Jalie 2908: Shorts

So you may be thinking you have seen these before, same fabric, same notions and pattern! A couple of changes though, wider leg pattern and the waistband. I've had a lot of trouble with my pants waistbands stretching out while wearing and have tried stay tape but that can make the pants a bit too tight to sit in comfortably.

So these pants have elastic in the waistband, very similar to this tutorial by Debbie Cook which she credits back to Sandra Betzina. I changed it slightly by making the pants to fit my waist when I'm sitting down and adding the elastic to fit when I'm standing up. So when I'm wearing them they have a mostly smooth waistband that stretches a couple of inches when I sit down (which is great if your waist measurement changes by about 3" when you sit down like mine does!)

The only elastic I had in a similar width was about 1/2" thinner than the waistband so I'm not sure how it will wash, it might need to be tacked down to stop it rolling. But I can say they fit really nice, snug when standing and comfy when sitting (compared to using stay tape which can dig in a bit sometimes).

I wore them all day today (which is why they were so wrinkly in the pics, sorry!), and while the legs stretched out a lot the waistband stayed fine. I did find that the elastic in the waist did hoick the back up a bit though so I really need to lower the back crotch by a little bit and lower the front waistband by about 1cm next time but I want to wear these around for a while first and see how they go.

My blog is going to be a bit light on the garment sewing for the next month or so, I have a baby quilt I need to sew, finish the Mario QAL quilt, make a Karate belt display quilt (which I still have to think about) and a Xmas quilt before Christmas!! So my poor V8333 jacket and the Colette Macaroon that I've half muslined up is going to have to wait.

Jalie 2908 frankenpattern jeans and jeans month wrap-up

Another pair of pants from the Jalie 2908/Sewaholic 1203 frankenpattern. This denim wasn't as stretchy as the last lot so these have some added width to the sides. I did want these to fit tighter though as I'm getting really sick of them stretching out so I made them right on the verge of firm fitting and it seems to have worked well.

I did top-stitching with proper top-stitching thread this time. Years ago there were jeans advertised with red top-stitching and I always wanted some so finally I have a pair! I like the look of the stitching, it makes them look like 'real' jeans! I did use silk thread the same colour for the bartacks and buttonholes though, my machine really hates top-stitching thread and just wouldn't do the bartacks.

Not much more to say about them. The denim was from Lincraft and is a bit thin and crappy so am not sure how it will wear. I'm really happy with this pattern now, I like having TNT patterns. Its easier to concentrate on the sewing and details without having to worry so much about fit.

A quick note about stay taping the waist, the best way I've found to make the waist fit properly is to try the pants on, pin the stay tape to the waist while wearing them and then sew the stay tape in (you may have to stretch the waist seam to fit the stay tape properly). When I was sewing it in without trying on and pinning it first I found they ended up too tight and without the stay tape they gradually stretched out over the day.



Jalie 2908 vs. Sewaholic 1203

More pants, one bonus of having sewn so many lately is that I can insert a zipper in minutes, lol! But I am getting a bit sick of them and think I'll spend the next week or so catching up on my Mario Quilt-Along!

I loved the legs on the Thurlow pants and I liked the classic jean look of the Jalie back yoke and pockets so this is a bit of a frankenpattern - Thurlow legs and Jalie hips/waist. I used my pants block again, taking about 2cm off the inner and outer seams and lowering the back crotch slightly to allow for the stretch denim. I think I need to take a little out of the front crotch height with stretch denim next time.

The denim was really quite thick and springy so I had to use my walking foot as it wiggled a lot while sewing, that why I didn't do much topstitching either.

I did a 1" fisheye dart as I had a lot of excess back leg fabric on the thurlow pants and it smoothed it out really nicely.

The waistband is quilting cotton fabric (Its Joel Dewberry if anyone's interested).

Its definantly helped with the fit of these pants having a woven facing, the waistband is a lot more rigid and I had hopes it would stop them stretching out but after wearing them today they got a bit looser so I thought I'd add on this back belt detail I saw on a pair of RTW jeans. It helps, but next pair of jeans will have stay tape around the top of the waistband as well!

I'm actually pretty happy with these jeans, I feel like I have a good TNT jeans pattern now and I have some purple denim that's begging me to make it up (but maybe in a couple weeks, lol!)!

Jalie 2908: Blue denim

This is the second time I've made this pattern (first is here).
So, I used my pants block and cut pretty much a sz DD, grading in at the waist. I changed the waistband, making it double the height and curved and used a stretch denim I had in my stash.
They've already stretched out a lot from wearing them for these photos, they went from nearly too tight to falling off me! They really need to be taken in a lot now and they have a lot of bunching/excess fabric on the back of the legs. I haven't had that happen before and I'm not really sure how to fix it, or honestly if I can be bothered to. I know nearly everyone loves this pattern but for whatever reason I've not had a great run with it - I've never worn the first pair I made and I don't know that I'll wear these either unless I get excited and unpick them.....

On the positive side, I really like the construction method especially the waistband and zipper method and I like how they look like a real pair of jeans with the yoke and pocket style.



I used a polkadot stretch poplin for the facings.


The pants block doesn't seem to translate as easily into tight pants, I think if I was going to sew them a lot I'd make another seperate block but I do prefer my wider leg pants which work well with it. A lot of pants sewing seems to come down to the type of material you use and how much stretch is in it which is something I'm still learning how to allow for.