7 years ago
You know how sometimes you see some fabric and immediately have an idea of the 'perfect' thing to make from it? That's exactly what happened when I was given the chance to make something from this fantastic embroidered cord, it was just going to have to be turned into a pair of straight leg Megan Nielsen Dawn jeans!
First things first though, and it needed a prewash just to check on any potential shrinkage. Despite having made several pairs of jeans in the last year, I'm not 100% confident on making jeans, and couldn't risk them shrinking after I'd got the fit just about right! My cord started off as 151cm x 216cm, and after washing, it was 142cm x 206cm which is approximately a 6% shrinkage. I don't have a tumble drier so the fabric was line dried, which is just as well, because there was a little trail of white fluff following where I'd carried the fabric through the house into the garden. Once the jeans are made, the finished edges should avoid any future shedding, but this might be one of those fabrics which is wise to shake outdoors just to lose any loose fluff first!
The cord fabric has 30% horizontal stretch but has zero stretch vertically. This isn't a problem for the Dawn jeans, as that pattern doesn't require any stretch at all. There is a one and a half inch gap down one side where there is no embroidered design, while the opposite end of the fabric has just over 4 inches between the edge of the fabric and the start of the embroidery. I could have cut the pockets from the plain cord section, but decided to stick with the embroidered look for those, and just have the fly, fly extension and belt loops cut from the non-embroidered part.
A couple of the pairs of jeans I've made have been from the Dawn Jeans pattern, but I've not felt overly comfortable with the high rise fit. Following the instructions at Closet Case Patterns (https://closetcasepatterns.com/fit-mid-rise-ginger-jeans/), I was able to effectively turn the high-rise Dawn jeans into mid-rise jeans. This is the first time I've attempted to do any alterations to any sewing pattern, other than simply shortening the leg length, so I set about making a practise run in calico then one in some cheap denim I bought ages ago but never got around to using. User error meant I had to make a third practise run, as I'd made a rookie mistake in my initial measurements, resulting in the front rise being an inch shorter than the back (oops)! After adding in a couple of other alterations to fit my shape, I was finally ready to cut into the cord.
It has a lovely smooth feel, with the gold coloured metallic embroidery adding enough interest to not need to worry with any additional embroidery on the back pockets. As usual with cord there is a nap to the fabric - I was originally planning on the nap being able to be smoothed down, but was so eager to get cutting the fabric out that I totally forgot, and ended up with the nap being able to be smoothed up. But that's the traditional direction for cord nap to be facing, so I'm still happy with that.
As with any embroidery, the front of the fabric looks really neat, while the back of the fabric tends to look a little more untidy. Some of the metallic embroidery thread had clumped in 'birds nests' behind certain areas of stitching, which gave some added bulk for the needle to pass through. I did try to lay my pattern out to avoid the most obvious clumps being in the seam allowance.
The ivory colouring of the cord is a perfect match for the Natural Coats Moon thread and I picked some Gutermann thread from a denim pack (colour 1970) as a goldy contrast to use for the topstitching, although I will admit that came out a little more orangey than I'd planned. When you see the topstitching thread up close it looks quite orange, although from a distance it looks like almost a perfect match to the embroidery stitching.
Starting sewing, I soon encountered a problem. I was using a denim needle with the topstitching thread, but my machine struggled so much to get the needle through the fabric, it almost bent the needle. I've sewn varying weights of denim on my machine with no problems before, so I couldn't figure out what the problem was.
I swapped back to the regular thread and continued to try topstitching the fly, but there was more hand cranking of the machine than 'real' sewing.
After my sewing machine heard rather more swear words than it usually does(!), I decided the best option was to pack it all away and come back to it afresh in a few days. I asked for some advice on the needle type, and had suggestions to try a sharps needle, leather needle, or a new denim needle just in case my current one was blunt.
I did try the leather needle, and that stitched through really easily although as it obviously pierces the fabric, I was a bit wary of using that on every seam as some of the tiny pin hole marks were still showing from where I'd cut out the fabric. I was wary of trying the sharps needle simply because the only ones I could find weren't as thick as the denim needle I'd been using; to stitch through multiple layers of the cord, I was pretty sure I'd need a thick needle. So I felt my best option would be a new denim needle.
Armed with a new 100/16 denim needle, I warily stitched the inseam... and it was like sewing through butter! My machine didn't struggle once, not even on the cross point of seams on the crotch, or the bulk of embroidery thread on the back of the cord. I used the triple straight stretch stitch with regular thread for all the seams, to give added strength.
I seriously had not expected the sole problem to be a blunt needle! I think that just goes to show that I shouldn't be quite so eager to keep reusing them once I've already used them on denim several times!
