The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of My Capri Jeans

As soon as I sewed the last stitch on my capri jeans, I felt a sense of relief.  That meant I successfully completed the Angela Wolf Skinny Jean Class and the garment I sewed in the class was also complete.  I quickly asked my husband to take a picture of the garment (front and back) and I included those pictures in my previous post on this blog.  I should have taken a closer look at those pictures.  A closer look would have revealed the good, the bad, and the ugly of the garment. 

Let’s start with the good.  The front picture revealed a pretty good fit of the jeans – not perfect, but okay for the first attempt with the pattern.  It looks like the rise is a little lower than I like.  However, a close look reveals I learned a lot.  I now know that I can use regular sewing thread instead of jeans thread for top stitching if I use the stretch triple stitch.  I also learned to use a decorative stitch on the belt loops and I learned different ideas to decorate the back pockets.   I especially like the idea of adding the Chicken Little monogram on the back left pocket. 

Now for the bad.  The back picture revealed a lot of diagonal folds in the legs.  As some of you know, the folds usually point to the problem.  In this case, I think the problem was the width of the legs were too wide in the back.  I have a flat derriere and don’t need the extra room in the back of the legs.   Also, I think the rise in the back was a little low, too.

The ugly is an entirely different story!  I don’t think the jeans are ugly at all.  However, the front and back pictures are really ugly because I had my shirt tucked inside the waist.  I never wear my shirts that way.  My muffin top is much too large for that!  I tucked the shirt inside so the pockets and belt loops could be seen. 

After I took a closer look at my project, I wondered if there was an adjustment I could still make to the back of the legs.  I was limited with what I could do because the inseams were top stitched with the stretch triple stitch.  The side seams were also top stitched from the waist down to the bottom of the front pockets.  It would be almost impossible to rip out all those triple stitches without damaging the fabric.  I decided to take in what I could on the side seams from just below the front pockets to just above the hem on the legs.  At the widest point I took in ½ inch on the seam.  That means at that point I was able to get rid of one inch from each leg and then taper up to the bottom of the front pockets and taper down to just above the hemline.

I took new pictures of the front and back of the capri jeans.  They aren’t perfect, but that is the best I can do for this garment.  I will adjust the pattern before I use it again.

 

Don’t forget to take a close look at any garment you make to see if you like the fit before you finish the garment.  Adjustments are a lot easier in the early stages of sewing.  If you are using a pattern for the first time, make sure you baste the basic pieces together to check the fit before you sew it together using regular stitches.  Also, don’t forget to take pictures when it is basted together and take a really close look to see if you are happy with the fit.  I hope you will learn from my mistakes.

Good luck with your sewing projects!

Judy