2013 Sewlution - done!

Is it possible to get both victory and defeat from the same garment?

I don’t normally allow myself to be bullied by fabric.  I try and negotiate with my stash, aiming for a win-win scenario.  If I have an idea for a fabric I usually go for it.  Quite often the fabric speaks to me before buy it, so we’re in agreement before I even get to my purse out.  Unfortunately buying pre-loved (but not pre-used) fabric on line is a bit like a blind date.  I’ve seen a photo but we don’t get to discuss destiny until I’ve committed.

Thisfabric was like that.  I had an idea, and even after I had collected her I intended her to be a dress.  Her vision for her future was different.  I ended up putting her in the washing machine to shut her up.  I put her in the washing machine three times (after all, she’s denim) before I attempted to add her to the stash.  Next morning she was somehow on the floor, spread out with HER choice of pattern pieces!  I’m not quite sure how that happened, but it did, and I devoted a whole day to the project.  She wanted to be jeans, and I needed to get jeans licked before the end of 2013 to complete my Sewlution.

For some bizarre reason she was determined to be worn the same evening to my daughter’s birthday dinner.  Sewing like a mad thing I got the jeans finished and overall I have to admit she was right – she makes a lovely pair of slightly dressier jeans. 

I stuck with the same pattern (McCalls 5894) that I had used for my two previous attempts at jeans.  Ready to wear jeans always gap at the back, so I put a tuck into the back yoke pattern piece…

…and it seemed to work.

It looks as though they are creasing a little over the butt in this picture, but they actually fit well.  

I opted not to seam the fly facing onto the front of the jeans, just to avoid bulk over my tummy, that has all the bulk it needs on it’s own.

Unlike the ready to wear printed jeans, these are not skinny jeans, as skinnies do no favours to my rather chunky calves.  In hindsight I could have made them a little skinnier, but I’m happy with these, and will definitely wear them – Even my little girl (no longer a teenager) approved.

I shouldn't let fabric bully me like this, so it feels as though I was defeated by a fabric with attitutude.  However, there is a victory in these jeans too;   I can, at last, tick off my 2013 Sewlution - Jeans sorted!