Buttonhole challenge

I briefly mentioned in my post re DH's jeans that I had lots of trouble with the but to hole. I put it down to the thickness of fabric and the fact that the jean side was much thicker than the the waistband top.  I couldn't try my little machine in class because it didn't do the kind of buttonhole you get in jeans ( the keyhole type). I took the waistband topstitching out, opened up, further trimmed the seams and generally smoothed out the overlap portion of the waistband. 

Then I tested some more buttonholes. Not without problems - I had to thread and rethread a few times as the machine wasn't playing ball! Then onto the real fabric  - and more failure! Now I reckoned this was because maybe the fabric wasn't flowing freely as the bulk was to the right with the way my machine stitches buttonholes.

However, long story short, I found the needle had a barb (a new needle). When I changed the needle, I was able to stitch the buttonhole. A lot of work with an ultimately simple (and very annoying) solution!

Question - can anyone tell me how you get really nice insides to buttonholes rather than the slightly raggy look I get?

Sorry - these photos have disappeared from blog and computer so have put photos of jeans in. No close up of button etc, sorry.
 



Jeans for DH

As you know, I spent 5 classes learning techniques to make jeans - the pockets,  fly zipped front etc.  The class didn't cover a full flat fell seam, only a version of a mock seam. Lyn, my tutor in the Thursday class, showed me how to do the proper one. So I was quite keen to incorporate this into the jeans I planned for DH.

I used a self drafted pattern originally based on the Sure Fit Design pants kit.  I modified the ladies' pant kit for a man and then further for jeans. I also incorporated  elements of the test jeans from the jeans class - particularly the pocket stay.

In addition,  I looked often at a real pair of jeans belonging to DH.  His jeans of course open opposite to mine and the instructions in the class and elsewhere were for ladies so I had to be careful to get the direction correct.

DH's needs, wants
Pretty basic!  Not tight fitting, likes looser. Likes very high waist (think Simon Cowell). Would like them to fit.  Doesn't want contrast topstitching. Wanted pocket stay when I offered this and he realised what it was. Wanted metal zipper and wanted it to be at least 7" long.  He's been involved at various stages deciding on pockets size,  placement,  number of belt loops etc. Chose the colour for thread and for serger thread - I had to buy as I didn't have right colour in my stash. I'm now using the overlocker much less than I originally thought.

I bought dark green denim with 2% stretch (though this wasn't obvious). I prepared it by washing it 3 times.  I didn't tumble as the instructions said not to.  This meant it got very crushed,  unfortunately.

 

Colour not correct in photo

I drew up a final version of my pattern (DH tried on a test muslin which fitted well). Last week I started to cut out the pattern but found I hadn't prepared enough fabric.  I wasn't able to cut the back leg. I had bought plenty of fabric and prepared more. With everything going on at the moment,  I've been a bit delayed. I only just managed to cut out the back legs at  class on Thursday.  I tried to iron the fabric there but the iron in class is poor. I did cut out but when I ironed the fabric at home,  had to alter one piece slightly.

While waiting for the rest of the fabric, I prepared the back pockets,  the front pockets and stay and the fly zipped front. I said the stretch wasn't noticeable but in fact the pocket edge had stretched slightly, though it has shrunk in with steaming.  And when I was working with the front crotch,  the stretch was very noticeable.



Can see waistband, back yoke, belt carriers, back pockets, topstitching

Front pocket - DH didn't want a coin pocket

There's loads of top stitching too. DH wanted self coloured top stitching. I bought some lovely Gutermann topstitching thread. However, my machine didn't like it and after having to take the shuttle out a few times after everything jammed up I gave up with it. I'm not sure what the problem was.  I had forgotten to take a topstitch needle but was using a denim needle and Lyn thought the thread was running freely .  Anyway,  I gave up on this occasion. I'm likely to try again with proper needle in my other machine - I've used topstitching thread with no problem previously. I had thought a denim needle was the best option but perhaps not. In the end, I stuck to using the ordinary Gutermann thread - just as well as I had only bought one reel and it's clear I would have needed far more. I hasn't quite realised just how much topstitching there is in jeans!

