Sunday 2 June 2013

Sew Liberated Skinny Jeans - preparation...sharpening the axe?


“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”

Abraham Lincoln

Some sewing projects require more preparation than others.  I am going to try and share my process of making the Sew Liberated Skinny jeans.  The pattern itself seems simple enough and I think I will be spending more effort on the preparation than on the actual sewing.  Hmm...let's see, shall we?  So far, I have been getting my grubby mitts on the material and notions. 
1. Twin needles
The pattern calls for twin needles.  I have to admit that until a couple of years ago I just thought people sewed two extremely neat parallel rows of stitches and I was in awe of their skills.  Stupid me!  It's a twin needle.  Twin needles have been on my vague to-try list since this discovery and I am happy that the skinny jeans pattern has pushed me to actually buy one and try it out.   I bought mine from Jaycotts. At first I was puzzled...how did I thread two threads?  Thanks to the onders of the internet,  I found a tutorial that I liked here .  Now I am waiting for half term holidays to end and for a peaceful day when I can try out the twin needles.  I have read that you may have to play around with the thread tension before getting it right.  Any twin needle advice?

2. Stretch denim
Buying the denim was a frustrating process all of its own.  I am picky about denim.  I saw some lovely cross hatch denim at Stone Fabrics but I prevaricated too long.  When I rang to order it, I found it was sold out.  I nearly bought some lovely denim on ebay, but my paypal stopped working.  I rang a local-ish fabric shop as I didn't want a wasted journey...their denim wasn't labelled stretch and they couldn't tell me if it was or not.  I went in the end for this dark blue denim from Fabricland.  I was sorely tempted by their scarlet stretch denim and their apple green. Maybe if the pattern works I will try again in red denim.  I have washed the denim and it's waiting to be ironed.



3. Stretch fabric
Oh, I am stumped now. I need a heavy/medium weight stretch fabric for the waistband.  I have no such in my stash....do you think a charity shop sweatshirt would do? Or a charity shop tracksuit - if I hack off the waistband and re-use it?

4. Sizing.
I think I have the right size now....I am worried about getting the size wrong.  I have been measuring and reading the size chart. 

That's it so far.  Any advice?  


6 comments:

  1. Hi, I've just finished sewing Burda 7863 skinny jeans. As for the sizing, Carolyn at Handmade by Carolyn wrote that when she tried the Burda pattern, she first took a pair of jeans that fitted her well, and just measured the pattern with the jeans' front and back. I did the same with my pattern, and boy that helped! I would have otherwise sewn a size bigger! You could do the same :)
    As for twin needles, the Burda pattern didn't call for them, just sewn two rows as you also wrote, but I did think about getting a twin needle for next time, as it would have saved me a lot of time. I will write a nice review and some tips about that, maybe tomorrow :)
    As for the other fabric... I can't help, as my pattern didn't ask for a different fabric.
    Happy sewing! :)
    Mary @ http://handmadebymaryall.blogspot.it/

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    1. Thank you for the sizing tip - that is such a good idea. I am looking forward to reading your review of burda 7863. I am thinking if these jeans go okay, I may get brave enough to try some "proper" jeans!

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  2. I've sewn with a twin needle a lot, and my machine has a special button to press....only I sometimes forget and don't notice the difference!! So I just tend to get on and go. The advice I would give, not to fill you with any additional anxiety, is that it's a real pain to unpick!
    It's a good idea sharing your process and questions a,one the way....good luck next stage!

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  3. Very brave to tackle both jeans and twin needles!I bought a twin needle about two years ago and have successfully managed to put off experimenting with it ever since.
    I like the sound of scarlet denim.

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  4. Go girl! I can not wait to see the skinny jeans. x x x

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  5. Oooh, what a fun project! I'm excited to see how these turn out! I don't have much advice to offer as I've never made jeans and I bought a twin needle a few weeks ago but have been too chicken to give it a go!

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