Back in December, Stefanie of
Sea of Teal Blog announced her
Sew Your Wardrobe Basics challenge for 2020. Every month she publishes a theme or a piece of clothing she wants/needs in her wardrobe, along with inspirations and pattern ideas … and she invites anyone to sew along.
January’s theme was denim. The most worn denim pieces in my wardrobe are black denim. Not only jeans, but I even have a black denim jean jacket. Black goes with so many garments in my wardrobe. I was getting tired of the skinny and straight leg jean styles that I have so many of. This challenge prompted me to add a new style of black jeans to my wardrobe: flare leg. I have sewn jeans before, but they never seem to fit as well as RTW. My favorite pair of flare leg jeans is a pair from the brand Nic and Zoe. The fabric is a heavy 95% cotton, 5% lycra fabric that may even be a knit. It is hard to tell. They fit well in the butt and are very close fitting in the hip and thigh area.
I copied the N&Z pair. There are many ways to copy Jeans. Just Google it, or look on YouTube and chose your method. My first attempt, using the rubbing method, resulted a slightly wonky looking pattern. The second attempt, pinning paper (Dr's examination table paper, Thanks Jane!) to the seams of the pants, resulted in a much more accurate pattern.
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| copy of N&Z pant pattern |
The fabric I chose to use was Telio Atwell Denim Twill Black Fabric. Contents 65% Cotton/32% Polyester/3% Lycra Spandex. Description: This medium weight (6.5 oz. per square yard) denim has a soft hand, a nice drape, and about 15% stretch across the grain for comfort and ease.
This fabric had a lot more stretch that the original pant fabric and I was a bit apprehensive to do jean style top stitching on a stretch fabric. So I added fusible, straight of grain, seam reinforcing tape (Japanese Tailoring tape) to seam lines to prevent stretching specifically
on the back yoke, the front pockets, and the center front zipper area.
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| Fusible tape on yoke seam |
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| Leather trim on back pocket. |
I faced the waistband with elastic, something I saw in another pair of RTW jeans. I have a problem with jeans' waistbands stretching out which means I am constantly tugging my jeans up all day. I stamped the elastic with an "a" for Audrey.
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| Waist faced with elastic. |
I am very happy with the fit. Only problem is the fabric seems to be a big lint attractor.
I even dug the black denim jacket out of the back of the closet, a Burda Style magazine pattern that predates my blogging, so at least 15 years ago.
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| Who picked this paint color? I need my shades! |
