Your cart
Close Alternative Icon

Jeans Sewalong: Wrap-Up

This was the final week of our sew-along and we all left with beautifully fitting, handmade jeans! In our final week we tackled attaching and top stitching the waistband, putting on the button and rivets, hemming the bottom and wearing them home! There are few things more satisfying then finishing up a handmade pair of jeans. As you can see we are just as proud of the back side as we are of the front.

Ginger Jeans Sew Along

 

Jaime's Ginger Jeans

 

Ta da! Jeans!! I think this is my proudest sewing accomplishment to date. I love my new jeans.

Jaime Jennings' Ginger Jeans

The last day of sewing was pretty straightforward. We sewed the waistband on and more top-stitching.

Then the fun parts of adding belt loops, button, and rivets. The final step was a hem. I'm short so I went ahead and shortened the leg pattern pieces by 2" on the shorten/lengthen lines when I cut my jeans out. This ended up being perfect and I didn't need to cut anymore length off of them. The result is long enough to cuff which is my preferred style.

Such an accomplishment. My handmade wardrobe is complete with this staple. I have to say, sewing these with other people over the course of a month was an ideal way to take on a challenging project like these. Thanks so much Sara, Kaylee, and Jess for all of your support and camaraderie. ♥

 

Kaylee's Ginger Jeans

 

The final day of sewing was a breeze. Every single step brought us visually closer to finished jeans and after having tried them on the week before, I was on a mission to have pants to wear home. I have to admit I was not sure that I could make jeans (in my size) that would be anything that I ever wanted to wear, but in the end I am completely happy with them. I have worn them several times and am thinking about making another pair!

I started this week by attaching and top stitching the waist band to the jeans. Then after a quick practice button hole on some scraps, I slipped the waistband under the machine. Sarah (brilliantly) brought a vice to help attach the jeans button which made it basically effortless to insert. Then came belt loops. Like I said... this day was seamless and seemed to just fly by.

When I was hemming my jeans I did find that I had a lot of extra fabric at the bottom. To help decide where to hem I put the jeans on and folded them up until I had a length that I liked and pinned them. After I took them off I used chalk to mark a line 7/8" lower than my desired length (this is the seam allowance), cut on the line, folded, and hemmed. After that all that was rivets. This year has been a year of firsts for me! My first ever coat in the last sew-along and now my first pair of jeans!

 

Sara's Ginger Jeans

 

We're DONE!!! And honestly, this is the nicest pair of jeans I've ever owned. The fit is exactly how I envisioned when lowering the rise and the fabric is top notch. The finishing stuff sometimes takes a bit longer than I want it to, but it's totally worth it for a really professional look.

For this last week of sewing, first I finished my waistband and sewed my button hole. I decided to use a non-contrasting (black) top stitching thread for the button hole.

The jeans button got installed with my favorite trick: using a vice. Perfect installation every time! I used a hammer to set my rivets and then sewed on the belt loops. And finally, the hem. I like to roll my jeans up so I left them long and just hemmed them the way the pattern says to. I'm so happy with how this pair turned out!! I'm thinking I should buy some more denim and bang out another pair or three ASAP. Especially since I know the pattern fits! And because otherwise I might never take this pair off!

Thanks to all of the people who participated both locally and online using #fancysewalong. It was so great to see all the finished jeans and we hope more will pictures will flow in as you all reach the finish line with us!

Leave a comment

Recent posts