Last month I had an opprtunity to take a jeans/pants class with Sandra Betzina. At first I was undecided as to wheather or not it would be to my advantage since I had spent several months working to make a pants sloper that I was pleased with. I wasn't sure I wanted to invest the time or money involved to make a pair of jeans that might never be to my satisfaction. But in the end I decided to give it try.
One great thing about the class was that Sandra had her jeans and pants made in every size so that the students could try them on. She measured and fitted each one of us and then showed us the necessary alterations. The major adjustment she had me to make was to add 1" to the crotch depth. In all my many years of sewing I have never found it necessary to add to this measurement! But hey, she's the expert so I did as I was told. I also tapered in the back yolk at the center back and tapered from the side seams to the center back taking off 3/8 of an inch. These are adjustments I've always made.
I prefer to make my test garments in fashion fabric so they are wearable and I don't usually find that muslin will duplicate many of the same qualities of the fabric, consequently there are still adjustments to be made to the final garment. So why not just make it fabric similar to the final garment to begin with. So for my jeans I used denim that I purchased from Fabric.com. The class was from 8am to 3pm and it was about 11 before I could actually start sewing. I don't know about anyone else but for me that is not alot of time to make jeans so after I constructed the pockets I just machine basted everything else together for a fitting. I was not happy with the fit but Sandra thought it was great. The waist was half way between my waist and bust-- this is not generally the way I wear my jeans so I left the class rather disappointed.
I felt there was potential and I didn't want to give up so I took the jeans apart and
recut the back piece and cut a new fronts, thankfully I had lots of fabric. I took out the 1" Sandra had me add to the crotch and magic happened! All that remains to be done is sewing on the pockets and hemming. I am so excited and can't wait to get them finished and take a picture! So in the end I made only a small adjustment that I would have made anyway and I have perfect fitting jeans.
3 comments:
I'm happy to have found your blog. As for your Betzina jeans-it just goes to show you that sometimes we know our own bodies better than the experts.
BTW, I grew up in SE Missouri, near the Arkansas border.
Oh my! With our dear President being criticized for wearing Mom Jeans you can never be too picky about how your jeans fit. Good for you that you can make it work YOUR way. Can't wait for the pix.
K Q:-)
Yes, I make my muslin/test garment pants out of the same or similar fabric. Muslin just doesn't give me the same fit. Very interesting about the class. Sometimes people "see" a certain fit or style on us that we just don't like. Maybe it's just preference, I don't know. Sure would like to see your jeans when your finished :) !
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