I made jeans again!

A new pattern and a new fit

The first time I finished a pair of jeans I felt like from that moment on, I could do anything, and it amazes me to think that my first pair is now several years old. In fact, they no longer fit me the way I like (I have to hike them up because they feel like they’re falling down and they seem so saggy under the butt to me) and I’ve been annoyed enough every time I put them on that I decided it was time to not only make myself new jeans, but to try a new pattern.

The description for the Claryville Jeans by Workroom Social says that they’re designed for folks with a “larger hip-to-waist ratio”, which is a very precise description of my shape. My fit struggle with RTW pants has always been that enormous, even cavernous gap at the back waistband on any pair that fits around my hips. Normally when I make pants, I’m grading between like 8 sizes or something — 2 at the waist and 14 at the hips or some ridiculous thing.

That was my experience with my first pair of jeans, Closet Core Ginger. I eventually managed to figure out a fit that I thought worked well enough, but my waistband was pretty much a “U” shape in order to get them to sit flat in the back. I think they’re designed fine, just not for how I’m shaped.

Andrea in a green sweater and skinny jeans, focus is on the jeans and her hands are in her back pockets.

Andrea’s jeans from the back. They’re dark blue with bold yellow top stitching.

So I thought it would be worth giving Claryville a try. And I’ll echo some other reviewers that I was astonished at how few fit adjustments I had to make! The waist, butt, hips, and crotch all just fit almost perfectly out of the package. And that’s with a straight waistband! I don’t know what kind of witchcraft is in that pattern that I didn’t have to curve the waistband at all, but it worked.

The fit adjustments that I made were all on the legs. Before I even cut them out, I started by shortening the legs by 2”. That felt a little drastic, but I think it turned out just right. (I’m about 5'5 and most of my height is in my torso.)

I also extended the front pieces at the outseam by about a 1/4” below the pocket bags. I think I’ll probably add a tiny bit more to my next pair because they still feel a little tighter than I want around the knees and calves. I’s a bit challenging to bend my knees all the way, though I guess they are skinny jeans. But I’m hoping that relaxes a little as they break in.

I’ve got a 26.5” waist and 38” hips and I made the size 2, let out a bit around the legs, as I mentioned. Following the pattern went very smoothly in that nothing went terribly wrong during the process and I didn’t have to re-do anything. There were a few sections in the pattern where I wasn’t totally sure what to do and wished for a video sew-along, but I went with my instincts and it all worked out without much drama. I feel like I’ve become a pretty experienced sewist at this point, so I have a general idea of how things should work.

I’m particularly proud of my top stitching, which ended up very bold with the dark denim and bright yellow thread, but I think it looks pretty professional throughout, though not completely perfect. I left the back pockets plain, which I actually like, though I may wish for some decorations in the future.

Comparison Photos

Find below some images of my new jeans and my old ones. They’re not exactly the same view every time, but I still find them interesting.

Full body shot of Andrea in her new skinny jeans and a green sweater.

Andrea in well-worn jeans and a green sweater.

My Thoughts on my Two Pairs of Jeans

These photos aren’t really to compare and say how much better the new jeans are than the old, more to just contemplate their differences. When my Ginger jeans were new, I think they fit me a lot better, or rather, more how I wanted. But over time, my body has changed shape and the fabric, which is stretch denim, has probably stretched out a little too. It’s pretty delightful to me that even though my shape has changed, I have a reliable (if labour-intensive) way to have clothes that look how I want.

One thing that I’m noticing is that my old jeans actually have a straighter outseam, while my new ones pull to the front a bit. I think that if I added that 1/4” of width below the pocket bag to the fronts, I’d probably get a straighter line.

And I’m just delighted to have skinny jeans that really do the skinny jeans thing. I do love comfy, loose-fit pants, but it’s not what I was looking for in my jeans. If I’m going to go to the trouble of wearing hard pants, I want to wear ones I feel good in!

Full body view of Andrea’s new dark blue skinny jeans from the back. The fit is very tight with some horizontal wrinkles under the butt and at the knees.

View of Andrea’s Ginger jeans from the back. They’re fitted in the butt, but have a lot of loose fabric under the butt and around the thighs.

Side view of Andrea’s skinny jeans looking very skinny.

Side view of Andrea’s Ginger jeans looking relaxed and casual with loose fabric around the back of the thighs.

Closeup side view of skinny jeans top stitching in bright yellow against dark blue denim.

Side view of washed Ginger jeans with pleasantly-worn seams and wrinkles.

The Fabric

My new jeans are made with 10oz S-gene stretch denim in dark indigo from Blackbird Fabrics. It’s really beautiful, though the dye did come off on some other fabrics in the wash and turned my fingernails black while I was sewing with it, so I guess maybe that’s actual indigo dye! Frankly, that makes it even lovelier.

I think my original jeans were made with Blackbird denim too, but a stretchy Cone Mills one. I don’t remember the weight, but it seems like it’s probably around 10oz too.

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Andrea showing off two different pairs of jeans.

How about You?

Tell me about a project you made that you’re super impressed with! Maybe that cabled sweater or colourwork blanket? I’d also welcome fit thoughts for my next pair of pants if you know about sewing and pants fit!

Oh, and ABout that Sweater

Since we’re all knitters here, I have to mention that the sweater I’m wearing is my Seablush pattern in Farmer’s Daughter Soka’pii, a gorgeously-soft nubbly yarn in glowing colours.