get the skinnies

Despite last weekend's difficulties, I'm proud to say that the jeans are DONE!
So here are my new skinny jeans. I paired it with my Hummingbird shirt, because it was the most Oona-esque print I had clean that wasn't a dress and wouldn't kill me from heat. (It's supposed to get up to 90, so between that and the fact that town workers are currently outside digging up our yard, because all those recent power outages apparently broke a line in just our yard, it's an indoor photo day!) That's right-- I didn't think I'd get to do it because I have SO much to do before DragonCon, but Oona herself said on twitter that shiny skinny jeans totally count for Oonapalooza!

Which makes sense. I stayed away from skinny jeans for a long time, because I'm definitely more of a curvy girl. And shiny metallic on my backside is definitely a little out of my comfort zone--at least when not in the context of a TARDIS skirt. But that isn't quite so figure-hugging, you know?



Case in point. But I'm pretty proud of those pockets, darnit!! Even though they will be covered up most of the time, because I tend to pair the skinny jeans with the longer, flowy tops. I'm only wearing them with a shirt this short for the sake of pictures.

So, obviously, I can get the jeans on now. I ended up just removing the stitching from the lower waistband, then making lots of clips in the twill tape from both sides of the stitching so that it's now in lots of little pieces instead of one big piece, and therefore the waistband has some stretch again. I asked about it in the Craftsy class, and the instructor clarified that the twill tape is only supposed to be in the back. So that's where I went wrong, because I did it for the entire waistband.

It really is a good class overall, and I'd like to go through it again the next time I make jeans. I didn't do any of the distressing this time, just because the nature of the fabric was screaming dressy denim at me. Also, as much as the metallic threads in particular fray, I figured that would extend this pair's life if I just let it distress itself naturally. But hammering and sandpapering look like a lot of fun, so there will be distressed jeans in my future somewhere. Oh yes.

I had to show off the insides, because the fabric is fun! I had this scrap of cotton left over from covering a photo album, and thought the metallic gold suns and stars would be a good pairing with the metallic silver insides. I had to cut the waistband in two pieces to make it work, but I just squeezed it out. The inside is a little wonky just under the fly, so I do need to work out how to finish that more cleanly for the next pair.

Aside from that, here's what I'd change the next time:
-Checking the zipper more carefully before sewing the waistband on. I thought I had it lined up, but obviously, I didn't, because this happened.

-Make the waistband wider. I mostly used my self-drafted pattern from the last pair, and just made the legs skinnier, but I took the curved waistband from a J. Stern jeans pattern. I like the fit, but the width looks a little narrow for the average belt. Not that I do wear belts with my jeans often, because I rarely tuck shirts in, but it would be nice to know I could if I wanted to!

-Work on my rivet skills. I got impatient and bought rivets and buttons from Joann's, even though I have some on order, because they have those now and the others haven't arrived in the mail yet. I broke two button screws trying to hammer this in, because I kept doing it crookedly. I'm not 100% sure I got these rivets and the button right here either, and am fervently hoping that they don't fall out the first time I wash this. My dad basically ended up doing this part for me the last time I made jeans, so I need to learn to wield that hammer properly myself!
One last picture. Overall, though there are some minor issues here and there, I'm quite happy with how these turned out. It's nice to have the look of skinny jeans without the feeling of my thighs being poured into sausage casings! Taking my already-drafted pattern and using it for stretch denim worked beautifully, too. I initially cut this with extra-wide seam allowances to allow for any fitting tweaks, but when I basted it together, it was fine as is. I do have one piece of stretch denim to make a future pair out of, and will probably go back to my beloved bootcuts for that. But that won't happen for awhile, since I have several other things I need to finish first!

I'm also laughing at myself, because after all that, I'm not sure if I use these for my DragonCon Amy Pond outfit after all! In most of the pictures I've seen, they focus on Amy's shirt. But I was looking yesterday to see what shoes she's wearing, so I could figure out if I possibly have anything that would work, and I saw this picture and realized her jeans are cropped, and the jeans I was wearing for work at the time were actually a much better length! But these are much less faded, so I have to think about what would be the greater crime against cosplay. Hmm.

Also, despite having used this for two projects now, I still have fabric left! It's a full yard, plus rather large remnants on either end from pieces I had to cut single-layer. So any ideas of what I can do with more stretchy silvery denim?