This month's large project was stitching a pair of jeans for James. The first time I made James some jeans
I made the pattern from an old pair of Wrangler jeans. That time, I used moderately lightweight "soft" denim. At the time James said he'd like a pair in thicker "proper" denim. So here they are.
They are creased because I washed them after finishing them, and James has yet to wear them for a day as it is far too hot as yet. They should be good for winter! It is so hot that it was difficult getting James to try these on for even 2 minutes in fading evening light, so if the James looks cross and the photos blurred, that's why. However, his mood did seem to improve a bit as I photographed him so it is possible that the jeans are not uncomfortable. The idea is that these will replace his relatively ill-fitting black Levi 501s, which have a seam-up-the-bum while still being to wide problem (ie too short back crotch seam and too wide hips). Finding really black thick denim was hard work. Eventually I found some in one of the larger fabric shops in the Nippori fabric district in Tokyo (for those who know the area it was the 2F of a shop more or less opposite the famous shop, "Tomato". I think it is called something like "Kawamura". I bought the denim more than a year ago, and I can't see the shop on the latest Nippori map. There was a sample on the wall and I walked round the floor looking for the denim, and then in frustration asked an assistant who escorted me what was almost a separate room, stuffed full of what looked like fantastic denim. Certainly this stuff was great to sew with, thick yet supple, and it even smells properly like real new jeans.) .
I used the same method as last time to make the jeans. A few cm were added to the pattern before putting it away last time, so this time there was enough fabric to make a double hem. In fact I ended up cutting a bit of extra fabric off, and the finished items look quite long too. I decided it was better to leave them long and then adjust them later if required. Perhaps they will decrease in length a bit in wearing and washing.
Constructing these was a lot of fun. I have realised that jeans are all about obvious seams and maximising bulk; on several occasions I was sewing through 8 layers of denim. This is a refreshing change from most sewing which tends to involve things like grading seams to make them as invisible as possible.