I had a few serger problems. Again,  I'm not sure why. The machine is due a good clean and I changed the needle in case it was bent (I found the needle threader wouldn't work - it still doesn't).  How often should I change the needle - how often do you change it? In the end, I found I had left the lever for roll hem disengaged. I really did have to read my instruction book, and changed cutting width, differential feed value, MTC and foot pressure - my stitch ended up ok but it took a lot of time. I haven't had that much experience with my overlocker, really.

I hadn't got the pattern correct for the fly and had to codge it a bit. This was my first,  if you don't count the tiny test jeans in class . It was wrong,  too, and I realised too late that I was copying this from that,  basically dissecting it to see how it worked (I found it hard to remember and we weren't given notes for all  the stages). I was making the jeans in class on Thursday.  I was really pleased with the zip,  how smooth it was and so on so it was only at the end if the class when I was checking the next step and expressed concern that Lyn looked at it and pointed out that it wasn't actually placed properly, as the zip needed to be lying further over.

Too late to change! If I even could. Lyn said the seam needed to be in the centre but that I could perhaps get away with my mistake by creating unequal seam allowances. Unfortunately,  I realised I didn't really follow her explanation. My error is perhaps why the crotch seam is a bit puckered and seems taut in places. Fortunately, DH finds it comfortable.

When I stopped on Friday, I had attached the yokes and the two back pieces.  The two fronts were already attached via the zip. I stopped earlier than I really wanted to as the bobbin ran out and I needed to change over to my house rather than my class machine. I'd still to fell the inside seam and sew the outside seam and hem. Then I realised,  though,  I hadn't cut out a waistband or belt loops.

Saturday I wasn't feeling well and was busy so didn't get any sewing done. I had a fairly free run at it today. It's Mother's Day in the UK so I had phone calls from my daughters and to my mother and a delivery of lovely flowers. Eventually I got down to some sewing.

I thought it likely I could finish the jeans but I ran into a few problems. In the end, DH said he wasn't bothered about a fully felled seam and so I did mock fell seams as those were faster - I was running out of time and patience.

The biggest issue today was the thickness of fabric. The machine coped reasonably well apart from the buttonhole. I tested successfully several times but each time I tried to sew the real thing it failed. Too thick - and uneven. I did sew a buttonhole in the end but it isn't nicely placed.

I asked DH to borrow his thicker awl but he couldn't find it and said he didn't really want rivets. Maybe in the next pair.

I had said that if I managed to finish on Sunday, I'd put my jeans into the PR competition - there's a prize awarded randomly so if I'm in it I might win it! So, they're finished and I'll enter if I have a suitable photo and can stay awake long enough!

What have I learned?

I was over ambitious in not only trying to make my first pair of jeans but also to try to draft the pattern. However, I am attending a pattern drafting class and a jeans making class so it didn't seem that silly at the time. I've learned some new techniques, even if I didn't use them all in these jeans, and noted some things to avoid. I hasn't put enough balance marks in my pattern and I would rectify that next time. I did learn from my class waistband, though, and this one is much better. I think I should have graded and reduced the seams more than I did though. Also, though I don't know how to do it properly yet, I didn't insert the fly zipper correctly.

I didn't do felled seams in the end - just overlocked , folded and topstitched.

Did DH like the jeans?

Yes, he likes them and finds them comfortable. He decided against having his picture published so I don't have much.

Did they fit?

Not perfectly. The waist is slightly too big. DH always wears a belt so it's not a huge issue but of course if the belt is tightened, the fabric puckers. The pocket is puckered - I think the jeans are too tight at this point. So he has more curve than I gave him in these jeans! There is a bulge at the back just below the yoke and I think there is too much length of fabric there - a slight tuck would rectify for the next time.

Much worse with no belt - in retrospect, have I sewed yoke on upside down?

They look reasonably ok on if I look at them in the way I would usually look at DH's jeans rather than with a self critical eye. However, examining them from a dressmaking point of view - no, no, no!

Would I sew him more jeans?

Yes. I have more of this fabric as I bought 6 metres. I need to make some alterations to my pattern and am not sure if I would now use the commercial pattern I bought rather than my self drafted pattern - there were so many bits to get right and I haven't quite succeeded.

