Even though I finally finished my pink trousers and lace teeshirt I mentioned last week, it’s been so hot and sweaty that I haven’t quite managed to do a photoshoot for them yet. Everything’s written so as soon as I do, you’ll get to see how great they are, honest!
I also managed to cut out a Kwik Sew exercise top, but not start sewing it yet, but what I really wanted to talk about today is the ongoing process in deciding which jeans pattern to use as a match for some heavyweight, non-stretch denim in my stash. So when I say that I’m “always thinking two projects ahead”, you now know it’s the truth!
If you remember back to my Spring Sewing Ideas, I had two different KnipMode jeans patterns that I thought I might use:
However, I found out soon after that the 2012 KnipMode one was for stretch wovens, which dis-counted it for this particular bout of jeans sewing.
The 2005 one looked very promising, but when I made a muslin of it the look was not good – ill-fitting in the waist and hips and way too wide in the legs. I’m sure I could fix it with plenty of time and patience, but with such an enormous pattern stash it just wasn’t worth pursuing further!
So I went back to the drawing board, otherwise known as my online pattern catalogue, and had a look through all the magazine issues I’d tagged “jeans”. This was a lot! So as I flipped through, I took screenshot segments of the ones I liked the look of, and renamed these files with the brand and pattern number, and shoved them in a special folder.
That’s normally as far as I go for my own use, but since I wanted to share some jeans biodiversity with you all, I plopped them in a single image, too:
Sorry, I was feeling too lazy to label all these, but if you want to know what something is, just ask in the comments.
There’s quite a wide range here – a few Burdas (top row), some KnipModes (middle row), and also two La Mia Boutique, a Manequim, MyImage, and Patrones, too.
The next step was to go through my actual magazines at home to look at these issues to make sure a) they weren’t for stretch denim and b) I liked the back view, too (I decided a definitely want a yoked back). I had to take a few of the above out of the running for these reasons, and I ultimately think I’ve decided on this one, from April 2010 Burda:
My reasoning is that I’m highly certain it’ll fit me well (moreso than, say, LMB, Manequim, MyImage, or Patrones, with whom my experience with their trousers is slim to none), and it’s a good, classic jeans pattern which may hopefully become my TNT for non-stretch denim like the Jalie pattern is for stretch.
It’s one of the more boring designs I own (I reeeeeeeally want to try those La Mia Boutique ones in the bottom left corner!), but I figure once I’ve got a good standard pattern, I can trace off the waist/hips/crotch area onto a more interesting leg and ensure a good frankenpattern fit.
Napkin Project
The other side project I’m working on (in amongst the 50+km I run each week, full time job, and social life!) is an embroidery project for dementia patients called The Napkin Project.
Essentially, it’s a project where volunteers embroider anything they like onto a (provided) blank cloth napkin, and these will be used in a dementia care home in Bristol to help inspire and provoke memories and comfort in patients. As my granny is in a specialist dementia care home, I felt this was one small way I could help others who are in a similar state.
There’s a loose theme of home, so I’ve decided to incorporate a porthole, tower bridge, and greenery into my design, which I started last night and took outside at lunchtime today!
There’s still time to join, so if you’d like to contribute go here, but there is a deadline of 2 September to return them!