How many years have I been planning to make these jeans?
Rhetorical question.
We finally got here. I had the pattern for ages but didn't want to cut it up while I was uncertain about the fit and the high waist, so when the mid-waist version came out I bought the PDF. I made this mid-waist version, which on me is high waisted.
I debated sizes for a long while.
6 on the chart, 4 if you only go by the waist.
Recommendation is to size down.
I had a play with my corduroy. It's very stretchy. So I made the size 2. I'm not even sure how this made logical sense. The waist size of the 2 is 25, which is about an inch smaller than my waist, but the hips are 34 and mine are 37. Spoiler: it worked. I did a cheater wide calf by just widening the calf pattern on the back piece as I cut, ending up at the hem with the normal width. I didn't do a knock knee/valgus knee adjustment, which I think I could do in jeans and never bother with.
Corduroy was splendid. I didn't have to do any visible topstitching and that was my goal. Before COVID I could have snuck these in as work pants (I'm an ER doctor) but now we have to launder our scrubs at work. Darn!
I was irritated by the instructions. There is one error in the pattern, and I know it's been mentioned - it shows the wrong side up of one of the fly pieces I think. My irritation is that the words in the instructions were not chosen well and were unclear. In order to understand this fly method I HAD to use the sewalong. When you use it, you have all the info and it's clearer. I thought that a print pattern should have everything you need in the pattern, it shouldn't be a requirement to use a sewalong to get a basic understanding of what the pattern wants you to do.
I really didn't like these fly instructions. However, I think in the end the fly looks great on the outside. I don't love the inside quite as much. I need to do this type of fly more and see if I start to like it as I get used to it.
Unlike most people I absolutely *hate* the pocket stay. I didn't expect that. My corduroy is possibly more stretchy than jeans fabric and the pocket stay is quilting cotton, so the front of my pants have wrinkles horizontally due to how the fabric wants to stretch and can't. I think the pocket stay totally takes away from the comfort and fit of stretchy pants. To each their own! I know lladybird switched hers to normal pockets so I'm hoping I'll be able to figure out how to do that easily enough. I definitely will switch on my next version. Those pocket stays made it hard to sew the front, because of how the very stretchy outer wanted to stretch, and the inner couldn't. So I had to be really cautious as I sewed that I didn't end up with wrinkles.
I didn't have enough corduroy to use it as the waistband lining and my inner waistband is really really stretchy. Like, I should have used heavier interfacing. I don't even remember if I interfaced it. I should have. The waistband feels loose and a little floppy to me instead of feeling stable. Ironically it's a tiny bit too big! I didn't take it in at all, it's not too bad.
In the end, after some usual buttonhole catastrophe torture, I have a pair of pants that fit amazingly well and I love them. I think there's a weird extra-fabric thing going on in the front and I'm hopeful it's due to that pocket stay imbalance. My next pair will be jean fabric and I suspect they will be tighter, so it'll be interesting to compare.
I thus agree with everyone: Ginger jeans are great. Use the sewalong. And size down. If you are using really stretchy fabric size down even more.
Rhetorical question.
We finally got here. I had the pattern for ages but didn't want to cut it up while I was uncertain about the fit and the high waist, so when the mid-waist version came out I bought the PDF. I made this mid-waist version, which on me is high waisted.
I debated sizes for a long while.
6 on the chart, 4 if you only go by the waist.
Recommendation is to size down.
I had a play with my corduroy. It's very stretchy. So I made the size 2. I'm not even sure how this made logical sense. The waist size of the 2 is 25, which is about an inch smaller than my waist, but the hips are 34 and mine are 37. Spoiler: it worked. I did a cheater wide calf by just widening the calf pattern on the back piece as I cut, ending up at the hem with the normal width. I didn't do a knock knee/valgus knee adjustment, which I think I could do in jeans and never bother with.
Corduroy was splendid. I didn't have to do any visible topstitching and that was my goal. Before COVID I could have snuck these in as work pants (I'm an ER doctor) but now we have to launder our scrubs at work. Darn!
I was irritated by the instructions. There is one error in the pattern, and I know it's been mentioned - it shows the wrong side up of one of the fly pieces I think. My irritation is that the words in the instructions were not chosen well and were unclear. In order to understand this fly method I HAD to use the sewalong. When you use it, you have all the info and it's clearer. I thought that a print pattern should have everything you need in the pattern, it shouldn't be a requirement to use a sewalong to get a basic understanding of what the pattern wants you to do.
I really didn't like these fly instructions. However, I think in the end the fly looks great on the outside. I don't love the inside quite as much. I need to do this type of fly more and see if I start to like it as I get used to it.
Unlike most people I absolutely *hate* the pocket stay. I didn't expect that. My corduroy is possibly more stretchy than jeans fabric and the pocket stay is quilting cotton, so the front of my pants have wrinkles horizontally due to how the fabric wants to stretch and can't. I think the pocket stay totally takes away from the comfort and fit of stretchy pants. To each their own! I know lladybird switched hers to normal pockets so I'm hoping I'll be able to figure out how to do that easily enough. I definitely will switch on my next version. Those pocket stays made it hard to sew the front, because of how the very stretchy outer wanted to stretch, and the inner couldn't. So I had to be really cautious as I sewed that I didn't end up with wrinkles.
I didn't have enough corduroy to use it as the waistband lining and my inner waistband is really really stretchy. Like, I should have used heavier interfacing. I don't even remember if I interfaced it. I should have. The waistband feels loose and a little floppy to me instead of feeling stable. Ironically it's a tiny bit too big! I didn't take it in at all, it's not too bad.
In the end, after some usual buttonhole catastrophe torture, I have a pair of pants that fit amazingly well and I love them. I think there's a weird extra-fabric thing going on in the front and I'm hopeful it's due to that pocket stay imbalance. My next pair will be jean fabric and I suspect they will be tighter, so it'll be interesting to compare.
I thus agree with everyone: Ginger jeans are great. Use the sewalong. And size down. If you are using really stretchy fabric size down even more.
