not that good to be honest). When she posted her Inspired by Jane Birkin jeans on Instagram I really liked the look of them. I asked myself – is this a pattern you might buy? And I said yes, so I thought why not? I get the pattern free and I will learn about how a designer reacts to test results. I am not a professional seamstress so I would not expect to be paid for this. I see it as a way of helping someone who is designing but without a whole studio of testers and professionals at their disposal. My experience has been entirely positive and I wanted to give this feedback in case others are wondering if it is a good thing, or something essentially exploitative and cheeky.
There are a few cynics in the sewing community who notice hundreds of, shall we say “Poppinjay Pants”, appearing on blogs and Instagram, with comments such as “Awesome!!!!” and “Beyond Brilliant – Wowsers!”. They see a rather banal or poor design (RRP £12 or more) being “tested” by young, impressionable “sewists” who then marvel about the outfit on their glorious, colourful, glossy blogs. And then they react against “blog tours”, “sewalongs” and pattern-testing-as-marketing.
So I wanted to tell you like it is.
I volunteered because I liked the design. Lauren set up a Facebook group so the two dozen testers could share questions, views and pictures. She responded quickly and decisively to every issue that was raised. She took the criticisms to heart and redrafted parts of the pattern. She revised the instructions as people said that parts were difficult to follow. She was not at all precious about testers making changes to her design (I narrowed the flares a little). It was a learning process for her and she was keen to take advice from experienced seamstresses. She did this while leading a busy life with three kids etc, with humour and gratitude. She did ask people not to blog or publicise problems but to let her work through them. Entirely reasonably.
She did ask testers to model their jeans and use Instagram or other means to publicise her pattern. But this was a low key request. I felt inclined to publicise the pattern because I liked it, and I would say other testers did too. So if you want this pattern here is the link. I believe there will be a sew-along too.
Here is what I got out of pattern-testing
- A good intermediate pattern, that I liked and will make again
- A designer who listened and responded quickly to feedback
- An energetic sewalong with a range of other testers
- A better understanding of fitting, listening to the issues women with different body shapes were having with the same pattern
- A chance to meet/help/be supported by a range of interesting women from all over the world – all trying to make a nice pair of jeans
- I have become Facebook friends or IG followers with some of them because they are really nice
- A chance to support an independent designer who is basically a good egg and trying to make a living
What does anyone else think?
What won’t you sew?
I remember a post years back, before I started blogging, where Jay wrote about what she didn’t think it was worth sewing.
Is there anything you wouldn’t bother making, because it is too much fuss, or you find it too hard, or had a go and said never again? Or are there some items you prefer to buy from shops and find RTW good enough?
Here’s my list
- T shirts
- Bras and knickers (I would make a petticoat)
- a corset
- technical sportswear
- not keen on blouses
- (until last month) jeans
Since I went and made jeans, having said I would never bother, I wondered what happened.
I wear jeans a lot – say two days out of seven. In my wardrobe I have five pairs – navy slim fit (smart ones ideal for evenings), baggy light blue ones with turn-ups (very comfy), dark brown bootleg (first choice for countryside) and some grey ankle length which are a good fit and comfortable and look nice with grey heels. Also I have a pair of light blue ones which are currently too tight. I am happy with my jeans – some I have had for years – and never felt the need to make them.
Then I got a chance with minimal outlay and gave it a go. The thing I have done is create a pair that fits really, really well. I now have tailor made jeans – there are comfortable, they fit well, they are size and shape I want and it was not that hard to make them look professional. The ones I have bought fit OK but not perfectly.
So now I have made one pair I am beginning to think about other variations – colours, length, shape, embellishment. I find myself a bit addicted. I am looking at denim fabrics in shops. I am on the internet looking at different, weights, types and qualities. I even went on a course on Indigo dying in the hope of dyeing my own light indigo denim. Is this even possible? I am looking at high street shops and jeans retailers to find interesting treatments. There is a lot of variety in the world of jeans – and as I have already crossed the rubicon all of these options are now open to me.
I have wondered about bras before. I have read blogs about corsetry too. And sportswear. And I have always thought – not me matey!
So what would you never make? And what might make you change your mind?
Draped skirt with understructure – the croissant dress
I have spent a couple of weeks draping over understructures and found it hard work. I wanted something dramatic, but also wanted something wearable.
First here is my minimalist understructure – I created a couple of “croissants” (left). I made a hip belt with two stuffed crescents on them. The idea was to drape over these to create a dress somewhat similar to the picture on the right.
