SWAP Jeans

Next item on the SWAP journey; two pairs of jeans.

The stone colour fabric is a cotton with 2 - 3% stretch. I forget exactly and its been in the stash a year or so. It was bought as a twill but the weave is very tiny, and I can't see the twill pattern at all. The others are denim, with 4% lycra content. Since its very difficult to find cotton with this amount of stretch in the UK, and the pattern really does need that level of stretch, both pieces were brought back for me from the US by a friend who went on holiday there.

The pattern is my TNT, the highly popular, Jalie 2908. I've lost count of the number of times I've made up this pattern, and I really do love it because it always works for me. I have the pattern traced out with one inch side and inseams. However, I haven't had to use the fit insurance this time as I seem to have expanded a little. The pattern is due retracing since its falling apart, so I think I'll add a little to the sides for extra insurance when I trace it out again.

The stone pair are top stitched in self colour thread. I used upholstery thread rather than jeans stitch as I have found the jeans stitch thread is a bit heavy and tends to fight the bobbin thread and win over time so the topstitching comes loose. The pockets have my initials on them, stitched in self colour thread.

I had to fettle the waistband as I'd used a straight band and it wasn't fitting well. I've taken a dart at each side seam within the band to make it shaped into the waist and this has worked reasonably well.

The denim pair are topstiched in pink heavyweight embroidery thread, and the back pockets are done with triple stitch and a variagated lightweight (40) embroidery thread. This pair had the waistband altered also, but these needed a dart out at the centre back, which is in line with the back center seam. Which just goes to show that you can't guarantee that the same pattern will make up the same twice.

Both pairs have a button fly because I have a pair with a button fly already and they are super comfortable. A big advantage to the button fly, is the ease with which you can top stitch. The fly can be laid flat and you can get all the way to the bottom and turn the corner with ease so the stitching remains more even and there is no fighting with zip pulls or zipper stops. Its a bit more time consuming to create, though this is only my second/third one so I'm not exactly well practiced in the skills involved yet and thus am still going at beginner speed, and reading the instructions twenty times for each step. The instructions are from David Page Coffin's excellent book "Making Trousers". The stone colour pair have a contrast fly lining (and pocket lining) in stone and brown fine stripe cotton. The denim pair have pockets and contrast fly lining in pink quilting cotton with a cloudy design on it.

The stone colour is a departure for me, I must admit but works extremely well not only with the SWAP, but also with a large number of existing wardrobe items, including a brown linen jacket which has few friends in the cupboard and as a result has had very few opportunities to leave the wardrobe. I know it is hoping to get out more now that the jeans have joined the wardrobe. You can see how well they work with the wine colour SWAP jacket too as it was so sunny and lovely today that I thought I'd do a test run for the SWAP photos, working out what to stand the camera on, and how far away to stand.

Next up: a silk shell top and that will be the last item for the SWAP though I won't be totally completed because the two pairs of trousers can't be hemmed until I get some new shoes.