Remember my Garment of the Month? I posted my plans here, and wrote posts about copying the pattern from my favorite jeans and construction the pants here and here.This post is about work in progress part 2.
What's taking me so long?
Those brilliant video's with Kenneth D King!
Wait, weren't they supposed to be helping the progress? O yes, in the long run they certainly will. But for now I'm gazing at my iPad for hours in a row.
After finishing the pattern I was in doubt. Speed things up by quickly sewing the jeans (I have made my share of jeans, I could skip the tutorials), or watch every minute of the Craftsy course because you never know when another lightbulb moment will come up? I chose to follow the step by step construction and I was not disappointed. Usually I am not very good at 'follow the leader and do as you're told'-stuff. But watching a sewing genius at his best had a very relaxing effect. Mindless sewing: when the Maestro tells you to stitch your seam, or give it a good press, you just go to your sewing machine or ironing board and do it.
That's how I constructed the overlap at the fly by adding the fly facing piece, made the shield and installed the (thrifted) zipper.
Uhh ohh, that's weird! I The zipper is placed with very little overlap. But who am I to overrule the professor? Then I noticed some comments made by classmates. One of them mentioned she was happy with her new jeans, except for the zipper placement. So much for mindless sewing. Time to get my brain in gear!
I finished the fly front in my usual way and went back to the course.
Except for this little disagreement on zipper placement I loved the lessons, overloaded with amazing tips and tricks. How about pressing your seams on a wooden rail? Anyone? I won't spill all the secrets, but mr King is sharing some sew-changing miracles!
So. Where's the finished project?
The good news. It's really coming together and I tested the fit this afternoon. The fit is great at the hips and at the bottom, the front is really flattering because of the slimming effect of the pocketstays.
The bad news. The legs are a bit wide and the inseam needs a little bit of attention close to the crotch area.
Decision time. I can:
a) hurry up and make a quick fix in order to finish the October garment in October
b) keep calm and tweak on
The old me would now rush to the deadline. But after some sewing related contemplation I promised myself never to let deadlines interfere with the outcome of my work.
So sorry, Sarah Liz and fellow Garment of the Month makers, I fail, for perfections sake. Or does that sound like a lame excuse? Anyway, I will continue the quest for the perfect fit and go for option b.
Time for a little sewing break. My birthday is coming up this weekend and there will be some entertaining over at Foxgloves Castle. My sewing room doubles up as guest room, it's high time to evacuate. The guests might also expect some food and drinks, so I'm off stocking the fridge and baking cakes!