I draped the skirt, attached it (pined it) to a size 12 bodice, and draped a simple bias neckline. I was now at the stage where if I wanted to make up this dress I would have resorted to flat pattern cutting. The bodice needs to be very closely fitted (use an evening dress or lingerie block) in order that the full hips really stand out. I just pinned some additional darting into the bodice. The only tricky aspect of this dress really is having the hem on the straight grain with the waist join undulating over the understructure and the high waist at the front. To some extent this was easier to achieve with draping than with flat pattern cutting where accommodating the pads would have required some interesting measurements.
It’s not the Givenchy dress, is it? It is made in khaki embroidered viscose for goodness sake! The original is made in heavyweight, exquisite silk satin damask, and actually required less fabric as it is heavier and can be pleated. Mine takes two gathered-up widths to add sufficient width and bulk at the sides. The neckline is just draped on (as you can see in the back view) and the bodice trimmed away underneath. So it just an demonstration project – not something I intend to make.
What do you think? I suppose it would be a dramatic outfit and I now feel more or less OK about wearing padding under my clothes. If I were to develop the design and make it up I would choose fabric like this.
Birkin Jeans Part 2
Design, alteration and materials
I covered these issues in the previous post. In this one I will deal with the issue of how I made jeans.
Construction
I had never used denim before. I thought of it as heavy, hard work to get through the machine, very bulky to stitch. Actually it is the most stable fabric imaginable and unbelievably easy to cut out, sew and press. I really enjoyed the process with dozens of steps explained by Lauren with good diagrams. What a lot of work instructions are. But for me important and very helpful. She tells you when to change the thread, when to back-stitch etc. The process reminds me why I like commercial patterns – you can really relax your brain and just “do as you are told”. When you make your own patterns and designs you can’t lose concentration for one minute. I recently commented on Instagram, in response to “why do you sew?”, that I like the mental challenge, with Marilla Walker agreeing that the intellectual challenge is much underrated. Not if you make your own patterns. Poor Lauren really struggled to complete the pattern on time. She has sweet little babies to look after and it amazes me how she and Marilla can combine pattern designing with looking after children. I tell you one night shift with my grandchildren and I need a full day to recover, followed by an early night. So there were a few little problems with the instructions. But I found the pattern itself very well drafted and it has certainly been interesting for me.
Sewing denim together is surprisingly easy. It is so stable and well-behaved. So long as you have a decent machine, good needles and thread making jeans is a piece of cake.
Top stitching
Top stitching was very common in the 1960s, and I usually do this by hand on a woollen, couture item. For denim jeans top-stitching is part of what makes them what they are – very long-lasting, robust, outdoor, working trousers. The rivets give even more security.
I hadn’t really done much machine top stitching before so this was a good exercise for me. Following the notches on my machine foot I think I managed to make the top stitching look fairly professional. The machine did struggle over some of the very thickest parts but on the whole it performed amazingly.The pattern is very good at telling you to change thread and stitch length at the right moment, every time.
I did have a problem with the bar tacks. I eventually found that my machine had a bar tack setting which helped. But with the bar tacks and button-hole I found it necessary to put a regular white thread in the bobbin because the stitch was not entirely on the top of the fabric. Probably a little tension issue, but this resolved it.
The zip
Readers I nearly cried about the zip. I didn’t really like Lauren’s instructions on how to do this, vastly preferring this method beautifully explained by Sandra Betzina (I love her voice).
But that wasn’t a big deal; her instructions were fine and I got the zip in.
A bigger problem loomed. The instructions call for 7’/18cm zip which I dutifully bought. I am quite competent with zips in general and I prefer a longer zip that I snip off at the bottom once I have completed the step. This is so I don’t have to maneuver around the zipper pull – especially important with an invisible zip I find. So the fact that the zipper was to be cut off at the top didn’t initially phase me. To cut a long story short once the jeans were fitting perfectly I moved to the waist band and because I had snipped off the upper zipper stops the pull just came away and zip was ruined. This was when I had a little sob. I had to undo perfectly lovely top stitching and reinserted a new zip (which I had to go out and buy). I was much more careful this time, having learnt my lesson. I stitched the waist-band nice and close to the top of the zip where I had cut off the teeth so they wouldn’t ruin my machine, and what happened next – yes I pulled off the second one too! This time I actually cried.
