I love wearing jeans, and after I had finished my first pair of me-made jeans, I knew I wanted a second.

I had 2 meters of denim left from my first pair, so I decided to bleach it for a lighter colour. I must say, this wasn’t the easiest of tasks. The only way I could tackle it was in our very small bath.

As you can see, the denim was no where near laying flat. For the first 10 minutes I moved the denim around non-stop. After that, I would swish it and flip it every 15 minutes. I did this for 2 hours (setting a timer so I didn’t miss a flip).

It was a long (and smelly) process, but I am so happy with the result. There are a few small bleach lines and lighter patches, but it is as even as I could possibly get it.

If you want to try bleaching denim, True Bias has a wonderful tutorial which I referenced quite a lot.

With my denim lightened, I got onto making the jeans. Again, I used a hardware kit from Closet Case, but this time I picked the copper colour. My topstitching thread was pink, to match.

My first pair turned out to be a pretty good fit, but I did make a few changes with this pair. I took the ankles down to a size 10, but I also shaped the leg to hug my knee. I’m not sure if it’s because the denim is softer after the bleach, but I found that there was a lot more room around the knee this time.

I really love the fit of this pair. I won’t transfer the alteration to my pattern, I think I’ll just have to judge each new pair as I make them.

I added a little faux leather patch to the waistband which I think looks great! I might go back and add one to my original pair.

I used the same pocket topstitching design from my first pair, but I added another line. I really like the way it looks.

GARMENT DETAILS

• Pattern brand/name/number: Ginger Jeans by Closet Case Patterns
• Style, size: High rise version with the skinny leg, size 10 at waist, 14 at hips and 10 at ankles
• Fabric: Stretch denim from M.Recht which I bleached, cotton lining from stash scraps
• Notions:
  • Zipper fly hardware kit in Copper from Closet Case Patterns
  • Gütermann topstitch thread, colour 473
  • Gütermann general thread, colour 311
• Modification/alterations:
  • Shaped the leg to hug my knees
  • Added a faux leather patch to waistband

The finishing touch was to stitch the make-date on the inside of the fly shield. It’s a cute little detail which makes me smile every time I see it.

Mitty x

 

My goodness… a virus has smashed its way through our family like an out of control freight train. Caring for a sick toddler, who is also teething, coupled with my husband and I being sick, really hasn’t left me with the time (or energy) to sew.

Luckily, I finished something off before the train hit.

I bought this shawl/blanket from Uni Qlo about 2 years ago. It is very soft and surprisingly warm. However, it is a little awkward to wear, I found myself always having to adjust it. Somedays I wouldn’t even reach for it, knowing I’d be tugging at it all day.

I’d recently finished my first Berlin Jacket. I love the cut of this jacket so much, I thought it would be a great pattern to use to turn this shawl into something I was sure to wear.

 

It is obviously a much more cropped version of the original, but I really like how it turned out. The border design and tassels worked so perfectly with the straight lines of the Berlin pattern.

Construction wise, I didn’t really change much. I had to zigzag the raw edges because even though this fabric seemed to be a knit, it did start to fray after a bit of handling.

Sadly, I had to leave the pockets off. I really wanted them on there, but because the length is so cropped, the opening to the pockets would have been up around my underarms.

The pattern instructs to sew the sleeve cuffs on so they can be worn flipped out. I decided to just leave them on the inside, so it didn’t mess with the border design.

It is now much easier to wear, and I think it still has that shawl/blanket vibe going on!

GARMENT DETAILS:

• Pattern brand/name/number: Berlin Jacket by Tessuti
• Style/size: Size M
• Fabric: A shawl purchased from Uni Qlo (they don’t seem to have anything similar in store at the moment)
• Notions: Thread
• Modifications/alterations:
  • I cropped the length to fit the amount of fabric I had to work with
  • Left off the pockets
  • Sewed the sleeve cuffs to the inside, not to be flipped out
  • Zigzag stitched over the raw edges before joining the seams to prevent fraying

I love being able to breath new life into something I already own, instead of letting it go to waste. My “new” jacket fits perfectly in my wardrobe, and it almost feels like I made it for free!

Mitty x