Jalie Stretch Jeans 2908, let’s start

Let the process begin!

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Jalie Stretch Jeans 2908, is a great sewing pattern if you want to make jeans for girls or women.  My disclaimer; I received this pattern and a piece of beautiful stretch denim from Distinctive Sewing Supplies (which is now closed when Catherine retired) in exchange for blogging about my experience.  Please know that the opinions expressed will be my own.

Added in January 2020, click here to buy your pattern from Amazon.ca

My steps:

I pre-treated the denim as suggested, by soaking in a Eucalan solution for 20 minutes, spinning the water out, then tumbling in a warm, not hot, drier for about 20 minutes.  The water that drained off had no denim colour in it, and there was minimal shrinkage.

I selected my pattern size by my hip measurement, as suggested on the envelope. 

This pattern comes in 27 sizes!  I’m an “X”, and like my jeans at my waist, so traced off for View B.

My waist is larger than “X”, but because the waistband is cut on the bias (stretchy) and I’m determined (and working actively at it) to lose weight, I made no adjustments for my girth. 

I DID add 1/2″ in the rise on both front and back, which will add a total of 1 inch to the crotch measurement.

I also had to add 1/2 inch to the fly shield and the piece for the fusible interfacing for the fly.

 Cutting out is always an adventure around here!

My choice for the pocket lining reflects my rebellious streak.

It took me ages to decide on a thread colour for my top-stitching.  I really like Sulky 12 weight cotton for this, and have quite a few shades in my collection.  Because these jeans will be part of a “capsule”, I chose a shade of blue that complimented the other fabrics in the group. I sew this thick thread with a Schmetz size 14/90 Topstitch needle.  It’s not too thick, but has a larger eye and deeper groove to accommodate the thread thickness.

Added January 2020 click here to buy these needles through Amazon.ca

Making the Back Pockets Mine

Mettler poly in the bobbin, time to sew.  I wanted to stitch something on the pockets to make them “mine” so went to my closet for inspiration.  Now it’s one thing to stitch a free-hand swirl on one pocket, it’s quite different to mirror image the stitching for the other pocket.

I borrowed a trick that quilters use; sewing through paper! So I traced off 2 copies of the pocket onto a scrap of the pattern paper I use to trace off my patterns, drew a “swirl” on one, traced it onto the other piece of paper, then flipped it over and retraced the swirl on the other side.

Then I pinned the paper to each pocket, then with the Sulky 12 weight in the top-stitch needle and my stitch length set at 3.5, stitched along each line, then tore the paper off before stitching an echo line about 1/8 inch on either side of the original. 

Sewing slowly and using my needle-down function as part of the Husqvarna/Viking Sensor System made the stitching fairly easy.

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