As I had now broken two zips I fixed my jeans with a “zip repair” the third time. I just couldn’t face pulling out the top stitching and dismantling the jeans yet again. Also by now Lauren announced she had an improved pattern available. I decided to make a second pair and make them perfect.
Conclusion
Yes I can make jeans. You can make jeans too. This is a good pattern, giving lots of opportunity for personalisation.
- Colour and weight of fabric
- Top stitching colour
- Colour of hardware – zip teeth, rivets, button, leather patch
- Custom design on back pockets
- Different width of flare (you can make bootlegs or skinnies from this pattern too if you wish)
- DIfferent length – shorts, ankle etc.
-
Birkin Jeans
Sewing With A Plan 2016 0.6 – decision time
The Sewing with a Plan rules were announced six weeks ago and I have been thinking, and dithering. I had three ideas – a collection of calm, classic neutrals; a collection inspired by Vivienne Westwood with a vibrant colour palette; and a light, summery collection that would work well from May to September.
I actually want to make all these clothes – around ten items in each collection. But
Vita brevis, ars longa,occasio praeceps,experimentum periculosum, iudicium difficile.
Life is short, and art long, opportunity fleeting, experience perilous, and decision difficult.
So I have weighed up everyone’s input. We probably had the most “votes” for the exciting/creative/tailored Viv, followed by more gentle, sweet pea summer, with the neutrals turning most people off!
By the way Pantone have just announced their colours of the year: Serenity (a light blue) and Rose Quartz (light, slightly muted pink)
But, partly to my own surprise, I am sticking with the sweet peas. The reason is that I want summer clothes and I have many summery fabrics in my cupboard that I want to use. I have no room for more fabric (until we have built our new home, tee hee!). I am not pleased with all the fabrics, but I have decided that I can substitute new or different fabrics as I go.
Also I am going to break away from the idea that I must plan it all out in advance – stating which item I will make in which fabric, in a specific colour, showing the pattern I have chosen.
Lots of participants – there are 40 this year! – have a very clear idea (almost from day one) of what exactly they are going to make. I just can’t do that. I have lots of ideas (tell me about it – my brain sometimes aches with the lists it holds). But I need to go with the flow a bit. One thing leads to another. Inspiration comes throughout the year, not just in one block. My plan is this;
Everything I make will co-ordinate.
My collection will harmonise. Everything will work with everything (in terms of shape and colour) and I will create a flexible and wearable set of clothes. This requires plenty of planning and thought, but it is not a shopping list plan. It is a commitment to harmony.
So what’s the Plan?
Pack 1 – Green and silver (3 items)
Pack 2 – Mauve (3 items)
Combo – Blue and white (2 items)
Wildcards – A pink dress, a second dress and a painted silk skirt (3 items)
I am going to start with a wild card. This will be a pink dress I can wear on Christmas day. It will be made from the bright pink silk in the middle of the pile above. I know, once I have started, more inspiration will flow and i will be able to flesh out my plans.
So what is the first item on my cutting table? A 1968 Vogue Paris Original.
I will be making Version B “street length” (I don’t have enough fabric for a long sleeved version). Have you noticed how I am taking my colour and trimming inspiration from the envelope? I often do this – consciously or unconsciously. I know I have bought old patterns where the outfit is made in yellow – it just attracts me! I did read that YSL was inspired by Queen Christian – I am not sure of where! Shams mentioned a friend of hers used this as a wedding dress, adding a hood to the cloak. Sounds great!
As you can see it is an Yves St Laurent pattern. In my view he is the master of the modern silhouette. You may remember my love affair with Vogue 1557 – the shift shape. This dress is a lovely 1960s style with a high oval shaped neck, a neatly fitted princess bodice and a stiff A line skirt coming from the high waist. An utterly simple dress that needs to be made very carefully so that it speaks for itself. I have bought some bling to trim it with (from Bury market). The dress is underlined with two types of underlining, and I will add a soft silky lining too.
On Instagram lots of people have said “make the cape too!”. I am tempted, but I don’t think a stiff evening cape is something that will work with my SWAP. We will see. That’s it for now. I’ll let you know how I get on next week.
Birkin Flares – A new jeans pattern from Baste and Gather
The Design and Pattern
Lauren of “Baste and Gather” recently posted a pair of flared jeans she had designed and made, and called for testers. As you can see these jeans are obviously flared from the knee down. They also have an additional 1970s feature – the relatively high waist.
