Made By A Fabricista: I'm a Jean-us Rocking My Birkins and My Ginger Flares!

[Jeans were made for and modeled by my daughter Mori]

I am obsessed with sewing jeans right now! I have been participating in a jean pattern testing for a super cool pattern company and now I can't stop. These two jean projects will make my fourth and fifth pair of jeans in the past two months. Now I am in the process of getting a heavy duty machine that I am going to use just for my denim sewing because the machine I have right now can't handle denim too well especially when I try to use top stitching thread. But I am still perfecting the jeans in the mean time.

For this post I am working with The Birkin Flare pattern by Baste and Gather. I know you have seen these babies all over the internet looking as fabulous as ever. I love these jeans and the pattern was awesome. The only modifications that I had to make was taking 1 inch off the waist on each side. I made size 30 which also had a 30 inch waist and the waist I needed was 28" and I added two inches to the length which allows a 4 inch heel. Mori usually wears skinny jeans so the fact that these were form fitting jeans at the top, they worked out great. I chose this big floral denim that worked out wonderfully.

Pocket and belt loops details. Both pattern instructions tell you to hammer the belt loops to get them flat for sewing and it really works!

A little floral on the inside, just because it's sooo pretty. 

 

 

.......Next up is the Ginger Flare from Closet Case Patterns

 

I know you have seen the original Ginger Skinny jeans all over but Heather Lou added a flare addition to the Ginger jean family. For this pattern I used a size 14 because my denim has no stretch [Whoops is what I said when I realized this] Mori wears a size 12 according to Closet Case patterns. This jean is not as fitted as the Birkins even with the non-stretch denim they were too loose.

I decided to try something with these since I had to take them in from the waist to the knee. I made them super skinny and left the full flare at the knees, which gave us this funky 70's bell bottom look. How cool is that along with this strawberry print? I don't really know how much I took off the sides, I just pinned them on her and took them in. There was no rocket-science explanation to these modifications. I did have to take out the coin pocket and move it over, away from the side seam. But I did not have to move the back pockets. I also added two inches on the length. Sooo let's talk about this fabric. How cute is the strawberries and denim, I knew I wanted to use this the first time that I saw it. I have some leftover that I may use for a matching jacket.

Close-up details are important for jeans and if you have strawberries on the outside why not add them to the inside? I added rivets to the back pockets on this pair. 

There you have it-- my Birkins and my Gingers! Both patterns are easy to follow. The zipper install on the Birkin Flares was the easiest and I will use that installation on all my jeans from now on. I recommend both patterns but if you're looking for a slim fit, the Birkin may be your best bet. I added length to both patterns but I really did not have to add as much as I did, I was just playing it safe. Both Baste and Gather and Closet Case patterns have sew-alongs on their blogs and Heather Lou over at Closet Case even has an e-book on making her Ginger Jeans and it's a must have for a first time denim sewist, it has real pictures for all the steps.

Both denim fabrics washed well and were not too thick for my machine so I was in heaven!

.....until next time Michelle @ ThatblackChic