I recently decided to delve into the realm of making jeans for myself. I chose the Ash jeans by Megan Nielsen. It is such a great pattern and the instructions are phenomenal. The only adjustments I needed were for length and then I took some additional width off from the mid thigh and below to get the skinny jean look I was going for. I could not be any happier with them, they fit so well and are amazingly comfortable.
They ended up being so great that my daughter asked for a pair. Now, I have made her a pair of jeans in the past. The Mia jeans from the Sew Over It City Break Ebook from a couple of years ago. I think it was a combination of not being confident in what I was doing and not confident in the pattern, they did not turn out well. However, there was no hesitation with the Ash, and my fitting skills are much improved as well as my confidence having taken a boost.
To be on the safe side, I decided to use some denim scraps and do a muslin. I am glad I did that, it ended up saving me time. I only wish that I had added the yoke and waistband to the muslin. Once the jeans were finished I noticed that there is just a touch too much length in the back for her. That is easily remedied on the next pair however.
This is once I adjusted the muslin. I used Heather Lou's fitting guide to figure out just what I needed to do. My bum is much fuller than my daughter's (something she states she's very happy about lol) so I did not have to adjust for a "low bum". Below you can see the adjustment I made and what that looked like on the pattern itself.
I did not know what adjustment I needed to make until I consulted Heather Lou's guide. My daughter had a lot horizontal lines under her bum so that indicated the need for the "low bum" adjustment. As you can see in the photos, it was just a tiny sliver that I removed but it did the trick. I was very aware of not over fitting these. I've heard all about that and did not want to fall into that trap. So as you can see there are still some horizontal lines but we both can deal with those.
Now, here is why I wish I had added the yoke and waistband.
I have already corrected this on her pattern to remove roughly 3/8 of an inch from the length. I determined how much to remove by pinching that bit of fabric and measuring it out. Then I made the change on her traced out pattern. Overall, I am very happy with how these turned out and she must be as well because she wears them every chance she gets. The only other change I made was the length. She is just five foot tall with an inseam of twenty-four inches so there were several inches removed. The fit through the thigh and calf were right on and I made no changes to those areas.
Here they are all completed along with her copycat shirt of mine. As I said, the Ash jeans really are an amazing pattern with fabulous instructions. I hope you take the opportunity to make some. You can pick up a copy here Ash jeans I have a few more planned and if Lorilei's wear of these are any indication she would like some more too!
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Sew, laugh, repeat,
~Viv