I am making these jeans up exactly per the pattern and as instructed on the rather good pages of instructions on the smartPATTERN website. You start here with a general overview. Each page, once you have finished, leads on with a link to the next one. So you read on about preparing the pattern, cutting out and sewing the front pockets. Then it's on to the fun stuff - the fly front and the back yoke.
BUT they interrupt the progressing instructions to remind you that it would be a good idea to check the fit before finalizing the back. So there's a detour to a page instructing how to prep the pattern for a fitting.
For example, the instructions say to position the back patch pocket template with a view to visually centering the pockets on the back seam topstitching rather than on the seam itself. You place the edge of the template that aligns with the CB seam against a line of topstitching rather than the actual seam - the rightmost for the left pocket, and the leftmost for the right pocket.
Yes I am aware that it's almost impossible to see this very subtle detail in the photo at left.
The fly front came together perfectly. The outseam of the pants has a 2 cm wide seam allowance so that if you need more width, you can let them out (I had speculated it was for flat felling purposes - it isn't).
The waistband is precisely the right length for the unadjusted pattern, but also has plenty of extra length if you need more room.
The fit was very close but as I'm using fabric with a bit of lycra, they are too loose. I think the pattern in rigid denim (which is what is called for) would fit me perfectly.
I ended up sewing about 1 cm out at the waist, 2 cm out over the hips and 1 cm between hips and hem.
While making these jeans, my serger decided that it had reached the end of its rope and it refused to cut through the layers of denim needed to neaten the leg seams. I'm going to take it off to the spa ... soon. In the interim I had to manually cut the seam allowances down to size before serging up to the raw edge.
The other mechanical problem I had was with my Pfaff sewing machine (a very big Quilt Expression 4.0, probably about 25 years old), which was having fits sewing through the multiple layers of denim, especially for the topstitching that is needed for jeans sewing. I was using the 3-stitch straight stitch (two forward, one back, two forward, etc.) for beefy stitches using ordinary thread and a new jeans needle that's plenty strong. Nevertheless, I had to stop sooooo many times because my machine got "overloaded" if the needle didn't instantly pierce all the layers. Honestly, for its size, this machine is gutless.
What an idiot I am! I finally got out my far older and tiny Singer Featherweight out and threaded it up with some topstitching thread and a jeans needle and it sewed through everything I threw at it like the little champ it is. I should have used it for the entire project.
Now I've done all the topstitching, including the waistband, attaching the tops of the belt loops (8 layers, plus 2 of interfacing) and the hems and I've come back to my laptop to research (again, because I always forget between projects) how to use my Prym Vario pliers. I even searched my blog to see if I had a useful link - no, although I had some info on how to use other snap applying tools.
So, for posterity, here is a pretty clear photo tutorial on how to apply anorak snaps using the Prym Vario pliers.
Once I put this info into practice, they will be done. And then there will be photos.
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