Here you can see Miss Birkin herself in her flares. Of various widths. With a nice high waist. But you can see from these pictures that the denim of the day is essentially something worn by manual labourers. It is very thick, tough and hard-wearing. The only stretch in these jeans would happen after they were occasionally laundered and we struggled to get them on. Then, in wear, they would stretch out a bit. Today’s “Birkinflares” are designed to be made with modern stretch denim allowing a close fit on most figures.
I offered to test the pattern.
Now you might be thinking I don’t really have the figure for flares, and you would be right. Lauren herself has a semi-straight body and she looks pretty good in trousers of all sorts. Women with a more shaped silhouette (small waist, big hips) often struggle to find trousers that fit. However the retro high waist can flatter a slim middle, and this was what I was thinking. High waist and tailored to fit my actual dimensions. It was on this basis I thought these might be a good pair of jeans for me.
Please note I have never made jeans before. Having read an article in the Guardian I worried about working with such a heavy, stiff cloth, and the top stitching and all those rivets and bits of metal.
In terms of design I decided to narrow the flare down just a bit. Having cut out my size (29) I reduced the flare to the width of the smallest size (24). They were still around three inches wider than my widest (bootleg) jeans. I shortened the leg by an inch and a half.
Fabric and notions
I looked around for stretch denim. I tried Cloth House which had lots of denim, but not much stretch. And what they had ranged from about £12 to £16 per metre – a bit pricey in my book. So I jumped on the tube to Brixton and found a good basic range at Simply Fabrics. For just £5 a metre they had blackish/charcoal, navy and brown stretch denim. I chose the blue although it was a bit on the dark side.
With all the modifications I found I only needed 1.5m of fabric (rather than the 2.5m proposed – I have enough left for a skirt).
What about top stitching? I decided not to sew with the traditional mustard thread. Instead I chose a light grey. Which when I got home I found I already had, from when I made button holes on my Chanel jacket. Anyway as you can see there is virtually no difference between the pink, lemon and grey when put against the deep grey-blue of the denim. I used the grey which my daughter said made my jeans look like they were £10 from Peckham market. However she marvelled at the fit and asked me to make her a pair, but with navy top stitching. That is a good idea I think.
I selected greyed off brass for the rivets, buttons and a denim zip with silver teeth. I got these items at Maccullouch and Wallis as it was convenient, but of course paid list price for everything. The notions cost more than the fabric. For the pocket lining I used up a bit more of my African Wax fabric (six yards seems to go on and on).
Fitting Jeans
Unlike Lauren I have a curved figure with a small waist and wider hips. My bottom is round and my back waist comes in a lot. This figure type is not the best for RTW jeans, but obviously I these were my jeans, made for me, giving me the first chance ever to make a pair that fitted.
Once the pattern arrived I immediately looked at what the finished garment measurements would be. I was amazed that for my size the finished garment had 3″ of negative ease at the hips, but 3″ of ease at the waist. Lauren set up a Facebook page for testers and I immediately thought there must be an error. Discussion continued. In the end we were both right. The negative ease at the hips turned out fine, but the waist band and back yoke were too spacious and Lauren altered the pattern before release. So I felt quite excited about that.
As it happens I had expected, having chosen a size to fit on the hips, that I would alter the pattern at the waist. I chose a size 30 for the trousers (one size up from what the instructions said) but narrowed the yoke and waist band down to size 27. It was still a tiny bit big at the CB so I took a little wedge out of the waistband which was covered by the back belt carrier.
The pattern now released is true to size and relatively easy to fit in my view. Obviously working with a stretch fabric is helpful – these jeans do have a slight corset effect in common with most jeans.
If you make these, or any, jeans, here is my suggestion on fitting.
- Cut out your size based on the hip measurement.
- Alter the pattern to fit your other measurements – waist (which may not be on the waist), thighs and length. I shortened by three and a half inches (i am 5’5″).
- Alter the pattern to suit your design preferences. I narrowed the flare. In future I would choose a slightly smaller pocket and narrower belt loops – this is just a personal preference due to being a bit “petite” in the waist area.
- If you are confident of the CB shape, make up the back and front. This includes top stitching so don’t do it if you are not happy with the CB shaping. In this case make up the front but just baste the backs together. Machine baste the front and back together and try on.
- Assuming they work well at CB by now make sure the trousers fit well through the waist, hip and leg, pinning (or letting out) anywhere that is needed.
- Now you can alter the paper pattern and the jeans and make them up.
Fitting the jeans
I will provide my construction notes in a future post.
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