And just to add:

I briefly mentioned I had lots of trouble with the buttonhole. I put it down to the thickness of fabric and the fact that the Jean side was much thicker than the to the waistband. I couldn't try my little machine in class because it didn't do the kind of buttonhole you get in jeans. I took the waistband out, further trimmed the seams and generally smoothed out the overlap portion of the waistband. 

Then I tested some more buttonholes. Then onto the real fabric  - and more failure! Now I reckoned this was because maybe the fabric wasn't flowing freely as the bulk was to the right with the way my machine stitches buttonholes.

However, long story short, I found the needle had a barb (a new needle). When I changed the needle, I was able to stitch the buttonhole.

Question - can anyone tell me how you get really nice insides to buttonholes rather than the slightly raggy look I get?

Self drafted jeans pattern fail and some bits and pieces

The target - but first some small stuff ...

I've been getting on with clearing some of my UFOs and doing some outstanding tasks. By which I unfortunately mean they needed doing rather than that I did them in an outstanding manner!

I put false hems, using grosgrain ribbon, on several pairs of trousers as I needed to lengthen but there was no hem. I've bought more ribbon to do further pairs.  Why did all these trousers 'suddenly' need doing? Perhaps they have continued to shrink a little. More likely because I have gained weight, they don't lie so freely. It would be lovely to think these same trousers might be too long in a few weeks, but I'll have to do better than I'm doing at present.

I repaired the fastener on a pair of jeans-style trousers. However, they're too tight to wear just now. Sad. They are in one of my key colours -grey.

  I repaired my moccasin slippers. They felt great - then my knot unravelled almost immediately and I had to do again. It's stayed in this time.

A while back I made a grey wool wrap skirt for myself. I finished it but it was too big. That was then! Anyway, I started to alter it. I took in the side seams in both skirt and lining and waistband yoke and lining. I handstitched the lining to the inside instead of, as previously, stitching-in-the-ditch from the right side. It looked pretty good but my Thursday tutor pointed out that the wrap was arching out which meant,  she said,  that the lining was slightly too long. This lining, of course,  was bagged. No way around it. I created a gap in the lining side seam and removed the understitching and seaming from the relevant portion. I smoothed the lining and trimmed about ⅛" excess. I then restitched, understitched and resewed up the gap in the lining by hand. Looks much better. I'm too cowardly to try it on in case it doesn't fit!

Quite a few weeks/months ago, I was golfing in the rain, wearing my golf waterproof trousers. Suddenly, these were around my ankles!! Not funny. (Okay, it was!)  The elastic in the waistband, anchored from side seam to side seam across the back only, had come away from one side. I unpicked the stitching at one seam, worked the elastic though from the other end and re-attached the elastic behind the side seam, securing it with zigzag on the underside and topstitching. Looked good for a few seconds until I realised I'd somehow got a twist in the elastic. So I repeated the same set of steps at the other end, untwisting the elastic. I'm glad I did this, as the elastic wasn't securely held - I don't want another waterproof pants disaster!  I'm also afraid to try these on, having shortened the elastic, in case they're too tight! I put them on as required on the course, so usually over trousers, so a bit of extra space required. Not worth posting a photo.

Jeans Techniques Class

I've blogged about doing a jeans technique class. I'm doing okay, and just have the waistband and button to add to my sample short length. I don't think we're doing rivets in the class. In class, though, I'm intending to make trousers for myself, taking advantage of the tutor's expertise to help me fit the trousers properly. I think I'm going to use Simplicity 2860

 

 

as having tried to modify the muslin for McCall's 6901

 

that I began last year, it's really not working and isn't further modifiable. So, it's a true wadder. Begone!! It's bad that I modified the pattern tissue directly but here's the good point - the pieces  come in two separate size ranges within the envelope and one of the girls at class chucked out (and crumpled in a ball!!) the larger size range which she didn't need. I rescued the tissue as that is my size range. So I actually have an uncut pattern still too. I think it was the modifications made to the pattern rather than the pattern itself that's at fault but I'm going to go for the different one this time. I won't trace it as, for some reason, I have two! This wasn't intended. Now that I have my stash listed it wouldn't happen again unless I get pattern free with a magazine subscription - this has happened on a couple of occasions so far.

