I've been wanting to move my blog away from Blogspot for a while but could never be bothered to actually do it. This week was the tipping point though, and I've now fully migrated over to https://patsypoomakes.wordpress.com/ . The blogspot address will remain here but all new posts will only appear at https://patsypoomakes.wordpress.com/ . There are lots of reasons for the move but my biggest one is how hard Blogger has made it for people to subscribe to receive new posts via email. It's such a basic requirement but apparently, they think it's too much to offer. I'm basing this purely on how I myself prefer to consume this stuff. I can't be arsed with feed readers anymore and emails are easy and convenient. When I receive one, if I fancy reading it, I will click through to it and, if not, I'll just delete it. Another reason is the spat between Google (owners of Blogger) and Instagram/Facebook/Meta. I don't even know if this is still the case anymore ...
Remember the Pona jacket I made last week? As I mentioned in that post, I ended up with around 1.25m of the fabric left. I wondered if I'd be able to squeeze some jeans out of that. I've had the Megan Nielsen Dawn jeans on my list to make for a while so I decided to give them a whirl. I won't be talking about the fabric again today. You can check the jacket post for that if you're interested.
The jeans were an absolute joy to make. It took me about 3 afternoons to finish and everything went exactly as it should. Isn't it funny how we evolve though? Two years ago, before I made my first pair, jeans seemed like an insurmountable task. Fast forward to now: I decided last week I wanted to make jeans, cut them out at the weekend and they were ready on Thursday, like it was no big deal. 🤷♀️ That's because it really isn't a big deal. I don't think they're difficult, it's just a lot of steps.
The instructions were amazing. Just like the Ash jeans, the first thing you make is the fly, which is a great way to start: the most complicated bit is done first. I prefer the separate fly from the Dawn and the Ash to the all-in-one from the Gingers. It's a better finish.
I made a version A, which is a tapered leg, and size 10 but graded down to an 8 from the hips - which I shouldn't have done. I have been doing quite a bit of running over the last 12 months and I haven't made any fitted, non stretch trousers.
And guess what? My hips are an inch wider than they used to be. 🤦♀️ They were VERY tight around the hips when I baste fitted them. But letting them out to 1cm instead of 1.5cm fixed the issue and now they're fine. I can sit down and bend my knees.
I've said it before, I don't make toiles but I like to make test versions to see what needs changing. I'm fortunate enough to be quite the Little Miss Average so any adjustment I need is usually pretty minor and I'd rather tweak as I go. One crucial thing I need to pay attention to before I cut my fabric though is calf circumference. I have giant mutant calves. Seriously. I think it's from when I danced. They're really big for my twiggy legs. They're 14 inches, which is about the same size as my marathon-running husband's!
So when I wanted to make the tapered leg version and couldn't find that measurement on the pattern, I contacted MN headquarters and asked them. They got back to me really quickly. The finished measurement for the size 10 was just shy of 14 inches so I had to make room for my supersized calves.
I followed this Sew DIY tutorial and added 1 inch to the lower leg of my pattern. But the hem ended up looking like bell bottoms so I reversed the process further down the pattern leg to bring the hem back to the original width. This is the first time I tried this adjustment and it worked a treat.
Having made the Ash Jeans last year and ended up with a very short inseam, I also added some length to the leg. I added 3 inches before cutting the fabric but when I tried it on, I decided to remove an inch and a half and they're my perfect length now. I can wear them as they are or roll them up like in some of these photos.
I am made up with them. It's my first time sewing non-stretch jeans and I was little apprehensive. I didn't think they were going to fit at all at one point. You know when you get something in your head and you fixate on it? Yes. That. Annoying, isn't it? The one fitting issue I still need to address for next time is a slight gaping at the back of my waistband.
As you can see, there's a little bit of excess but I won't let that bother me. I've had decades of wearing ready to wear jeans which were forgiven for much worse than this. I think if I take off 1cm at the top at either side of the centre back it will look a lot better. But look how nice my bottom looks! 🤣
I have plans for another 2 different versions. I bought fabric with 1% spandex for a pair of Dawns last year, so that will be coming soon. But now that I made this and I love it so much, I want to make a pair of shorts as well. I want them ready before our next holiday so I will need to get them made very soon. I'm so glad I found this pattern. Having a pair of non-stretch, comfortable jeans is something I've been after for a while.
