Verdict on the smartPATTERN barrel leg jeans

 

And here are the completed jeans. TADA!

The strong sun lets you see the details but also made me squint, so it's a mixed blessing.

The fit is super comfy. They are not tight but snug through the hips and waist. 

Despite my taking in the pants through the hips I applied the waistband without any change.

It's a curved waistband, so partly on the bias. But it is totally stable, because I applied a weft insertion fusible interfacing "backwards" so that the straight grain end of the interfacing is applied to the bias end of the waistband. (There is a separate interfacing piece which, unlike the waistband itself, is cut in 2 pieces.)

As I mentioned in my first post about these jeans, the smartPATTERN site allows you to configure the jeans for custom style as well as fit.

My options are shown on the front of the PDF that I received with the pattern. It's labelled "instructions" but does not cover the sewing of these jeans. For that, as previously mentioned, you go to the website, which has copious and well illustrated instructions on how to sew jeans. These are generic jeans sewing instructions and not style-specific, although there is a specific page on how to sew the darts in the barrel leg jeans. 

I chose a medium barrel shape, full (regular) length rather than cropped, and one leg dart. Other options included knee darts and two types of side panel inserts to get the barrel shape. 

I could have chosen a front yoke or angled front pockets, and a differently shaped back yoke and pockets. 

I could have picked a straight waistband or a button fly.

You need to supply your body measurements, including hip circumference, total height, inseam and outseam lengths, waist, and leg measurements at the thigh, mid-thigh, knee, calf and heel instep. Finally, you need to rate the roundness of your butt on a scale of 1-5 (I picked 2). 

I'm impressed with the fit, although I had to tweak the side seams because my fabric has some stretch, which isn't called for.

(Here is where you get to rate the flatness of my butt.)

Considering that I did nothing to check the fit before cutting out, smartPATTERN has kind of nailed the lengths, front and back, that I need for good fit.

I think they are well balanced on my body. While there's a bit of pooling under my (flat, as previously mentioned) butt, I don't think it's unacceptable. You do need some fabric length for ordinary moving around.

I like the leg shape. They are barrel shaped without being clownish.

The length is good. I turned up a bit more length than called for (4 cm) and if they shrink up too much I can re-do the hems if needed. 

I used this crazy print cotton for my pocket bags and waistband facing. 

I made sure to sew it inside out so that the right side of the print would show. I like a bit of crazy in my custom made jeans.

I think I'll try a rigid denim pair next. 

So what do you think? Want to try your own custom jeans? I think you should!

Making the smartPATTERN Barrel Leg Jeans

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. 

I'm impressed by the details and precision of the pattern and instructions. 

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.

Some observations about the smartPATTERN pattern

1. All the seam allowances are printed. 

2. There are different seam allowances on different edges. For example, the inseam of the pants have a 1.5 cm seam allowance, but the side seam is 2 cm wide. I think this is probably for flat felling purposes. Pocket seam allowances are 1 cm. The curved edge of the fly facing is 8 mm. 

3. The pieces are tiled very tightly. My full length pants pattern occupies only 24 pages. This is possible because each smartPATTERN is a one-off, individually prepared file. Print-at-home patterns are generally tiled for multiple sizes and if you want one of the smaller sizes, there is usually a lot of blank paper around each piece. 

4. Due to the above (one-off, individually prepared file), you don't get your smartPATTERN instantly after clicking "buy". I ordered my pattern in the evening of the eastern time zone and I didn't get the pattern until about 11 hours later. After, I suppose, the smartPATTERN-makers had had a couple of working hours to prepare my file according to my specifications.

5. In addition to actual pattern pieces, there are templates. For the back patch pocket there are two. One to guide the topstitching and the other to aid in precise placement on the back of the pants. There is a template for placing the coin pocket. There is a template for the length of the belt loops and where to fold them. There is a template for placing the buttonhole on the waistband. And finally there is a template for the topstitching on the fly.

6. The details are quite beautiful. The sides and bottom edge of the back pocket are slightly curved, for example. I guess I should cut that template out of cardboard and use it as a pressing aid!

I am supposed to use denim with no lycra for this pattern, but the only denim I have on hand has a small amount of stretch (1% lycra). I'm throwing caution to the winds.

I'm kind of excited about this

Yesterday, I came across a new-to-me sewing pattern source - smartPATTERN - have you heard of it?

Mostly they offer jeans patterns. So many styles of jeans. I need new jeans. I was looking for a barrel leg shape, and theirs is intriguing. 

Notice it's "made-to-measure". Like a couple of other sites I'm aware of, you input key body measurements before clicking "buy". But that's not all. You also go through a series of menus that literally customize the pattern to your preferences, as well as sizing it for your body. 

Do you want that waistband up high or low? How much ease do you want in the crotch? How much oomph do you want in the barrel shaping? How should the barrel shaping be accomplished (side panels, darts at the knees, darts at the hem, or any combination of these)? Do you want them full length or cropped? What about the back yoke shape? The pockets? Zipper or button fly? The questions are numerous. 

So interesting!

I clicked to buy (will detail my styling choices later) and as I write, my order is still processing. 

Stay tuned.

Oh yeah, no promises I'll blog regularly, but there is so little information in English about this German pattern purveyor, that I want feedback. Who is still reading this?