Howdy friends! Sorry for the silence lately. Things have been quite busy here, but I’m super excited to share my new Ginger Jeans with you all today!

I’ve been wanting to make my own jeans for quite some time now, and the Closet Case Patterns Ginger Jeans pattern was on my wish-list. I was really worried that I wouldn’t be ready for jeans just yet, and that fitting would be hugely problematic. I was wrong on the first part – I feel like I was well equipped to make jeans. It just takes time (and the right equipment) to sew up jeans, mostly. The fitting part, however, is another story.

Since this is my first pair of jeans, it was really meant to be a muslin. I used fabric I got from Hancock before they closed. My hips fall about two sizes above my waist size for the Ginger jeans pattern. As a result, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to accommodate my booty while still fitting at the waist. Everyone probably has a problem with getting RTW jeans to fit, and that’s mine.

I opted to cut a straight size 12 and then try them on to figure out how to fit them better. I ended up taking in several inches around the waist, which I noted on my pattern pieces and adjusted the yoke and waistband pieces accordingly. During the process, or perhaps after it, I realized that I apparently bloat during the day. Since I do most of my sewing and fitting at night, pants that I thought fit ok are actually a bit big. Whoops. This problem is made worse when the jeans relax a bit during the day. You live and learn, I guess.

The fitting is far from perfect, as you perhaps can see… The top-stitching isn’t perfect either, but it is what it is. I still wear them, mostly because I’m excited that I made them myself. And I always tell people at the end of conversations: “Also, I made my pants!”… that usually starts another conversation…

It’s always fun to see the insides of people’s jeans, because they’re really customizable and no one has to know! You can see in the picture below that I used math fabric for the waistband and pocket lining. I really took this picture to show off my topstitching and hem to my mom, so you can enjoy that too.

For my next pair of Ginger Jeans, which will probably be View B (the high-waisted super skinnies), I will likely start with a size 10 and then fiddle with the fitting accordingly. I should learn how to do a proper full butt adjustment (but I’m scared, mostly). It all just seems so arbitrary to me. If anyone has any tips on full butt adjustments, please let me know! 🙂