Belated Ginger Jeans

I lost my blogging mojo for a while, still did lots of sewing but no blogging and couldn’t get around to taking photos.

However, finally here are the Ginger Jeans I made – finished before summer and then it was too hot to wear them!

It’s really hard to photograph dark denim but I did top stitch in a gold/yellow thread.  The construction was time consuming but actually, if you have limited time for sewing it is possible to do 10/15 minutes at a time.  There are so many pieces and stages to sew that I did the pockets one day, yoke the next etc and although they came together slowly, it wasn’t frustrating as I was able to finish each stage and stop.

Putting in the fly front was the trickiest part – as you can see my top stitching isn’t perfect but I doubt anyone will be studying my crotch area that closely!  The main thing is that it all lies flat.

The most frustrating part was getting the back pockets in the right place – when I had them where the pattern markings were, it made my bum look low and saggy!  I moved them up about 1.5″ and it looked so much better but it took about 4 goes of pinning in place, trying to look at my bum in the mirror and re-pinning!

However, the Mr inspected my rear end and said they were probably the most flattering jeans I had ever worn – so worth the effort.

I made the high waist skinny version in a size 14 with a small wedge taken out of the back waist seam.  The front left leg inside seam very slightly turns towards the front and I have read other blogs that mention this but I think next time I will cut the denim in single layers as I think it is just that the fabric wasn’t completely on grain.  Also next time I will take a bit less of a curve out the crotch to eliminate “whiskers” but they are very minor and these are totally wearable jeans.  I overlocked the seams and if you want to know more about the creator of this great pattern – there is an article on Closet Case Files and the best jeans patterns currently available in this month’s issue of Love Sewing Magazine.

I will definitely be making these again and already have some denim picked out.  The denim I used for these is from Rolls and Rems on Seven Sisters Road.

Ginger Jeans with Plantain Tee

Sorry for the poor photos – I need to get my little assistant back on track.

I have also finished the Morgan Jeans by Closet Case Files and hopefully will get some photos taken soon.

 

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A Holiday and a Summer Wardrobe

We have had 3 wonderful weeks away and it has been an amazing trip. (If you just want to get to the sewing, scroll down!)  Firstly, we flew to Stockholm, which is a beautiful city, loads of things to see and do, if you have kids I would recommend the Viking Museum and the Abba Museum, both are very interactive and great fun! It also has a great fabric shop, Tygverket, where I bought a few meters.

Then we went to Lake Vattern for 4 days – very tranquil and peaceful but if you are a city person like me, 4 days is probably enough!  On to Gothenburg, which was also fabulous.  We then drove to Copenhagen and had 3 days there, unfortunately the weather wasn’t great but on a sunny afternoon we did a boat trip round the city which was fun, some very interesting buildings.

Finally, we went to Croatia for the last week and it was gloriously sunny and such a beautiful, cultured and sophisticated country, I would definitely recommend it.  I found some great jewellery shops that sold pieces made by local designers.  I particularly liked the design of Midzo, and bought a couple of pieces.

On to the sewing!  Obviously, whilst away I didn’t do any sewing but I did wear all the things I made, so here they are …

My “hurry up and take the photo” look

This is a dress I haven’t blogged about, I love the fabric, it has trees with colours coming through like a sunset, bought from Rolls and Rems on Seven Sisters Road.  Its a mash up between a Scout Tee, Grainline Studio, and the Coco Dress, Tilly and the Buttons.

Aeolian Dress, I said to the Mr “its about the dress, not me”, so he cut my head off!

Penelope Dress and another “hurry up and take the photo” look

Scout Tee and Trousers from Sewing Bee Book

I can’t tell you how much I love these trousers, I wore them so much on holiday and they are so comfy and cool (as in temperature, I don’t kid myself I look “cool”!)

Well, that’s it, it’s good to be home and back on the blog! (And “Bake Off” is back on TV yay!!) Please leave a comment by clicking the “comments” box at the top of the page, I would love to hear from you.  What have you been up to this summer, or winter, depending where you are?