asked begged pleaded for another pair, but this time with an elasticated cuff round the bottom of the leg. I acquiesced on the grounds that all this practice will improve my own jeans when I finally get round to them.
The jeans themselves came together quite quickly, and all I had to manage was the cuffs. I made a rough determination of the size and decided that I would make them separately and then attach them. Sewing in the elastic was a two-man mother and son operation – I sewed and Archie held the elastic under tension. This seemed simple and the jeans were looking good. He did a test try on and declared them “anything”, but then it became a two-man mother and son operation to get them off! One of the cuffs was a bit tight and he could not get it over his foot. OK, back to the drawing board. I remade one of the cuffs many times – it was too tight, then too loose, then too sloppy. Honestly, these cuffs took me longer than the jeans! Then Archie got involved and designed a method of attachment that he thought would make it easier. Hmm, only marginally successful. More unpicking and I went back to my method, which was to put it all in the bin and go off and buy better quality elastic, which worked a treat.
My other problem was that I decided to interface the waistband and he couldn’t do them up. Unpicking ensued and I ripped out the interfacing and the waistband stretched round him nicely.
Finally I got them to an acceptable standard, but I will have another go with some blue denim jeans for him – eventually!
I was going to make myself a pair of trousers with the leftover fabric – I saw sailor type trousers in my future, but I doubt that I’ll get a skirt out of what is left over. Oh well, he’s thrilled, so all is well that ends well.
Details: Pattern is KwikSew 3504 modified to make the legs skinnier and to add the elasticised cuffs. Fabric is stretch cotton from Potters Textiles.