This is just a quick post about these Liana Stretch jeans I made last week. I was not going to take pictures or post about them because as soon as I got this cheap stretch “denim” under my machine foot, I knew these were not going to be my forever jeans. This fabric is thin and wrinkles like crazy, neither is optimum for jeans.
I proceeded on to practice my jeans making skills. I do want to make a stable full of handmade jeans, since I can think of no other article of clothing I wear more. So practical for me. So I pressed on, despite the obvious issues. Some might notice that my yoke seams don’t line up at center back. Normally this would be totally unacceptable, but I knew that these babies were going to be “jeggings” in the sense that I would be wearing a longer top over them, due to the thin fabric, so I left it. Ha!
I practiced my fly insertion, and it went very well again. The wrinkling there is due to my buttonhole being too close to the center. It is a bummer mistake, but I learned from it, so I’m further down the road to total jeans domination.
It is always a good idea to just baste the pant legs to check fit, since all fabric behaves differently. While I was doing that, I was horrified to see some camel toe action. Ewwww! I almost abandoned them. But since I was practicing, I put on the waistband. I also wanted to see if I should perhaps make fit adjustments to the crotch curve of this pattern before I make 20 more pairs (though my last pair were great!). My idea was to perhaps not pull the waistband as tight as usual, so maybe the jeans would sit down a little lower on my hips and relax in the you-know-where area. That ended up totally working! Just a little extra ease in the waistband was enough.
So now I’m quite pleased with them. Yes, the fabric is not ideal, but I could certainly wear them half tucked with a longer top so my bottom doesn’t feel totally exposed. And man, they are comfy! Just like leggings, but a tiny bit nicer.
Of course I still love the 
The coolest thing about this pattern is that it has options for skinny, straight, and bootcut legs. The way she does this is she drafted separate leg pieces that you add to your waist/butt/fly area. This is brilliant! Basically, when you finally get the fit of the tricky butt/crotch curve/hip area perfect in these jeans you will be able to use any leg width you want for a complete jeans wardrobe! So smart, right? I want to try them in all the different shapes and all the different colors…
I also loved Kennis’ fly insertion method. It was easy to follow and resulted in a smooth, nicely finished fly. My best one yet.
Can you see that I tried to distress my seam edges and legs? It doesn’t show up on camera, and I will admit that I was a little timid about the whole thing. I might have another sandpaper session down the legs at least after I’ve washed them a couple more times. The distressed sections actually look more blue, so I wonder how the washing will effect the color.
My back pocket design was a horror of indecision and not getting them mirrored correctly. Ugh. I tried at least 3 different marking methods with limited success. Next time- straight lines I can measure out! But I like my unique choice of topstitching color. It is a little different, but not too wild. They remain classic.
I didn’t feel I needed rivets in this pair, but I look forward to trying that technique out. This is a first try, but the errors I see are a learning opportunity. I’m so glad I am learning this new skill with such an nice PDF pattern and well written instructions, too. It has been very fun so far!
grayallday 