Flashback to February of 2018: Heather Lou of Closet Core Patterns introduced her “No Fear Jeans Month,” which sparked a desire to try my hand at making a pair of Ginger Jeans. I had previously made a pair of Lander Pants and found the process to be surprisingly easy (at least, much easier than I would have expected making a pair of pants to be!), so I felt like I could handle some jeans-making. At the time, however, I was busy crafting a Rumana Coat for that year’s Sew My Style challenge, so I didn’t jump into jeans-making right away.
The project had been on hold for a few months when Blackbird Fabrics sold a batch of some of the last Cone Mills denim from the now-shuttered American Cone Mills plant. I scooped up enough of the 10.75oz S-Gene Stretch Denim to make myself a pair of high-waisted, skinny Ginger Jeans in my size, then set it aside for several additional months.
Finally, one year later, in early 2019, I coaxed myself into cutting into the fabric and getting started. One of the biggest motivators was my purchase of Heather’s Sew Your Dream Jeans Workshop — it’s packed with great tips and visual examples of the jeans-making process. At the time, these jeans were the most complicated sewing pattern I’d ever attempted, which was likely why I put them off for so long. Having a video walkthrough made it much easier to understand the process and gave me the kickstart I needed. I watched the entire workshop before I began, then re-watched it step by step as I made my own jeans.
From that point, it still took me several months to complete the jeans. Whenever I would find time to sew, I worked on them little by little. I took my time because I really wanted to end up with a great quality pair of jeans that I could wear for years. I finally finished them in early 2020 and wore them a few times to work before the entire world shut down and, well, did anybody really wear jeans in quarantine? I know I didn’t. These beauties have been sitting folded up in my dresser ever since.
I recently pulled them out to take these photographs, and have had a few opportunities to wear them out more often over the past few months. For my first pair of jeans, I’m thrilled with how they turned out. I basted them together to check the fit before getting too far into the process, and I was happy with the fit on a straight size 6, no grading needed. Now that they’re done, there are a few minor adjustments I’ll make next time, but these are perfectly wearable. My favorite feature of the jeans is the red topstitching. It’s so fun and very unique.
Breakdown:
- Closet Core Patterns Ginger Jeans – View B in a straight size 6. For reference, I have a 27″ waist and my hips are 36 1/2″ at the widest circumference ($9.80)
- 2 meters of Cone Mills 10.75oz S-Gene Stretch Denim in Indigo from Blackbird Fabrics (no longer available) ($44)
- Leftover quilting cotton from my stash – for the pocket lining
- Lightweight fusible interfacing from my stash
- Jeans Hardware Kit in Antique Silver from Blackbird Fabrics ($9)
- Gutermann Topstitching Thread in Scarlet from Red Rock Threads ($11.15)
- Red Serger Thread Cones from Joann’s (probably around $20 for four spools)
- Enrollment in Closet Core Sew Your Dream Jeans Workshop ($41.30)
- “You Can’t Buy This” Seam Label from Kylie and the Machine ($1.06)
Grand total: $136.31
Sewn on my Brother XM2701 Sewing Machine and Brother 1034D Serger with Schmetz 100/16 Jeans Needles. The t-shirt I’m wearing is from Wicked Clothes (currently out of stock) and the earrings are from Aster (purchased through my Rocksbox Subscription — click the link to try a free month).