Normally when I'm topstitching, I'd use a regular thread and a triple straight stretch stitch. However, I wanted to use topstitching thread for these jeans and that stitch would make the topstitching unnecessarily thick. To ensure the topstitching holds the inseam seam allowance in place, I stitched a single line of triple straight stretch stitches in the regular thread, followed by two lines of topstitching thread on an ordinary straight stitch. The triple stretch straight stitch adds in some strength to the seams, while still blending into the main fabric so only the true topstitching thread is visible from a distance.
I know my sewing machine dislikes sewing small stitches in topstitching thread, so I swapped back to the regular thread for the bar tacks as well. I will admit it would've been better if I'd bought some thread that matches the topstitching thread's colour, but I'm happy with natural bar tacks.
This cord fabric will be lovely and warm to wear but it is quite heavy, so the pocket bags were obviously going to need to be a much lighter weight fabric. I had some yellow striped cotton in my fabric bag from a previous project, which worked perfectly. Rather than zigzagging the base edges of the pockets I amended the pattern to allow me to add French seams so it was all enclosed. Using an initial seam allowance of as close to 1/8" as I could get, I stitched the second seam at 3/8" to give the same finished pocket size. If the French seams were slightly more generous than the pattern called for, it would just result in a slightly shorter pocket - there's no parts of the jeans that intersect the base of the pocket which would need amending to allow for a shorter pocket.
Continued on my next post...
#minervamakes #minervamakers #isew #memade #memades #sewing #sewist #sewists #sewinginspo #sewinginspiration #sew #sewcialist #sewingproject #sewingprojects #sewingideas #sewingprojectideas #sewingpatterninspo #lovesewing #ilovesewing #sewsewsew #sewersgonnasew #makersgonnamake #sewaholic #sewaholics #shareyoursewing #sewinglove #handmadewardrobe #handemadeclothes #isewmyclothes #memadefashion #diyclothes #diyfashion #diywardrobe #dressmaking #fabricinspo #fashionsewing #seamstress #memadeeveryday #imakemyclothes #imakemyownclothes #fashion #fashioninspo #memadewardrobe #megannielsen #megannielsenpatterns ##megannielsendawnjeans #dawn #dawnjeans #sewingjeans #makingjeans #jeanssewing #jeansmaking #sewingwithcord #cordsewingprojects #sewingwithneedlecord #needlecordsewingprojects
First things first though, and it needed a prewash just to check on any potential shrinkage. Despite having made several pairs of jeans in the last year, I'm not 100% confident on making jeans, and couldn't risk them shrinking after I'd got the fit just about right! My cord started off as 151cm x 216cm, and after washing, it was 142cm x 206cm which is approximately a 6% shrinkage. I don't have a tumble drier so the fabric was line dried, which is just as well, because there was a little trail of white fluff following where I'd carried the fabric through the house into the garden. Once the jeans are made, the finished edges should avoid any future shedding, but this might be one of those fabrics which is wise to shake outdoors just to lose any loose fluff first!
The cord fabric has 30% horizontal stretch but has zero stretch vertically. This isn't a problem for the Dawn jeans, as that pattern doesn't require any stretch at all. There is a one and a half inch gap down one side where there is no embroidered design, while the opposite end of the fabric has just over 4 inches between the edge of the fabric and the start of the embroidery. I could have cut the pockets from the plain cord section, but decided to stick with the embroidered look for those, and just have the fly, fly extension and belt loops cut from the non-embroidered part.
A couple of the pairs of jeans I've made have been from the Dawn Jeans pattern, but I've not felt overly comfortable with the high rise fit. Following the instructions at Closet Case Patterns (https://closetcasepatterns.com/fit-mid-rise-ginger-jeans/), I was able to effectively turn the high-rise Dawn jeans into mid-rise jeans. This is the first time I've attempted to do any alterations to any sewing pattern, other than simply shortening the leg length, so I set about making a practise run in calico then one in some cheap denim I bought ages ago but never got around to using. User error meant I had to make a third practise run, as I'd made a rookie mistake in my initial measurements, resulting in the front rise being an inch shorter than the back (oops)! After adding in a couple of other alterations to fit my shape, I was finally ready to cut into the cord.
It has a lovely smooth feel, with the gold coloured metallic embroidery adding enough interest to not need to worry with any additional embroidery on the back pockets. As usual with cord there is a nap to the fabric - I was originally planning on the nap being able to be smoothed down, but was so eager to get cutting the fabric out that I totally forgot, and ended up with the nap being able to be smoothed up. But that's the traditional direction for cord nap to be facing, so I'm still happy with that.
