Making Jeans With Angela Wolf

I finally finished the jeans I've been working on for the past two weeks. I'm pretty sure I spent more time on this project than I have on any other, and I am so glad they're finished!

I loved this craftsy.com class. Angela Wolf is an awesome teacher and her jeans pattern rocks. She shared some tips that I never would have thought of myself. For example, she said to hammer your seams before you sew them. This is the most fantastic idea! Usually when I'm working with denim or other heavy fabric my machine just can't take the folds of fabric. But after hammering the seams, I was able to sew these jeans with just a size 90/14 needle without any problem.

She also shared how to distress your denim with sand paper. The fabric I made these jeans out of didn't distress very well so you can't even tell that I distressed them. But my next pair...

I also learned a better way to attach rivets. Before, I was using a seam ripper to poke a tiny hole in my jeans in order to put the rivet in. This way is not a great way, and I even ripped a pair of jeans doing it. But in the Craftsy class I learned to just pound a nail into my jeans where I want the rivet to go. That makes a nice hole with no chance of ripping the pants.

Angela Wolf also said she made about 7 muslins before she got the fit down for her pattern. That made me feel good because I think it's hard to get the fit. For these jeans, I adjusted the pattern just a bit before making my muslin. I took a bunch off the length and I took them in a lot from the knee down because I didn't want so much taper.

Then I made my practice pair and they fit well in the top, but were still too full from the knee down. So I took the pattern in some more.

Then, just to be sure, I cut out my actual pattern pieces from my nice denim and basted the pieces together to check the fit again before I took them apart and sewed them for good. I'm glad I did that, because I decided to take them in even more.

And now the next time I make them it should be a lot quicker since I have the fit down.

I took a lot of pictures of these because I needed something to show for all of those hours of sewing.

The Back.

Back pockets and belt loops.

Front pockets.

Waistband, fly, and more belt loops.

One more of the back.

My pretty pocket lining fabric.

There are definitely some mistakes on these pants. The fly area needs some work next time for sure. But I'm happy with how my first attempt at this pattern has turned out.