I am experimenting with a variety of jeans patterns in my quest for perfect fitting jeans. I am pretty darn happy with the Jalie 2908 jeans – designed for stretch denim – but I also decided to try the straight leg Jalie 968 jeans. Maybe because I like to support pattern companies so much. 😉
I had 4+ yards of a medium/dark denim, and decided I might even be able to squeeze two pairs out of it if I was careful. My first fabric-squeezing effort involves the back leg. Take a look. Notice how the back leg hangs over the selvedge edge?
Most men’s slacks are cut with a small wedge of fabric added to the inside of the back leg to minimize fabric requirements, so I thought the same technique might work on my jeans. This is also known as the “Judy Barlup” pants cutting technique. 🙂 I cut out the front pant leg, and then added a small section of fabric to the selvedge edge of the fabric intended for the back pant leg pattern piece. Here is the right-side view of the fabric only:
And the wrong side view:
And finally the back pattern piece laid out on the “extended” fabric, which now has sufficient room for the upper back leg area. Sweet!
And here you can see how I was squeezing in all the bits and pieces you need for a pair of classic jeans.
Well, after all was said and done I did not end up with quite enough for a second pair of jeans for me – tho I could easily get a pair out for someone shorter, and definitely could get a cute skirt or a casual short-ish jacket for me out of the leftover yardage. Not bad.
I am always glad when the cutting, marking, and interfacing is done and I can get down to the fun part of using my power tools, err, sewing machines. I REALLY love sewing jeans because I set up 3 machines. One sewing machine is loaded with a denim needle and navy thread – for seaming. Another sewing machine is loaded with a denim needle and jeans top-stitching thread in the needle and regular polyester thread in the bobbin, and my serger is loaded with navy or black cones for overcasting the edges. LOTSA power tools are employed when jeans are being made! More to come on this project.
Happy sewing!
Maris Olsen