Sandra Jeans

These are the Sandra Jeans by Style Arc.  They are designed to be made in a non-stretch or minimal stretch fabric so I thought they would be a useful addition to my pattern stash since my TNT Jalie jeans pattern needs a 4% stretch fabric and finding this locally is difficult with little or no choice of colour or weight.  I had hoped that these would work well and allow me to have a wider range of fabric options for jeans.

This is the pattern straight from the envelope with no alterations at all.  Without the stretch I'm not finding them all that comfortable and the photos make them look as though they don't fit at all well.  The photos seem to have accentuated the problems.  I don't think they look quite so wrinkly in real life, but they definitely aren't right.    I do see a need to shorten the back yoke a little but I'd do that as a fit as you go alteration as it would depend on fabric stretch factors. 

I am not totally sure if its the fabric that's at fault.  Its a twill with a very small amount of stretch.  It almost feels like its clinging to me, sticking to my skin, and riding up on the legs.  In the body they fit so tight there's nowhere for them to go but the legs look awful.   I keep wanting to tug the legs down all the time.   I can't make up my mind whether these look the way they do because the fabric wasn't a good choice or because they don't fit well.  I'm tempted to make them in another fabric to see if they work better and to widen the legs a bit as the legs are much narrower, particularly in the ankle area, than the Jalie jeans.    Anyone have any thoughts on that idea? 

This pattern has pocket linings that go right across and attach to the centre front which weren't difficult to construct and give a nice look inside the jeans.  As you can see I used a quilting cotton, one of the many bits left over from last year's quilt.

It also has a sewn on fly which I've not done before.  I did manage it, but I admit I didn't use the instructions that came in the pattern envelope, I used my Readers Digest Guide to Sewing which had more drawings than are provided in the pattern and walked me through the process.  Nevertheless, I didn't find it looked quite as neat as the cut on fly I normally use when it was completed, and it took longer to make so I may use a cut on fly for future pairs.  However, that's just a preference thing and not a criticism of the pattern.  I found the instructions to be reasonably straightforward apart from the fly instructions.   I believe there is a tutorial by StyleArc for the fly though I did not use it.

I've not done contrast stitching or a fancy design on the back pockets on this pair as I wanted them quite plain and simple.  I also made the back pockets a little smaller than designed, using my Jalie Jeans pockets as a template.  I like the size of those and felt the Sandra pockets were a touch too large for my small frame.  I did the belt loops a different way.  I've sandwiched mine into the top waistband seam and sewed the seam with them in there, so I get a perfectly neat finish.  I don't like the look of belt loops that are sewn with a zigzag to the face of the waistband as the last step. Just a personal preference.  I then lined the belt loops up straight, sandwiched them in the waistband attachment seam and then attached the waistband.  The last step is to pin the inner waistband into place, I overlocked mine and just smoothed it down as it was, single layer, rather than turning it in as some instructions would have you do (I must admit by this point I wasn't using the Style Arc instructions so I'm not sure what they told you to do).  I then top stitched the entire waistband, starting at the bottom edge, thus finishing the waistband inner in one step.  And yes, it is possible to topstitch a waistband with the belt loops in place.  Sew up to the belt loop, pull it slightly forwards and sew into the middle of the part that will be covered by the belt loop. Back space two stitches.  Move the jeans so that the belt loop is now behind the foot, pull the belt loop back a little bit behind the foot so you can start just before the back stitched part.  Start sewing again, going forwards.  Rinse and repeat.  This has the added advantage of over sewing the belt loop twice, it doesn't show as its covered by the belt loop itself, and your entire belt loop, top and bottom, is enclosed neatly in your seam allowances top and bottom.

I've left off the coin pocket as it seemed an unnecessary step for a pattern I've not perfected yet.