Jeans, Jeans, and more Jeans

So lately I have been working on Jeans. When the cold weather approaches, it motivates me to do pants. As you recall, I had the desire to make a pair of jeans from printed denim after seeing this picture in Instyle Magazine 7/2012:

Photo Courtesy of Instyle Magazine, July 2012

Well try as I might, I wasn't able to find denim in such bold prints, so instead I went with these prints:

All of these were purchased from JoAnn's. Well when I got ready to sew that's when I discovered I had misplaced my jean pattern. After all of those months of getting the fit of the Jalie 2908 jeans pattern just right, now I can't find the thing!

Well thank goodness for Craftsy.com, and Kenneth Kings class "Jean-ius". It took me about 2 days; but I made another Jean pattern from one of the earlier pairs I had made. I only had to do very minor tweaking, and I was ready to go. He has so-o-o many helpful hints, and his directions are very easy to follow. This was definitely worth the money! And if you are like me you can catch one of the class sales and get a discount.

I decided to do some topstitching using a the triple stitch on my machine on 2 of the pairs, and using buttonhole thread and my Singer 99K on the other 2 pairs.

After discovering the convenience of having a separate machine already setup with the topstitching thread, I will never again sew jeans on a single machine. It's so convenient to just turn to the other machine rather than having to rethread the machine constantly, as I alternate between seams and topstitching.


  The first pair was made from "paint-splash" denim.  It had a little bit of lycra in it.  I always make my jeans with some extra comfort space.  I'm originally from the south, so anything close to freezing, and a sister will put on thermals in a heartbeat! I love to wear heals with my jeans; so I typically make my pants one to two inches longer than needed















Then came the Acid Wash jeans. I got was so pleased with the waistband. (A little thing that Kenneth King mentions is to cut the waist band on the crosswise grain, and this will give it some stretch). I As you can tell I got the fit over the rear without the use of darts! These were topstitched using white thread, and the triple stitch on my machine.



 


















Next were the black pin stripe jeans; on these I added 2 inches to the hemline, and decided to drop the waist about an inch. I've topped stitch these using a black buttonhole thread, so the topstitching is as noticeable on these as they are on the white ones and the final ones. Also, on these I decided to do the top stitching on the inseam; just to try something different.











The final pair was made from what I call"holey" denim. I chose to use a tan topstitching thread for these. I also went all out and did the rivets on the pockets, etc. I topstitched these on the inseam (hence, the reason for the awkward stand, so you could see the stitching). I kept all of the stitching on pockets very simple.  I figured the fabric was the eye-catcher.

I also decided to use my Singer 99k to do my buttonhole on the waistband.  It was so easy.   Sometimes these older attachments are great.  It handled the bulkiness at the waistband without problem:

I used my largest keyhole template and stitched around the buttonhole twice, but of course I had to do my sample stitch out first.

 The final touch was to use the buttonhole cutter to cut open the buttonhole, and a little fray check to seal the opening.

This is one of the many projects I've got finished during my blog absence.  So now I have 4 jeans completed and 3 more to go.  Hey, I need to have at least a weeks worth of jeans, you never know when a good old fashioned snow storm may hit.
  

Life Gets In The Way ....Sometimes

Well I haven't posted in quite some time. If there is one thing that can interfere with my sewing, its Life. But that's a good thing. During my time away:

• Spent a week with my son while he recovered from surgery.
• My son's fiance' graduated from law-school!
• My oldest son got married to a very nice young lady
• Helped my youngest son moved to his own apartment.
• Finally, finished up the spring semester... (more time to sew)
• Did a trip to Las Vegas for daughter's regional tournament... (Is there such a thing as being to old for Las Vegas? Just way too much happening on the strip for me... Can you say Sensory Overload!).
• My car, washer, and sewing table lift all decided to take a vacation in the same week!
• My parents celebrate their 50th anniversary this year!
• My daughter is home for the summer!
• Plus other things, way too many to make a complete list.

I did manage to keep sewing on the mind though...

• Attended Sewing Review PR. My first time, and won't be my last! Had lots of fun, and met other like minded sew-aholics.
• Helped some vintage sewing machines find homes (I won't admit publicly face-to-face that the home was mine). Got a black Singer 301 with case, and a Singer feather-weight.
• .

So now that Cassie has gotten her grove back what are my plans for sewing. Well I'm going to try to set a goal for each week.

This week its to learn to use some of the other functions in my serger. Can you believe, I've had my Serger for over 7 years. I used it mainly to finish seams and edge finishing so I just stuck with the basic overlock seams. I've got a Viking 936:

I've used the rolled hem function before, and used woolly nylon thread to finish the edges. But I've always stuck with a 3 or 4 thread overlock stitching to do so. Well my machine does so much more. It does 2,3,4,5, and coverstitch. And I haven't even touched the tip of the ice-berg as far as using its functionality.

A couple of months ago, my local sewing shop decided to no-longer sell viking machines, so all of the attachments were 50-75% off. So what does a good seamstress do? . . . . Well you purchase every single attachment they have that you don't already have. Attachments like:

• Bias Tape Foot
• Flat Lace Foot
• Pin Tuck Foot
• Edge Guide
• Piping Foot
• Gathering Foot
• Perl Foot

So as you can see, I have plenty of things to learn with to use with my serger......

Happy Sewing

Pray for me, because.....

A seamstress can never have too many machines, right?

I remember my grandmother used to sew on a treadle machine. I have fond memories of her sewing and asking her to let me work the peddle for her (as I sat on the floor in front of the machine). I had always wanted to get hers, but when she passed on, it sort of got lost.

Well anyway this weekend I went to a estate sale in search of some vintage patterns, and there it was in the corner. A Singer 66K treadle machine, with all of the attachments. Needless to say my memories took over and I just had to bring it home (with some nudging from my partner in crime, my girlfriend). The machine was in perfect working order. I cleaned it, oiled it, and put a new belt on it. I sewed a couple of scrap pieces of fabric to check on the tension:

This week I put my Bernina in for a tuneup, so I've had to put some of my other machines in to active duty. I'm working on another pair of jeans. I've read on others blogs, how its nice to have multiple machines, with one of them setup for top-stitching.

So I sat up my Singer 99K, which I found about 6 months ago. Again, it was in excellent condition. I just had the sewing mechanic look at it, and make sure all was OK. It came with the standard attachments, and a buttonholer, zigzagger, darning, and hem stitch attachments. Not to mention the case which also had the keys. I had originally bought it as a machine to take to quilt classes, since the 830 is way to heavy too try and lug around. I set it up to do all my seams:

The other machine that I sat up is my Old Domestic machine. I found this many years ago at a garage sale for $25. It too has all of the attachments. I set it up to do all of my topstitching on.

Another pointer I picked up from Two on Two off blog, and used upholstery thread from my topstitching.

Boy did this setup made the topstitching so-o-o much easier. Here is the topstitching on one back pant piece:
And of course, I set up the trustworthy Viking serger to finish the raw edges. In addition to these, I also have a Viking Designer 1, and I have a Elna Supermatic.

Now that I think about I do have a LOT of machines. So pray for me, ask God to make sure another one doesn't try to sneak in my car and follow me home :)

PS I'll tell you about my vintage pattern excursion in the next post.