Well, we all know this pattern, right?
The famous Ginger Jeans from Closet Case Patterns.
Before we get into this pair of Ginger Jeans, let’s start with 5 reasons you should sew your own jeans.
Just in case you’re not on the sew-your-own-jeans-bandwagon yet.
- You can make jeans that fit your personal waist to hip ratio perfectly, meaning NO MORE BELTS! Ever!! Cuz, let’s face it, wrapping a hard piece of leather around your squishy bits just isn’t pleasant.
- Is there any fabric in the world more fun to shop than denim? I think not!
- Jeans actually come together surprising quickly. Honestly! You can baste a pair together to check the fit in just a couple of hours. And, when you do, the motivation of seeing something that looks kind of like a real pair of jeans already will give you ample inspiration to continue.
- Customisable back pockets. ‘Nuff said.
- You will feel like a sewing Goddess super hero who can conquer anything at all.
- You will wear them all the time and they will NEVER go out of style.
OK, so that was 6.
Me-made jeans get me a tad over-excited.
Double take
When I first sewed the Ginger Jeans almost 2 years ago, I swore more would be forthcoming. I’m not really sure why it took me so long to actually do it!
Jeans are definitely a project that I perhaps feel reticent to start, but, once I do, I really find it fun. I feel like, since I’ve only made two pairs, I’m not really ‘allowed’ to say this – but jeans are kind of my favourite things to sew!!
Not only is all that top stitching so satisfying, but the reward factor is high cuz, you know, who doesn’t need jeans???
My Ginger Jeans
These Ginger Jeans are a size 14 at the waist graded to a 16 at the hip. That makes them a full 2 sizes bigger than my version two years ago. No wonder I’ve been feeling uncomfortable in most of my pants lately!!
This is the mid-rise Ginger Jeans pattern, with the skinny leg. Which, as you can see, isn’t actually all that skinny on me. When you compare it to the photo above, which was the stove pipe leg, I was a bit surprised that the skinny leg wasn’t really all that differently shaped.
I think perhaps, with this denim, I need to size down a bit throughout some parts of the leg?
I added 1.5 inches to the rise to make them high-waisted. And used a lightweight knit interfacing to try to keep the high-waist as comfy as possible after a day of sitting down!
Apart from this, I made adjustments which are standard for my body: adding some extra curve into the waistband (TEAM no belt), a low-seat adjustment and scooping out the front crotch curve.
I also used a back pocket size a few size smaller as I felt it suited my butt better. You never pay more attention to your butt than when you’re sewing jeans.
Bunches of knees
I also tried to address my ongoing “knee-bunch” problem by trying a knock- knee adjustment.
I’d say it’s a slight improvement compared to my first pair but it has made clear to me that what I really needed is a full calf adjustment. I always felt that because it didn’t feel skin tight at my calves, it was ok. But looking at these pictures, I do see a distinct line at the upper calf where the fit is much tighter than the rest of the leg.
And that seems to be the culprit causing the bunching up above that tight spot. In this regard, a huuuuge thank-you to Nancy and Patricia who each commented on my recent post about the Palisade Pants offering advice that finally made it clear to me that, indeed, I have a full calf problem!
Am I the only one that feels somewhat incapable of looking at my body in an objective manner?
Cone Denim S-Gene Ginger Jeans
The fabric is S-Gene stretch Cone Denim which, if my memory serves me correctly, came from Closet Case just after Cone Denim announced the closure of their White Oak fabric.
It’s on the slightly lighter weight side – I’m hazarding a guess at 9oz, but I don’t remember exactly and it would take a lot of trawling through old emails to confirm.
Sorry!
Like all Cone Denim, it is wonderful and forgiving and a pleasure to wear and work with.
No complaints there.
Rivet problem
The only area which I found more challenging than on my first pair of Ginger Jeans was the rivets.
For my first pair of Ginger jeans, I thought the installation of rivets was a piece of cake.
Relaxing even.
Nothing more satisfying after a proud project than banging something with a hammer.
Since I had already enrolled in Closet Case’s online Sew Your Dream Jeans when I sewed my first pair of Ginger Jeans, I found it really useful to re-watch those lessons as a refresher course. The lesson on rivets uses a wire-cutter thingy to trim the rivet ‘shaft’ down to size, so that it’s not too long, before hammering the rivet in place.
I definitely did NOT do this for my first pair of Ginger Jeans. And it went just fine.
So I assumed that I could ignore this advice with impunity.
Well, it didn’t work so well with these rivets. The overall rivet, once hammered in was, simply put, just a bit too big. Leaving it slightly loose. Which meant that my rivet edges get stuck on little objects – my sewing room chair is a big culprit. And then they just pop right out!!
I’d initially placed 5 rivets on these jeans and had 5 ‘spare’ in my packet. After wearing these for a few weeks, I’d used all the spares and then I still lost another rivet.
My back pocket is currently rivetless while I try to find more rivets of the right colour.
Rivetting stuff, right…
So, I guess finding a way to trim your rivet to the right size before hammering in, would have been useful after all.
Ginger Jeans Sewing Tips
Umm, so before signing off, just a couple of little tips.
You probably know that Closet Case has some free downloadable back pocket designs you can use and customise – which is where I got these back pocket babies from.
But, a practical back pocket-related tip is that, when you baste your jeans together, make sure you already iron your back pocket to the right size and hold it up against your butt to check your ideal back pocket placement. If you mark your perfect pocket placement on your basted piece, it is much easier to just sew this step with confidence even before your back and front are attached.
Cuz nothing is worse than the wrong back pocket placement – check out this post of mine for proof!
My other tips, not anything new, are top-stitching related. I have a massive fear of actual top-stitching thread. You know that pretty stuff on the little 33m Gutterman spools. My old sewing machine would go all thread-nest-city on that thread! So much so that I’m scared to try it even on my new sewing machine.
But I’ve discovered that I love using the ‘cheat’ top-stitching of the triple straight stitch. In case it’s not already part of your sewing repertoire, that’s a straight stitch where each stitch is first sewn normally, then in reverse and then back forward again. This makes it, effectively, three times thicker than normal thread.
For my mind, it looks close enough to real top stitching to satisfy my needs, doesn’t challenge my sewing machine and doesn’t require constant switching out of thread!
Yeah, WIN!
And, since it just uses normal old thread, I also discovered that I could actually successfully use a twin jeans needle for stitching the straight lines in these jeans.
Which, of course, makes those double lines perfectly parallel.
Which, again, makes me feel like a jeans superstar.
Putting your best Jeans Forward
So, these are not perfect (full calves I’m looking at you), but I definitely love them anyway.
It’s just so liberating to have jeans that actually fit.
These Ginger Jeans also fit entirely into my current approach of acting more thoughtfully and deliberately in my sewing practice.
Oh and guess what?
At the time of posting, I am about to head to London, in one week’s time, to complete a Jeans Master Class at The New Craft House with Heather Lou of Closet Case Patterns!
Beyond excited!
So the next pair of jeans you see on the blog should be, well, even more masterful, right?
Oh and, finally, a little P.S! If you like to get your blog hits through Bloglovin’, feel free to follow me over there: you can find me here. And you can find me on Instagram here.