Joan bought indigo and a black stretch denims from us in a bid to get some jeans that fit and she did a stellar job.
The pattern she used was a mix up of various elements: an old Vogue pattern for the blue jeans fly, Closet Core Ginger midrise jeans for the start of the black fly, and a lot of the sewing method, plus a pattern drafted off an old pair of her best fitting jeans and tweaked for a better fit. She modified the fly so that it more closely resembled RTW finish in the black pair and that worked better than the blue pair.
She bought the Mara 70 thread and found the best success when using it in the bobbin plus top thread.
Linda made these beautiful Persephone Sailor Pants by Anna Allen Sewing which she said, “The pattern is really simple which is was a good as it’s the first trousers I’ve made in a very long time! I’ll definitely be making another pair.” -The fabric is an olive green lightish weight stretch denim; approx 7oz. We sent a bit extra as it was the end of the bolt and there were a few marks which she found useful.
Bess made these stretch denim shorts for her ridiculously fussy husband (she keeps swearing she will never make for him again, but then the morale boost when he likes it and wears it is too much of a temptation). The denim is not that heavy but to keep them light she lined the waistband, pockets and fly with the pointy finger print cotton poplin.
She used odd buttons on the fly because she was using up old stocks, but loves that feature. and will do it again.
The pattern is taken off an old favourite pair.
The shorts passed the temperamental sewing machine test AND the fussy husband test 😊
Sarah made this Dear and Doe Sirocco jumpsuit using heavy indigo dyed denim jersey, it needed washing twice before making up due to the excess dye, and she has added a invisible zipper on the side as the fabric is not as stretchy as the pattern requires, but isn’t this amazing?
You can find sarah on Instagram, but here’s what she says: V2 #ddsirocco Having analysed what went wrong with v1 (fabric too thin and too black, over-lengthened the bodice, over-tapered the legs, short sleeves in winter colour made no sense), I’m glad I had another go. This time I only lengthened the bodice 1.5in, and kept the waistband depth and legs as per pattern, and I extended the sleeves to make it cooler weather appropriate. As this indigo jersey from @stonefabrics is quite sturdy and not as stretchy as the pattern requires, I had to install a side invisible zip. I’m really pleased with the result, even though it is absolutely impossible to wriggle into without getting white deodorant marks on 😂.
Sewing for the tweens is always tricky but this was deemed a success with the super Kitcat. Fabric is a heavy denim cotton jersey with only a little stretch (plenty for this dress) made by Jane (Granny).
Jane made this lime green denim mini skirt and jacket for Miaow. The jacket was a pattern downloaded whose author shall remain anonymous due to the derogatory comments that have come out of Jane while making it. It was a battle to find a kid’s denim jacket pattern at all, it would have been quicker (and easier) to have drafted it ourselves after the multitude of alterations that had to be done to this pattern. The skirt was easy though!
Made using stretch cotton denim and trimmed with cotton poplin and coloured jeans buttons. The belt on the skirt is made by Harlequin who cover buckles and buttons with your fabric super quick and efficiently. Funky!
Jane’s daughter Jessie wearing her LG polka dot printed cotton short sleeve shirt and her Rococo printed stretch indigo denim skirt. Jane wasn’t sure her 40+ year old daughter would want daisy buttons but she did. The skirt had to be taken in a bit because that denim is quite stretchy.
The pattern for the shirt is taken from an old M&S shirt and the skirt pattern is a long discontinued Burda pattern (3198), the closest available now is McCall’s 3341.
Jo and Lulu sporting matching bridesmaid’s dresses for Bess’s wedding, made out of strecth cotton denim, net underskirts and covered belts. (Made by Jane)
Fabrics and Notions:
Stretch cotton denim
Cotton voil lining
Nylon dress net
Covered boning
Invisible zip
Petersham (waist stays)
Pattern: custom made
When using a ‘less posh’ type of fabric such as stretch denim and you want to make it look posh, make sure the pattern choice is structured and fits perfectly. Stretch denim is great to make tight bodices as it is strong and has just the right amount of ‘give’ (which means the poor suffering bridesmaids can breathe -usually a good thing)
Bonus points to Sally for an excellent evaluation of these trousers:
Now – what did I think about the Itch-to-Stitch cargoes? I previously made a dress from them (Oia pattern) for my sister-in-law, which was fabulous. The pattern was very well designed and the instructions were so good that even this very beginner sewer succeeded. So I had high hopes for the Sequoia Cargoes. But in all honesty I am slightly disappointed. Why?