As with any embroidery, the front of the fabric looks really neat, while the back of the fabric tends to look a little more untidy. Some of the metallic embroidery thread had clumped in 'birds nests' behind certain areas of stitching, which gave some added bulk for the needle to pass through. I did try to lay my pattern out to avoid the most obvious clumps being in the seam allowance.
The ivory colouring of the cord is a perfect match for the Natural Coats Moon thread and I picked some Gutermann thread from a denim pack (colour 1970) as a goldy contrast to use for the topstitching, although I will admit that came out a little more orangey than I'd planned. When you see the topstitching thread up close it looks quite orange, although from a distance it looks like almost a perfect match to the embroidery stitching.
Starting sewing, I soon encountered a problem. I was using a denim needle with the topstitching thread, but my machine struggled so much to get the needle through the fabric, it almost bent the needle. I've sewn varying weights of denim on my machine with no problems before, so I couldn't figure out what the problem was.
I swapped back to the regular thread and continued to try topstitching the fly, but there was more hand cranking of the machine than 'real' sewing.
After my sewing machine heard rather more swear words than it usually does(!), I decided the best option was to pack it all away and come back to it afresh in a few days. I asked for some advice on the needle type, and had suggestions to try a sharps needle, leather needle, or a new denim needle just in case my current one was blunt.
I did try the leather needle, and that stitched through really easily although as it obviously pierces the fabric, I was a bit wary of using that on every seam as some of the tiny pin hole marks were still showing from where I'd cut out the fabric. I was wary of trying the sharps needle simply because the only ones I could find weren't as thick as the denim needle I'd been using; to stitch through multiple layers of the cord, I was pretty sure I'd need a thick needle. So I felt my best option would be a new denim needle.
Armed with a new 100/16 denim needle, I warily stitched the inseam... and it was like sewing through butter! My machine didn't struggle once, not even on the cross point of seams on the crotch, or the bulk of embroidery thread on the back of the cord. I used the triple straight stretch stitch with regular thread for all the seams, to give added strength.
I seriously had not expected the sole problem to be a blunt needle! I think that just goes to show that I shouldn't be quite so eager to keep reusing them once I've already used them on denim several times!
Normally when I'm topstitching, I'd use a regular thread and a triple straight stretch stitch. However, I wanted to use topstitching thread for these jeans and that stitch would make the topstitching unnecessarily thick. To ensure the topstitching holds the inseam seam allowance in place, I stitched a single line of triple straight stretch stitches in the regular thread, followed by two lines of topstitching thread on an ordinary straight stitch. The triple stretch straight stitch adds in some strength to the seams, while still blending into the main fabric so only the true topstitching thread is visible from a distance.
I know my sewing machine dislikes sewing small stitches in topstitching thread, so I swapped back to the regular thread for the bar tacks as well. I will admit it would've been better if I'd bought some thread that matches the topstitching thread's colour, but I'm happy with natural bar tacks.
This cord fabric will be lovely and warm to wear but it is quite heavy, so the pocket bags were obviously going to need to be a much lighter weight fabric. I had some yellow striped cotton in my fabric bag from a previous project, which worked perfectly. Rather than zigzagging the base edges of the pockets I amended the pattern to allow me to add French seams so it was all enclosed. Using an initial seam allowance of as close to 1/8" as I could get, I stitched the second seam at 3/8" to give the same finished pocket size. If the French seams were slightly more generous than the pattern called for, it would just result in a slightly shorter pocket - there's no parts of the jeans that intersect the base of the pocket which would need amending to allow for a shorter pocket.
Continued on my next post...
#minervamakes #minervamakers #isew #memade #memades #sewing #sewist #sewists #sewinginspo #sewinginspiration #sew #sewcialist #sewingproject #sewingprojects #sewingideas #sewingprojectideas #sewingpatterninspo #lovesewing #ilovesewing #sewsewsew #sewersgonnasew #makersgonnamake #sewaholic #sewaholics #shareyoursewing #sewinglove #handmadewardrobe #handemadeclothes #isewmyclothes #memadefashion #diyclothes #diyfashion #diywardrobe #dressmaking #fabricinspo #fashionsewing #seamstress #memadeeveryday #imakemyclothes #imakemyownclothes #fashion #fashioninspo #memadewardrobe #megannielsen #megannielsenpatterns ##megannielsendawnjeans #dawn #dawnjeans #sewingjeans #makingjeans #jeanssewing #jeansmaking #sewingwithcord #cordsewingprojects #sewingwithneedlecord #needlecordsewingprojects
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