Jeans - Upcoming Project

There has been a lot of jeans sewing on the blogs I visit and it has inspired me.  Well, that and the fact that I currently have only two pairs of jeans.  One, from Eddie Bauer, are faded, tired and have always been too large around the waist area.  Large as in have to wear a belt.  The other pair, worn only a few times, are Levi's, and were purchased for $8.00 at Marshalls.  They border on being "mom" jeans.  I hang my head in shame.....

Shopping for blue jeans has been painful and most always, unsuccessful.  Too long, too short, never quite right.  And, price doesn't matter.  $8.00 or $108.00.  Fail.  So, I am willing to try sewing them.  Afterall, I do possess the workhorse Bernina 930 and it's jeans foot, #145, and the blind hemming foot, #016.  I haven't used the jeans foot before.  As for the blind hemming foot, I know that beautiful topstitching is but one of it's special talents.  Will I need a flat fell foot?  If I do, I don't have one.  But, I bet eBay does.....

The jeans pattern frequently used, successfully, on the various sewing blogs is Jalie #2908.  Though the pattern measurements would work for me, I already have the jeans pattern pictured above, McCall's #5894.  This is a Palmer/Pletsch "Classic Fit" pattern.  After looking at the measurements, I think I will start with size 18W.  That "W" after the 18 means it should have a better chance of fitting me and therefore gets approval for testing.

I have a piece of denim that I purchased from Fabric.com a few months ago, but other items are needed, too. For notions, I ended up at Atlanta Thread & Supply Company.  I ordered Levi gold topstitching thread, a few brass zippers, jeans buttons and last, but not least, jeans sewing machine needles.  I didn't see jeans rivets on their site.  This pattern doesn't include them, but if I had them, I would use them.

So far, I have spent $.99 for the pattern, about $12.00 for the denim and a few dollars for the notions. Not a huge investment. Especially, if it works. If it doesn't, uh, maybe I will have to purchase the Jalie pattern. Oh, I do have the Bernina My Label jeans pattern. Logic would say that I should start there.....

I haven't forgotton about the mock wrap t-shirt.  I also need work on pants.