Ginger jeans

Yes, I made jeans!!! I wear jeans quite regularly, and since lockdown quite a few of my jeans are feeling a bit tighter than they used to be… So rather than go to the shops and try on lots of jeans and not find anything that fitted, I decided to have a go at making my own. To guide me through the process I invested in the Closet Core Jeans Sewing class, which I would recommend to everyone who is new to jeans sewing – it’s a brilliant course. I had lots of fun with this, but it was quite a big task – prepare yourself for a long blog post!

1. The fabric

I wanted to make some classic blue jeans, so I bought some blue denim with a bit of elastane. Unfortunately I can’t find the details of exactly what I bought because it was a while ago, but I think I went for a 10oz denim (cotton) with 3% elastane. The Closet Core class comes with lots of great advice on what are the best fabrics to go for, so I recommend watching that before purchasing anything.

Before making the jeans out of the denim I decided to do a test run with the pattern, and make a pair of shorts out of a stretch cotton I had. The cotton was 3% elastane as well, but the fabric had a bit more stretch than my stretch denim. It was quite a bold pattern, with a black background and red flowers all over it.

For the pocket linings I used a plain black cotton lawn for the trial short version, and plain blue cotton for the final version.

In addition to the fabric I had to buy jeans needles, top stitching thread, jeans buttons, rivets, and a zip. I also decided to buy a mini anvil and hammer for those rivets. I bought it from Cooksongold – and it’s so cute!

2. The pattern

The Ginger jeans pattern is a skinny jeans pattern and you can choose from either a low rise or high rise version. Closet Core also have the Morgan Jeans pattern, which is a baggy traditional jean, but I decided to I preferred the Ginger design. The Ginger jeans pattern also has an option of a pocket stay, which pulls the tummy in – I decided to go with that design.

I chose the high rise version of the Ginger jeans, I made the size 10, and I didn’t make any adjustments to the pattern for the shorts. The shorts fit quite well but were a bit tight in the crotch, I also wanted them to sit a bit higher (I have a high waist). So for the full jeans I decided to add 1 cm to the crotch, and I raised the waistline quite a lot (2 inches). I also have very large calf muscles and so I had to do a full calf adjustment and 1.5 inches extra width to the pattern at the lower leg.

For the topstitching on the pockets I designed my own pattern, and I went for a musical clef design. I sketched the design out on tissue paper, and then I topstitched the pattern onto the fabric with the tissue paper on top, then pulled off the tissue paper. I was pleased with how well this worked, I just had to be a bit careful not to stretch the topstitching. Soaking it first might have helped.

Pocket stitched with tissue paper

Pocket after removing the tissue paper

3. The challenges

I would be lying if I said I found making these easy, but I really enjoyed the process. I took a slow and steady approach, and split the jeans into small tasks which I did whenever I had a spare moment. The pattern instructions are really clear and detailed, and when combined with the jeans making online course, I felt confident I could do it. Making the shorts went very well and I found that they fit okay too (although a bit tight in the crotch, as mentioned above). I also discovered I love topstitching!

When it came to the full jeans I did have more issues though, here are the main challenges I had to overcome:

• The full calf adjustment somehow resulted in the legs twisting around, and it still wasn’t as full as it needed to be. I ended up releasing the seam allowance to be as small as I could manage while still doing flat fell seams, and I released more on the one side to try to alleviate the twist. This worked out okay in the end, but I will definitely be more careful with calf adjustments in future.
• Once all assembled I found that the jeans were too tight around my waist! I hadn’t realised how much the extra elasticity in the shorts fabric was affecting the fit. So yet again I found myself easing out the side seams as much as I could and they are just large enough now, but they are quite tight. I also ended up making the crotch seam a tiny bit longer as well.
• Sewing the pockets and pocket stay is really quite confusing, so it’s worth taking that part of the sewing slowly to make sure you get everything the right way around. I didn’t make any mistakes, but I could have so easily.
• I had some fun hand stitching the buttonholes and the bar tacks, time consuming, but fun.

• Cutting the fabric was delayed because of a pattern weight in the shape of a cat called Momo, who decided the fabric would make a nice place to have a wash!

4. The final result

I have successfully made jeans, and they fit me well enough to wear outside the house – hooray! They are tight, and if I sit down in them for a long time then it gets uncomfortable. But I love the topstitching, and I am really proud to have completed them. The full length jeans are getting lots of wear and I’ve also found that the shorts are great for summertime gardening.

I plan to make more jeans, but I definitely need to make quite a few adjustments. I hope to convert the pattern to flares and to add a little slit up the side by the ankle so that I can be sure they’ll fit comfortably around my lower leg. I’ll also definitely need to add more room in the waist and the crotch. Lastly I think I made them a little bit too high-waisted in the end, so I will lower that a bit. I’m definitely looking forward to more jeans in my life!