Velvet Ginger Jeans

Ugh. Christmas cookies. You know you’re testing the strength of your seams and fabric if you make skinny Ginger jeans after the holidays. After making a batch of pecan tassies and pretty much eating them all by myself…yeah, I did it. Do these cookies make me look fat? Don’t answer that… I already know. My usual hourglass shape is now more of a keg shape. Whatever. This Fitbit will fix that in no time…

I cut the same as my first denim pair, with a bit more smoothing out in the back yoke, and this time did not grade out to a 14 at the hips as I found that bags out a bit in the last pair too much.

I’ve already been wearing these for a few hours before shooting these photos and they hold up nicely. VPLs be damned. I’m into my giant granny underwear right now. See above about cookies. I’m packing at least 5 lbs more than usual.

No regrets.

These are made from Italian midweight stretch velveteen from Britex. As of this post, there’s still some left. It’s holding up to my abuse (cookies) really well. I’m pleasantly surprised. I’m not sure why…with Britex you get what you pay for…sure, they cost a bit more, but the quality is aces. I haven’t been disappointed yet with any of their fabric.

I think I bought 2 yards, pre-washed and dried, and easily got a pair of Gingers out of it, keeping the nap going the same way. It’s a messy fabric to cut…little velvet nap bits everywhere, and it frays quite a bit, but I was gonna serge it all anyway, so that’s no big deal. It feels amazing. Cotton, so while velvet, not overly warm.

I paid better attention to the instructions this time, and actually got the zip in right. Lol. I’ve only used a 7” zip…the instructions for a 12 say to go up to an 8” but I haven’t found that to be necessary. I’ve got a 1/2” of zip to spare with the 7”.

I hemmed them this time – two turns at a 1/2” each, and this is the length on me. No adjustments to pattern length.

Wearing with my puffy sleeved TATB Agnes. Gotta keep with the 80s theme.

 

I’m calling this a TAT (tried and true) pattern. I’ve got two more cut in Cone Mills denim, ready to go. There’s something about having a pants pattern that just comes out perfectly that is really….refreshing. I didn’t even baste and try these on as I went. They came together really quickly this time, and just fit. So refreshing.

A pretty happy finish to the first sewn garment of 2018…now to go work off these cookies.

 

9 Replies to “Velvet Ginger Jeans”

  1. Holy PANTS, Batman! Your velvet Gingers are incredible! I think I’m in love! I finished my sixth pair about a month ago and I didn’t think I needed any more, but you’ve got me seriously questioning that. They look so good!

  2. These are AMAZING!!! I’ve been eyeing this pattern forever but have never even allowed myself to DREAM of making something as complicated as jeans. After hearing Heather on the Love to Sew podcast, I felt so empowered that I purchased her online Ginger Jeans course, printed the pattern, ordered supplies and am planning total world domination! Who says crafting can’t be revolutionary!

    1. I just listened to that Friday night! I was so glued to it, I sewed a sleeve in wrong while listening! LOL

      YES, make them. They’re SO much easier than I thought too… Now that I’ve made them, the second (third, fourth, etc.) go so much faster. I skipped the rivets, etc. because who needs that noise? Bartacks work fine. Also, if you topstitch your first time with same-thread, it leaves you the brain-power to concentrate more on following the instructions and feeling how your machine works with the denim (which is way easier than I thought it would be.)

      The online sew-along is GOLD for the zip-fly visuals.

      Ping me when you have them done wherever you post them – I’d love to see.

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