5 Things I Learned Sewing Jeans

So I just finished making my first pair of jeans and I am so effing proud of them!! Are they perfect? No, not even close, but considering I've been sewing for less than a year, I think they're pretty amazing. I will proudly wear them in public and I don't think the imperfections will be noticeable to the untrained eye. At least I hope! ;) I definitely learned a lot throughout the process so I thought I'd share the top 5 things with all of you.

FYI the pattern I used was Mimi G for Simplicity 8222 and the fabric is a stretch denim from JoAnn's.

1. Patience is a virtue.

This is a lesson I seem to have to keep learning because I haven't quite gotten the message yet lol. Whenever I start a new sewing project, I always assume I'll be done with it in a day or two. Ha! That almost never happens and then I get frustrated that I'm not done yet and try to keep working on it even though I'm exhausted...and that ladies and gentlemen is when mistakes happen. Take it from me, do NOT attempt to topstitch when you're tired. Go to bed and pick it back up when you're well rested.

2. How to thread my serger.

I've owned my serger for over a month now and although I did take it out of the box right away, I haven't spent a lot of time learning all of the things it can do. I've used it to finish off raw edges and that's about it. It came pre-threaded and when the thread got low I just tied on a new spool rather than re-threading the whole machine myself. My system was working fine until I was working on my jeans and a thread snapped out of the blue. Did I curse in the moment? Yes because I was so close to being done with my goal for the day and now I had to figure out how to thread the whole daggum machine! I was frustrated to say the least. I tried threading it on my own at first, but more cursing ensued. Finally I turned to Youtube and found a tutorial that walked me through the process and boom! Now I'm threading my serger like a pro. I finished off my raw edges and went to bed. I'm definitely glad to have the serger. I don't even want to imagine my frustration if I had to finish off all my seam allowances with a zigzag stitch.

3. Video tutorials are where it's at!

So I took a look at the instructions that came with the pattern and immediately decided to ignore them. I knew they would just confuse and frustrate me. I know that loads of people follow the instructions in the pattern envelopes with no problems, but I prefer to be shown using actual fabric rather than drawings. The thought of making my own jeans was daunting enough, so Mimi G's video tutorials were absolutely perfect for me. I was able to follow along step by step and I'm so happy with what I made. I wish all patterns came with video tutorials!

4. Buttonholes are the devil.

Omg there's nothing worse than stitching up a beautiful garment and then basically destroying it by messing up the buttonholes! Thankfully I was able to salvage mine, but I did have to re-do the buttonhole 4 or 5 times. I tested it on a double layer of leftover denim before doing it on my actual jeans and it worked like a charm. So I tried it on my jeans and it royally jammed up my machine. In the end I finally succeeded by ever so gently pushing the fabric along so the buttonhole could advance. I think next time I'll try putting a layer of tissue paper under the fabric and see if that helps any. This wasn't the pattern's fault. It probably wasn't the machine's fault either. I'm chalking it up to my inexperience making buttonholes.

5. I am no longer a total beginner!

Inability to make a proper buttonhole aside, I think it's safe to say that I'm not a complete beginner anymore. I've moved beyond making basic tote bags and zipper pouches. I just made my own jeans for crying out loud! That's something I couldn't even imagine 10 months ago when I got my sewing machine. It makes me so excited about what the future holds and all the other fun and challenging things I can learn how to make!

So is it worth it to sew your own jeans? Consider the following questions:

How soon do you need them? If the answer is this weekend and you're a novice at sewing, then no. Go buy you some jeans friend. You don't need that level of stress in your life, trust me.

How important is fit? If it's hard for you to find store bought jeans that fit well, make your own! This is hands down my best fitting pair of jeans. They fit me like a freakin' glove! The pattern comes with slim, average, and curvy fit options. I went with the curvy fit.

Do they need to be cost effective? It's important to remember that it is not necessarily cheaper to make your own jeans than it is to buy them. If you can get your fabric on sale, maybe, but then there are all the notions (interfacing, rivets, zipper, button) and not to mention the time commitment. After making my own jeans I will never again say that $50 is too much for a pair of quality jeans. Matter of fact, now that I know how much work actually goes into making a pair of jeans, if someone asked me to make a pair for them, I don't think I would even consider it for less than $200. Minimum LOL.

Overall though I'm happy I took the time to make myself a pair of jeans. These will be a wardrobe staple and I know I'll get a LOT of wear out of them. Eventually I'll probably make myself a pair in black and maybe a lighter wash denim as well. Hopefully by then I'll be topstitching like a boss!

Here is my official review of the pattern:

Pattern Description:

This pattern is for a bomber jacket and skinny jeans. I only made the jeans.

Pattern Sizing:

U.S. sizes 6-14 and 14-22

I made a size 14 and I'm in L.O.V.E with the fit!

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?

Yes, although my topstitching isn't quite as perfect as Mimi G's.

Were the instructions easy to follow?

I didn't follow the instructions in the pattern envelope. I followed along with Mimi G's video tutorials on Youtube. They were great!

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

I like that it's designed for stretch denim. I think that increases the likelihood of getting a good fit. And man oh man did I get a good fit! I also love that it came with a curvy fit option. Finding pants patterns that fit without major alterations has proven challenging, but these curvy fit jeans are PERFECT for my figure.

I can only think of two minor things I disliked about this pattern and one of them might even be my fault. I didn't like that the zipper was in the way when trying to topstitch the fly area. I ended up having to hand stitch part of it because my needle would have broken otherwise. I think topstitching BEFORE inserting the zipper could solve this problem. The other thing (and like I said this could be my fault) was that the waistband ended up being a tad too short and wasn't long enough to fit over the underlap on the right side. I'm thinking maybe I used too big of a seam allowance when I stitched the waistband together, I'm not sure, but I ended up having to sew on an extra little piece of fabric to extend the waistband long enough to cover the underlap and attach a button.

Fabric Used:

I used a dark stretch denim from JoAnn's. I believe it said 2% spandex.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:

I didn't make any design changes. I'm in love with how these jeans are designed. Luckily I didn't need any alterations beyond what I mentioned above. Oh and I took off a bit of length since I'm only 5'1".

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?

I would absolutely sew these again. It's not a quick sew, but you end up with a really nice quality pair of jeans at the end.

Conclusion:

Such a great pair of jeans!