Monthly Archives: June 2018

Zen Chameleons

Not content with my unfinished jeans, I decided to start another pair of trousers this week…. this fabric is the same type as the penguins, polar bears and astronomy designs and has just about the right amount of stretch to make a pair of Zen Pants* by 5 out of 4 Patterns. I bought a metre and a half this time, just in case a metre wasn’t enough, and picked out a vibrant pink for the top stitching.

I played around with the back pockets, making them a hybrid of the Zen pocket, crossed with the Real Deal Jeans pocket.

And what better way to try out my new smiley face poppers, than on the cargo pocket? This is the first time I’ve tried adding a cargo pocket to a pair of trousers, and it went surprisingly well.


* – affiliate link
Pattern: Zen Pants* by 5 out of 4 Patterns
Fabric: Cotton Elastane from Fashion Fabrics

Real Deal Penguins!

Ok, I know I haven’t finished my first Real Deal Jeans yet, but I spotted this penguin fabric in town the other day, and couldn’t resist seeing if it’d work for another pair of jeans.

This is a stretchier fabric than the pattern calls for, so I’ll be adding in some elastic to the waistband, just to help it keep its shape.

I didn’t do any decorative stitching on the back pockets this time, as the penguins are really all the detail it needs.

These should be really comfy to wear – I just need to get on and finish sewing them now!


* affiliate link
Pattern:  Real Deal Jeans* by WinterWear Designs*
Fabric: Cotton Elastane from Fashion Fabrics

 

Making my own Jeans (UFO)

I’ve always wanted to be brave enough to make my own jeans. In fact, this year I added the Real Deal Jeans* by WinterWear Designs* to my 9 to Try in order to persuade myself to pluck up the courage to attempt them!

I decided that denim was going to be tricky on my Janome 525s – I’d struggled with it not feeding through evenly if there’s a bulky seam, and felt that denim would be a step too far as a first attempt. Instead, I found some lightweight cotton elastane fabric which looked like it might work well. I bought a metre, expecting it to be enough for a pair of shorts, seeing as the pattern says you’d need 3 metres.

As luck would have it, being petite in height and a smaller size, meant I could actually fit an entire pair of jeans on this metre of fabric!

Top stitching isn’t my favourite pastime, but I’ve made a special effort to make this as neat as possible…. even though most of it isn’t visible against the patterned fabric!


* affiliate link
Pattern:  Real Deal Jeans* by WinterWear Designs*
Fabric: Cotton Spandex from Sewing Studio