High waisted Ginger jeans, a review

So, I have gotten in to the habit of making "themes" with my jeans. These were to be the jungle jeans, with the cute animal print pockets and a matching colour scheme.  But I had some irritations along the way, and by the end I was not very enthusiastic about these.  Certainly didn't help that when I pulled them on sans waistband they were way too snug.

 But to start from the beginning 

I've made the low waisted Gingers a number of times. Always using really hyperstretchy fabrics, borderline jeggings style, and they have always opened up to a horrific gaping waist.  I expected this pattern to be the magic fix.  I compared the fit of the pattern pieces and they are the same.  I made size 4, and based on how much fabric I had bagging up on my legs, I shortened the fit: 1 cm at the rise, 1 cm at the mid-upper thigh, and 1" off the hem.  

This is pretty normal stretch denim - it has some stretch, but you aren't going to do yoga in it. 

So when I got to that try on phase and I couldn't get the jeans on: 

I opened up the side seams another 3/8" which has improved the fit enough that I can get them onto my body, but overall I think they don't have a good butt fit - looks like a bubble butt, and despite the marked pocket location being ok on previous versions these are way too low.  I've never had a pair of jeans I put on and thought were actually completely unwearable, so this was really a blow.  I guess the ultra-stretchy fabrics I was previously using made a huge difference.  It may also be that the snugger fit makes the butt fit look worse.  Since before they were loose in that area I think it sat differently.  

 Excuse some of the colours in the photos, I overexposed them in various ways so you could actually see the jeans.

 

 So, I'm actually going to make another pair of Gingers. The low waisted Gingers.  In another very light, stretchy denim. I think if I narrow them towards the waist by shrinking the yoke and removing a wedge from the front waist I might be able to get a better waistband fit.  I also noticed when I read through my blog that I did a wide quads and a wide calf adjustment. I'm not sure why I didn't notice these since I had the pattern pieces out - you just slash through the middle of the pattern piece vertically, and spread it open like a fishtail dart.  It is probably hard to replicate precisely the same each time since it's not taped into position.  They wouldn't have made these jeans a success but I might have fit into them a bit better if I had realised and added that adjustment. 

Ginger jeans x 2 review

 I made these over a year ago in very stretchy lightweight black corduroy (here).  The fit was good but I didn't love the tummy stay thing.  I managed to sneakily wear these as uniform pants at work once our month of covid lockdown ended...until the butt split open along the side of the pockets - which is the risk when you use a too light fabric for something like jeans with all their topstitching.  I had apparently made size 2 but my pattern pieces say 4.  So I made a size 4 this time and I suspect I made a size 4 the first time too.

When I made the corduroy version of these I knew I wanted more and I planned 2 more pairs right away.  Unfortunately I didn't MAKE those two right away and I realised I was delaying due to the general feeling that Jeans are Hard.

Pair 1, in retrospect, should have been jeggings as this is another super lightweight stretch denim, and I think they won't last too long.  But that's ok because I think 1990's throwback jeans probably need to live hard and burn out fast...

 

I made these in about 4 hours.  I was in shock, in fact, that they were so easy. Nothing went wrong.  I used the pocket from the Dawn jeans, it just needed some modification along the pocket opening, otherwise it was a perfect match.  I didn't interface the waistbands. Of course I had some advantages that made these easier - the lightweight fabric didn't even need a denim needle and I was topstitching with my same thread.  I used my Bernina for the buttonhole and the tops of the belt loops.  I played around with my new embossing kit and some leather scraps.  These jeans are great!  They are very snug!  Hm except for the waistband which I really did say was too loose before.  I had a hard copy of the high waisted Ginger pattern and gave it to a friend, but I feel like I'm hitching these up a lot.  

On to the jean fabric.  Tried to stretch the waistband a lot to improve fit. Also shortened at the hems by 1.5".  It didn't really help with the waist, I think I need to actually either take it in, or make the high waisted version of these.  Also while doing the pockets I realised my replacement pocket piece was not actually a perfect fit and I had to make a few adjustments, but they were not dramatic ones. I'm...happy with these.  They are really pretty!  They also were easy to make with no dramas.  I used Mara 70 topstitching thread in grey, and a kind of sea theme with my wave pockets and seamonster pocket bags.  I sneakily stuck on a label harvested from some old jeans that I upcycled.   I used a jeans needle, and topstitched with a second machine, so everything went smoothly. I do, however, feel like these are a kind of ok RTW fit.  Like, they are nothing impressive and I expect they will fall off my butt as I wear them because they are a bit loose.  Which all makes sense, since I did nothing to really make them fit better. 

 

Summarising: I think in retrospect these are easy because I have made 3 pairs of Dawn jeans, and two of them in the past year.  The Dawn instructions are amazing.  The instructions for Gingers are ok.  They are not amazing.  I again referred to the fly instructions in the sewalong because the written fly instructions are confusing.  But after making so many Dawns and the amazing hand holding that went along with it, nothing surprises me...it ends up that now I KNOW how to make jeans.  And because the Dawns were non stretch, I put in more effort to get the right fit.  I think if I wanted to make tight but nice fitting jeans now, I'd use my modified Dawn pattern rather than the Ginger pattern.  The Dawn jeans I have made are really snug and I think I'd wear them more if they had a bit of stretch. 

I'm really pleased that making jeans has entered my skill set, I'm planning a pair of Morgans before the weather warms up too much and I'm excited rather than being daunted, which is great.

Ginger jeans - midrise - review

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.