I have been stalking the Ginger Jeans for years now – it seems everyone’s made a pair and fallen in love with them! I’m not a high-waisted-jeans kind of person – they can make my tummy hurt – and I’m not a low-rise-jeans person – I don’t want to show the world my bum. I am never comfy in skinny jeans (so far) but I liked the look of the stovepipe cut. So when the Ginger Jeans Mid-Rise pattern came out (years ago) I bought that one. Then I waited for years, too scared to try it! Finally, this month I did it.
This denim was bought in Japan last July. It’s from one of the Tomato fabric shops in Nippori Fabric town. I was delighted to find that they had a huge range of denim, all different weights, colours, stretchiness, and some even had designs. I bought this grey-black with a small stretch.
The lining fabric is just some cotton (I think) I had in my stash that I made some Tania Culottes from ages ago (never blogged). I still have them but they’re getting a bit tight!
Let’s talk about fit. I don’t fit any of the sizes out of the envelope – my hips are a size 8 and my waist is a size 4. Because the fabric has a bit of stretch, I went for the middle and cut a 6. As per the instructions, I basted them together for fitting.
The waistband gaped a LOT, and I could hardly get them over my hips. So, I drafted a new waistband with more curve: still gaping. My third waistband had enough curve that it didn’t gape any more. To help with the hips fit, all I could do was sew with a very small seam allowance at the largest point. Now, I can do them up but can’t really put my hands in the front pockets!
Here’s the fit sitting down. It really rides up at the front and down at the back, but I guess that’s pretty normal? My other pants don’t do this so much.
So the fit now is *okay*, not perfect. I still have some gaping at the waist and it’s still really tight across my bottom. I will have to look carefully at the pattern and make some alterations for next time. I also have one twisty leg – must have cut it slightly off grain.
They do look good from the back though. And it’s a nice feeling to have jeans that are the right length! All of my store bought jeans have to be shortened and then they don’t have that nice coloured topstitching. These do and it’s great!
My fly front is a bit messy but nothing you notice much at first glance. The waistband overlaps slightly unevenly, so I installed a hook and eye to try to get the under-lapped one more hidden.
One warning – the Mid-Rise instructions seem to have a step missing, which mucked me up for a while. When you join the pocket lining to the denim pocket bit that shows, it doesn’t say to sew all around the edges of the denim bits. So when I tried on my pants for the first time, the denim parts of the pockets popped out. Whoops!
The back pockets is where I let my freak flag fly. I loved looking at everyone’s personalised back pocket designs and racked my brains trying to think of one for me. I didn’t want to go the treble and bass clefs (too obvious), and a lot of other designs were too complex. This symbol is from A Series of Unfortunate Events, and is a stylised VFD acronym and also looks like an eye with an eyebrow. The world is quiet here.
These work pretty well as jeans, I’m happy with them as my first try. I’m going to try making shorts from the leftover denim (not quite enough for another pair of jeans) and that will be an opportunity to tweak the fit.
I’ve also made myself one in a stretch velvet, but I need to alter the neckline as the firmer knit fabric is a little chokey. But all together, a very easy, very flattering top pattern I’ll definitely make more of in future!
Christina Hopgood 