I have jumped on the bandwagon and made the Ginger Jeans from Closet Case Files. I have been exploring jeans patterns over the last couple of years and thought these might be a nice addition to my collection. I’ve also made the other two patterns produced by Heather Lou – the Nettie bodysuit, which I love, and the Bombshell Swimsuit which I also, er, love, so the jeans were an obvious make.

I knew I needed to make a muslin but didn’t really have stretchy stuff lying about to do this so I just picked some stretch purple denim from my stash and went for it, choosing View A, the low rise stovepipe. I decided on the size 10 grading down to a 4 over the hips, but after darting the yoke and the waistband, and taking in the side seams and finding that they are still a bit loose, my next version is going to be a size 8 down to a 2. My only other decision was the colour of the topstitching thread. Archie suggested cream but I went with my instinct and chose taupe which I think goes well with the purple denim.

The actual sewing was pretty simple. I followed the sewalong, joining it 10 days late as I had been busy with Archie’s jeans, but I did manage to catch up pretty well. Carolyn mentioned that the fly insertion is the easiest she’s ever done and I concur, although it is very similar to the KwikSew 3504 pattern that I used for Archie’s jeans, so I was most of the way there. The other thing that Carolyn recommends is using upholstery thread for the topstitching and this is way better. It was 30% off in Spotlight too, so I now have a vast supply in my stash :).

As I was making the jeans I was freaking out a bit over choosing the low rise version. However, I am shorter in the crotch than the instructions but didn’t reduce the length of this part, so I think they finished up ok. I might fiddle a bit with this for the next pair. The only other alteration I made was the flat bottom adjustment. I took about a centimetre out of the upper back leg, but could probably do a bit more.

I did skip ahead a bit on the sewalong and did the back pockets without really thinking about it. After I had sewn them on I read the post – who knew that putting back pockets on jeans has a science of its own? I just whacked mine on, but think I lucked out because the placement feels fine. I did get carried away with the riveting and put them either side of the back pocket, but then didn’t do the front pockets – since remedied.

I used a piece of home decorating fabric to line my waistband and pockets

So bottom line on these jeans? Definitely the best pattern I’ve used so far. I still have fitting issues but I expect to resolve most of these the next time I make them. The are comfortable as long as they are held up by a belt, and I think they look better than most of my RTW jeans.

The details: Pattern is Closet Case Files Ginger Jeans, fabric is purple stretch denim from Knitwit. Top is Ivy Knit Top from StyleArc patterns, shoes are Reiker and the necklace came from Heaven Wrapped.