Jalie jeans finished!

Celebrations here for the finished Jalie jeans! While they are not 100% perfect (& let's face it, what ever is??) they will certainly do and I learnt a lot while making them.

The fabric is my much-loved 4% elastane denim from Martin & Savage that I also have in black. An incredibly comfortable fabric and I've been keeping it (safe) since 2003. I figured it's time had come and I needed to make it into something. So here they are.

Let's start with the good. I love the bootleg cut! I love how the topstitching came out (using my trusty mechanical Janome which was great as it didn't need re-setting everytime I turned it back on). I love the comfort factor although I suspect that waistband will stretch out pretty soon.

Now the not-so-good. That fly zipper! See it up there? Crap! If I'd used Sandra Betzina's fly method, it wouldn't be showing. Sandra's application is almost identical to Jalie's but she has a wider fly section on the front & puts the zipper tape on the C/F. Jalie put the teeth on C/F. That means it's not as far under as Sandra's. 

What else? Oh yeah...there's no interfacing on the waistband. Now I cut mine on the crossgrain (probably another mistake) rather than the bias due to fabric limitations. Not sure why it's on the bias. But what I should've done is interface that baby cos it stretches. And stretches. In my previous life as a fat (ter) woman making jeans, the waistband just kept stretching out & it had both interfacing & twill tape. So I have no hope for this one.

Otherwise, I'm a happy camper and am loving these jeans. Although I'm not particularly loving that body in the photo LOL. Here's some more pics for you.

Back view - I think something is going on with the crotch. Looks like I need more length. But I couldn't tell from wearing them, it was only when I saw this pic that I realised. Oh well. You can also see very clearly in this pic how my lower bum is much smaller than my high hip. The camera never lies!

Funky pocket lining

Close up of back pocket

Close up of fly - looks OK here but don't be fooled!

Jalie jeans

I started a toile of the Jalie jeans today. OH. MY. GOD. They are skin tight! Skin tight from the hip area right down to the knees. I have to admit, I made no adjustments to the pattern. I wanted to see what I'd need to fix. Well make that everything! To start with, my denim isn't particularly stretchy. Jalie recommends a 4% spandex. Funnily enough I have some in my stash so I'll have to bite the bullet & try it. But first I need to add the back yoke to see if it will actually come up to my waist. Gad.

More drama

Monday dawned bright & sunny so I thought it was the perfect day to drag out the Jalie top. I added the modesty panel & tried it on. Hmph. It has these huge drag lines from my chest area pointing to the 'girls'.


I used size BB at the shoulders & tapered down to an FF at the side seams. Then I did an FBA...boy was that a difficult thing to do! Anyway, I think I must've added about 6cm and then closed the dart & moved the fullness to the underbust seam. Now it looks like I need more room! The bust is pulling everything down so the top is falling forward at the shoulders, pulling the sleeve across my chest & making those drag lines. Buggeration.


The modesty panel is another thing. I added exactly the same to it as I did on the FBA & it's huge! I need to take most of that out. Ack! There's also some fullness at the centre front seam below my bust which I think is also related to the FBA. I will need to take some out of there but at least I can...since there's a seam. Thank goodness for small mercies. Luckily I have a lot of the fabric left so can easily cut out another front. Stay tuned!

I should be sewing......

I had plans to finish up my Jalie twist top today but it's such an awful day in Sydney, certainly not conducive to trying on a summer top! All I need to do is adjust the front....for some reason I seem to have mucho surplus of fabric at the lower front seam!? I think it's related to the FBA but I would've thought my huge stomach would take care of the excess, but no! What a surprise. I need to try it on and pin out the excess. I also need to add the modesty panel as this baby is not sitting very high and I have a very long cleavage LOL.

I also have plans to visit Pitt Trading this week. I'm looking for something that I could possibly use for the July capsule thingie on the Stitcher's Guild forums. Not sure if I'll be successful but I can also visit the gorgeous bead shop that's just around the corner. Last time I was there, I saw a wonderful three strand necklace that I want to copy. It's made up of silver tubes and swarovski crystals. Each strand is covered and has five silver tubes in a row & then a crystal. I'm making mine with 4mm aquamarine & moonlight crystals which I purchased at Bead & Crystal Heaven. Should be nice!

So that's my update. Sorry it's been so long.

Jalie 2788

I'm currently working on adjusting Jalie 2788 Women's twist tops for myself but in the meantime, I made it for DD. She measured as a size T in the full bust and after some advice from Belinda on Pattern Review, that's what I made. Straight off the pattern, no adjustments at all. It's great! DD loves it. She didn't want the low back with the ties, so I just traced off another neckline & used that on the pattern. The top is just a tiny bit too big in the shoulders but that's OK. I'm not sure if the neckline is right at the centre front though. I used black FOE on the neckline and it doesn't appear to join at c/f. This is another first for me...I've never used FOE before. I sewed it on one side with a zig zag & then turned it & finished it with a straight stitch. I love it!

Jalie 2788 Twist Top
View B with puff sleeves and flounce - no modesty panel!
Fabric: very fine poly?/lycra purchased at Pitt Trading about 5 years ago
Cost: can't remember

Conclusion: I love this pattern! Even though it took me three attempts to get the twist right! This fabric was a bugger to sew and even worse to unpick and of course everything that could go wrong did. So I'm hoping my version will be a snap. All I have to do is work out how to do a FBA.

Jalie 2682

My first Jalie pattern! Bear with me as this will be quite long. LOL.

First of all, I agonised over which size to make. My full bust says I'm an FF (fat face) but of course, I knew that would be too big in the shoulders/neck area so I went with my high bust measurement which was BB (big boobs!!). I tapered the pattern out to the FF from the underarm down & did the same with the sleeve. I made a toile out of some fabric scraps I had just to see if it would go around the girls and it did. However, (& that's a big however) the real fabric I was using was not quite as stretchy plus the recovery was a bit suspect and I wasn't 100% sure that the result would be good. Well, I was right. The top is a bit tight and, for this fabric, could've used an FBA. I also have armhole gaposis. Here's another interesting fact...when I stitched the 2 layers of the bodice front together, the edges stretched and went all wavy. I then steamed it flat. When I went to put front & back together, the front side seam was quite smaller than the back. Did it shrink? (I did pre-shrink the fabric)I don't know cos nothing else was a problem. Although the front bodice seam appears to be higher than it was on the toile. Ergh...

Anyway, onto the pics. I'm not sure if/how I could fix this at this stage, so will wear it and deal with that. I'm not particular happy with how it clings to my 'middle-aged spread' but what can you do?



This first photo makes it look reasonably OK. There's worse to come. Oh & just ignore that black thing around my neck...it's my glasses cord!


Here we have folds pointing to both my bust and stomach. Not good.

Jalie pattern 2682
Fabric: Rhonda knit from Knitwit
Cost: $15.95 p/metre
Purchased: May 2008

Conclusions: I love the pattern and the way the neck is finished. I'll make it again but in a finer, stretchier fabric and may even add a FBA. The shoulders could do with 1.5cm taken off (that's if you can work out which bit is the shoulder seam!!). I'd also take care of the fold from the armhole.