Sizing. Based on her chart I’m half way between a 6 and 8 based on hip and a size 10 for waist. Two toiles later, I wound up cutting the pattern halfway between a 6 and 8 for everything except for the waist which I actually graded DOWN to a size 6. Very illogical. The overall fit works fairly well on me – better than any other trouser patterns I have tried. I generally have to modify the crotch pattern based on a pair of RTW jeans that I like the fit of.
The instructions have some anomalies. The zip insertion is strange.
With a 1″ wide zip, the second stitch line would be on the very edge of the zipper tape. And anyway, why would you want the first stitch line/fold not closer to the teeth? I emailed Kerris at Itch-to-Stitch to question this instruction. She didn’t really understand the problem and advsed me to follow her instructions for putting a zip in jeans. I had already put the zip in my toile using my tried and test jeans zipper insertion method. It worked fine, but created a problem later with the sizing of the left and right waist band pieces. So I cut those pattern pieces larger in order to make it all come together right.
The Waistband is ribbing folded around a 1″ elastic. Following this instruction results in the seam joining the waistband intersecting the zig zag stitch. So half the zig zag is visible in the waistband. Again I asked Kerris about this and she pointed out it was a basting stitch and therefore gets removed. But it is not really feasible to remove this zig zag stitch when it is run through with a seaming stitch. So I did the zig zag higher up the waist band. After I inserted the waistband I decided I liked the look of the zig zag running through the middle of the ribbing so I left it in as a design feature.
Finishing the seam allowances: Given my choice of fabric (very prone to fraying) I struggled. I don’t have an overlocker – would love one but just don’t have the space to set it up. So I zig zagged the seam allowances. Not a great finish. Be interesting to see how they wash up.
Overall impressions of the look: I didn’t include the side pockets or the leg straps. I also didn’t put poppers on the back pocket flaps as I felt they were too heavy for the fabric. I wanted a wider leg but find the legs a bit wider than I would have liked. And I think the back pocket flaps are too large. I think a heavier fabric would better suit this pattern. Perhaps even something with some stretch. Will I make another pair? Probably not.
Thank you Sally!
itch to stitch tencel denim cargoes & stripey viscose and elastane lark t-shirt itch to stitch tencel denim cargoes & stripey viscose and elastane lark t-shirt
Tina (Sewimpatient) made this brilliant @alinadesignco Hampton jean jacket using silver grey stretch denim and we LOVE it so much. Tina has a brilliant eye for detail and her makes are so well executed. Fabulousness.
She says: I managed to get my Hampton Jean Jacket sewn up and just wanted to say thanks so much for the fabric recommendation as it turned out to be the perfect choice. It’s super soft and the fact that it has some stretch didn’t cause any problems. If you need a jean jacket it’s a great pattern to have.
Washed Blue stretch medium weight Denim with White polka dot print. 95% Cotton 5% Elastane. Reduced by 10% due to a minor flaw running through it (could be ignored or worked around depending on your preference).
Allow 10% shrinkage for all your washable natural fibres (including viscose). Wash before making up in the same manner as you would with subsequent washes (including drying methods).
Jerseys and fabrics liable to mis-shape should be dried flat, or in a cool tumble dryer.
Most fabrics should be pressed before cutting.
If in doubt about care instructions please CONTACT US
By signing up to our mailing list you agree to us keeping your name, email address and certain essential data so we can contact you and improve our customer service. We promise to keep your details safe and secure and will not sell your data to anyone. For full details please see our privacy policy
Manage Cookie Consent
Annoying but legally required cookies. click the accept or deny button and you will get your screen back
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
