My first Eleonore

I finally finished my Freaky February garment!  Actually I am rather proud of the accomplishment as you have read that I don't sew pants.  So instead of sewing perhaps a simple pair of pants, I should just jump into sewing jeans, which do require more fitting IMHO.

I still need to hem these jeans and tweak the fit considerably more, I thought I would show you how they turned out for the first pass at trying pull on jeans sewing.  I read and re-read reviews at Pattern Review which were most helpful.

Without further ado

Front view

I reduced the length prior to cut the fabric by one inch, after sewing the front and back pieces, I took out another inch before attaching at inseam and side seams.  There is a lot of fullness in the leg width and they certainly need adjusting.  I tried to lighten the photo to give you a better idea of the fit.

Back view

From the back there is considerable leg fullness from under the butt down.  I know many sewist complained about the size of the back pockets.  On me, I think they look like the right size.  I am pleased at how well I aligned them.  As others reported, I reduced the elastic for the back waistband by 1 inch which improved the fit.

Side view

The side view shows the fullness more in the upper back leg.  I have to read more about adjusting the fit in this area.  I am definitely a novice when it comes to sewing pants/jeans and appropriate fit adjustments.

If any one reading this has suggestions about how to do this, I appreciate your feedback.

So will I sew these again-MAYBE!  I am now going back to sewing more tops as I am wearing current tops to death; with spring/summer on its way, I could use some newer ones.  The top shown with the jeans has been in my rotation for over 3 or 4 years.  The knit is still in great shape and the fit is better than when I first made it.  

Jalie 3461 and Freaky February

I have been participating in the Make a Garment a Month group on Facebook.  The February theme is Freaky February.  The 'freaking' is what you hesitant to sew as it freaks you out to do so or in my case sewing pants freaks me out and thus I avoid it almost like a plague.

I am fortunate that I can usually purchase well fitting pants and jeans in the petite department at several retailers.  So I like to spend time sewing other items that I can get a better fit than RTW or I want be wearing the same top as one of my staff members or a friend because I made it myself.

So for Freaky February, I am going to make a pair of pull on jeans using Jalie 3461.  I just spent a good 1/2 hour reading all the reviews at PR about these jeans.  Some more helpful than others.

Last night I traced my size according to their instructions and then pin fitted them earlier today.  I then freaked as the pin fitted pattern really did not fit very well.  One issue is paper does not stretch and these jeans are designed for fabric that stretches 20% at a minimum.  The second issue was the back area which I know needs more tweaking-they need to come up higher than what these did.  I decided to not let this freak me out to where I would not continue with the project.

I am smart enough to know that I will need raise the back length (rise) and pretty much know how to do this after giving it more thought and reading PR reviews.  Tomorrow is a holiday so I plan to make pattern adjustments and cut these out.  I do plan to add 1 inch just in case seams at the side seams.  I did shortened the length by one inch but may need to take another inch off.

Fabric is a recent end of year purchase from JoAnn for stretch denim.  There are some nicer stretch denim fabrics online that if these prove to be successful and I feel like I should no longer freak out over pull on jeans after making these then I will order some.

That's all for now.  It is snowing tonight and tomorrow promises to be more weather issues with sleet and freezing rain!  Nice that I have the day off anyway!

More later.