Happiness is the perfect pair of jeans.

 

It’s been a good week for this sewing lady.

I made jeans.

I promise you I am not working for Deer and Doe patterns but man are they working for me!

I made myself an actual pair of working jeans, and wore them and they felt so real that I made myself another pair this morning. Cheers, extra hour and a child who hasn’t embraced the bliss of a sunday lie in yet.

I’m pretty happy with Deer and Doe’s latest pattern release, the Safran is absolutely everything that I wanted it to be for what I consider to be my sewing Everest.

Sewing is a great hobby, but I clearly stated at the beginning of this years challenge that I didn’t want to just makes dresses and I had to challenge myself. I had been putting off jeans making as I couldn’t see a pattern that I would be happy making and would replicate my beloved topshop skinnies.

Move over Toppers, I have just realised that your jeans don’t actually fit me, my jeans fit me!

Now for the techy details. The Safran calls for a fabric with 20-30% crossways stretch. Now I have to admit that this left me a little stumped. What the fudge does that even look like? I decided to buy 2 stretch denims online and hope for the best. For once ebay worked and this black pair were actually a 30% stretch, a ruler and a mind for fractions is all you need to work our your stretch percentage.

This morning I cracked open the good fabric, but according to my ruler method this only contained a 20% stretch capacity. I used a slightly smaller seam allowance to compensate for slightly less stretch and voila, another pair of Safran jeans!

My jeans fit really well, but the fabric was a real fraying disaster. See the face. Swearing and coffee delivery from my instahusband improved matters considerably.

Clearly this is my arse in jeans, but how else do you explain exactly how well your new jeans fit?! Remember this is an illustrative guide to jeans fitting, which my instahusband had no objections in photographing today!

Safran goes really nicely with my D&D Melilot shirt too. I feel a capsule wardrobe in the making!

 

Whatever Deer and Doe are using as their fitting block, it pretty much feels like its drafted just for me and like some sewing gift i didn’t really have to make many adjustments. I’ve been on the lookout for the ultimate stretch denim to make another pair.

See, I can even sit down in them!

This was a proper sewing milestone for me, and I really felt my skillset has expanded since I began this challenge in January. No more sweaty changing rooms looking for that elusive pair of perfect jeans, and also paying a perfectly scandalous price.

Aurevoir Ready To Wear, I really don’t miss you at all. I can make jeans.