Thursday, September 6, 2012

Finishing: my first jeans

I haven’t sewn in months, since we came to New Zealand, except for a bit of mending, bathroom curtains and such. I have been working on my thesis, but yesterday I sent the last chapter to my supervisor, and now I am waiting for his feedback on what I still have to change so we can send it to the reading committee. First day of guilt-free sewing in ages! I am obviously in a kind of “finishing” mode, as I pulled out some UFOs and suddenly felt the urge to finish these jeans. I started them more than two years ago, with my old sewing machine, which I could not get to sew this thin stretch denim. The inside is a mess, and when it came to making a buttonhole and sewing on belt loops, I gave up.
My new machine can handle the denim. The pattern is from schnittvision, you print it out according to your personal measurements. I bought the CD because I hoped for a good fit in pants. But now I remember why I was not so keen on finishing them. I had sewn on the back pockets following the pattern placement, but they are very far apart, and a bit too small, very unflattering. Unfortunately, I had been overenthusiastic and had already hammered on rivets to reinforce the top of the pockets, so I can not fix this. I will call these my laundry-day-jeans.
I also finished these shorts, I had started them at the end of the summer last year, but got interrupted and then there was no need for them any more. It was supposed to have ties in the front but I could not find the pieces any more, so just used elastic. They are from a burda pattern, the fabric is a nice poplin with a floral print.
Next in line is a light layer for summer, which had not made it past the cutting stage. It is actually nice to have some UFOs prepared for the day that you need some feeling of accomplishment quickly.

4 comments:

SewRuthie said...

If you have any spare denim fabric left, you could make more pockets and sew them on top of the first ones as a design feature. I have seen this done in RTW. Obviously if you've thrown out the scraps I wouldn't worry too much and just get on and enjoy wearing them.

Hen said...

Thanks for the idea, but I got rid of the scraps before we moved. Was it Ann Rowley who said that she keeps scraps as long as she keeps the garment?

kbenco said...

How satisfying it must be to hand in your thesis. Looking at UFOs would not inspire me at all after that, but your new garments must be satisfying as well. I hope you have some new fun sewing coming up.

velosews said...

At least you've finished a few UFOs and that would make me very happy. The jeans do look fab thoug.