Mirroring Suzy Bee Sews - Life So Strange It Should Be Fiction

Another pair of jeans, I've been wearing my first pair heaps lately. Same as last time; Added 1" to the inner leg seam on the front pattern piece. Adjusted the side seams - I have hyperextended calves and they were dragging the side seam backwards so I added to the back and took from the front to straighten it up. Changed the front pockets to a pocket stay. Shaped the side seams I did a couple of construction changes - I followed my fav zipper tutorial and serged the waistband facing instead of turning under (just helps to reduce bulk with a heavier weight denim). Shaped the waistband to be more curved to stop the gape at the back. Also I added elastic to the waistband to help stabilise/stop stretching out. Took in the side seams as my purple denim was very stretchy Plus I took length out of the legs at the knees from where I had originally added it and I also took some height out of the back rise, again from where I had added it. I used a pu...

Another pair of pull-on ginger jeans - Same adjustments as last time, main difference is I found they were hitching up at the back knees a bit which was because I had shaped the outer leg on the back pattern piece and it must have added extra length so the back pattern piece was about 1" longer than the front causing the buckling. Since fixing that they are hanging a lot straighter now. The fabric is a lovely stretchy reversible denim from Rathdowne fabrics, with blue on the top and black underneath. Thread is Guttermann  #392 upholstery thread and the rivets are ones from etsy I saved a blog post from a while ago by meggipeg - I really liked her jeans and the quilting on them so in tribute to them (which sounds so much nicer than saying I completely copied her!!) I quilted a section on my back pockets, using some scraps I had of fleece to beef them up with. I thought about using batting but figured the fleece wouldn't shed or unravel I...

I really enjoyed reading the project sewn this year and I loved how they didn't just sew a garment they had to sew an outfit. So when I finished the Lekala jacket I decided I needed a nice pair of pants/jeans to go with it. I wanted these as more dressier jeans so did the top-stitching in black thread rather than a contrast thread and didn't put any rivets on. Adjustment wise, I used my pants block to lower the front and raise the back. The pants are drafted with a very high waistband, they are meant to sit higher than your natural waist. I lowered this to sit at my natural waist. I drafted a separate back yoke too, the pattern comes with the yoke built into the waistband but I wanted it to look more like a normal jean yoke. I'm going to make the yoke a bit shorter next time though, I'd like the pockets to sit up another inch higher I think. In an attempt to use up my zippers I matched the zipper to the colour of the pocket bags. It has elast...

I've seen some great jeans pop up in the blogging world lately and it reminded me I need another pair! The last pair I made have shrunk in length (even after prewashing the denim twice) and are now in my refashion pile to be cut down into shorts. The pattern is my TNT -  Sewaholic Thurlow legs onto the waist/hips of Vogue 8774 adjusted with my pants block. I added 1.5cm to the front inner leg with this pair as the last version had some pulling at the front. This denim is from Spotlight tagged as Bradmill denim. Surprisingly nice, firm but still with some stretch. I bought a craftsy class back at Christmas called Sewing Designer Jeans. I highly recommend it, Angela Wolf is great in the videos and I found it really interesting about how to distress denim. I'm not sure how successful I was at it, the denim went a different colour blue instead of fading it out but I'm hoping the look will soften after a few washes. I don't think I took it...

I was lucky enough to pattern test these, I know there was a bit of controversy over pattern testing and bloggers always saying nice things about the new pattern but I can honestly say I love these jeans! I've always stuck to wide leg jeans, they were the only type that would ever fit over my thighs and I had a couple of horrible change room experiences that cemented the no-skinny jean rule firmly in my mind! This is why I love to pattern test though - it pushes me way out of my comfort zone and into clothes I might not normally sew or wear. This is my first ever pair of stovepipe/skinny leg jeans and I am a convert! So the pattern: These are View A with the stovepipe leg. I made a size 18 (the test pattern was pretty generous - by my measurements I should be a sz20. This has been corrected on the finished pattern though). I muslined them up in cheap denim first and made a few adjustments; Added 1" to the inner leg seam on the front pattern piece. Ad...

I've been loving all the ginger jean variations and really liked Gillian's article about turning them into pull on jeans with an elastic waistband. Same adjustments as last time. I used bengaline from Spotlight and sewed them up the same as normal, the bengaline doesn't actually have as much stretch as my last denim pair so I let the side seams out through the thighs and hips. I'd taken out a side seam wedge last time too and it was a bit much so the pants feel a little twisted, I'm halving it for next time. In Gillians tutorial she says to add extra length so the waistband hits at the natural waist. Really take notice of this because I didn't originally and they looked like wrinkle city. Once I unpicked it and added a new waistband with an extra 2" in height they are not trying to creep upwards anymore and are sitting a lot better! I added rivets in an attempt to look more jeany (is that even a word?) I really like them with my ...