Anyway, to get back to jeans making. I want to make a pair of jeans to practice my skills but not for myself. That will have to wait, maybe until next term when in pattern making we'll be doing a trouser block, but certainly for a few weeks minimum until I get the trousers done. So I decided to make a pair for DH. He doesn't have much problem getting trousers to fit - 34/33. His jeans, which are working, crawling around the floor type jeans, are a much less good fit. In addition, he quite often wears chinos.

DH was up for this, even though I told him he'd have to be pictured in the final garment - I let him off for the muslin, though!

The first problem was that I couldn't find a pattern, though eventually MPB's blog led me to Kwik Sew 3504.

I also looked at Thread Theory Jedediah pants but they didn't quite meet my needs - chinos really - and the pattern was expensive, though cheaper as PDF if I ever decide to go that route.

I bought some lovely dark green denim with a 2% Lycra content. I haven't prepared it yet, so don't know how much it will shrink. The Lycra content is not obvious, I don't notice any stretch in the fabric. I've bought the thread and the top stitching thread - in dark green as DH doesn't want contrasting top stitching but still need to get dark green overlocker thread. I've ordered jeans zips but they haven't arrived as yet. DH plans these as dressier jeans ie not crawling around the garage in them. I just can't photograph this denim. The colour just doesn't come up. I got DH to try too.

 

I decided to draft DH a jeans pattern!  Not as daft as it sounds as I have the Sure Fit Design package, including instructions for modifying for a man. So, I went ahead. I drafted the basic trousers as recommended in the SFD kit, using DH's front crotch length, back crotch length, waist and hip circumference and OUTSIDE leg measurement. I followed instructions to modify steps for men. I made up a short length in a reasonably heavy calico. I don't have a photo of the muslin on DH. It wasn't a bad fit. I needed to lengthen the front by ½". The back was fine. However, a big chunk, about 2", needed to get cut off the top of the sides - just to even th3e slope of the waist from back to front. SFD gives the option of adjusting the pattern at the drafting stage or adapting after muslin fit; I chose to do the latter. I should add that this would make the pants too short as the measurement used is the outside leg. In addition, one side seam was slightly off centre and tight and I needed to increase one seam allowance and reduce the other by less. DH doesn't want a close fitting jean.

I simply modified the muslin, DH tried on and it seemed okay at that stage. As a result, I went ahead to modify my basic pant pattern into a jeans pattern. I marked grainline (and fold line though jeans won't get folded). I had to fold each side of one jeans part to meet outseam and inseam at hem and at crotch point. Front wasn't too bad but back required quite a bit of modification to try to even the garment around the 'centre seam'.  The fold line created was nearly at the side on the body part of the jeans and therefore the grain would be way off.

 

I used the lines on the wood floor to keep fold lines correct. The scissors are pointing to where the side seam goes off.

 

I was going to make a full length test garment. At this stage, I noticed that the back effectively bent backwards at around the hip level - this was no straight side seam!  To join to the side front was going to require quite a bit of heaving and hauling. This didn't seem like a 'good idea'. The sizes of the two garments were in the same ballpark.

 This was on Wednesday. My KS pattern arrived that day and I had a look at it - the grain was straight up the jeans. Although the college was on midterm break, my tutor D in the jeans class was running an extra sewing bee in her studio,  which she shares with R, who is my pattern cutting tutor. R was still there when I arrived and looked at my pattern - and D tried on my pants (not jeans) muslin. R said that there were a few things - the crotch was at an angle more suitable for women than men and the bend in the side seam meant that the jeans body would have fabric effectively on the bias. She asked me if I had noticed the grain when I tried on the pants muslin - no I hadn't.  Being on the bias would mean that it would stretch too much. She showed me that I might have to straighten that seam. I hope I haven't misquoted her - that's what I picked up, anyway. I was going to show her the comparison with the KS jeans pattern but she declined, saying patterns 'fit nobody'.

You can see from the photos where the seam starts to bend. I began to modify and then realised that a lot more was required as the front wasn't right, either. I got totally fed up, I'm afraid.

 

In this photo, I have aligned the side seams as for sewing. I haven't yet modified back inseam at this stage (I did do that)

Oh, and DH admitted that test garment hadn't felt comfortable as the back appeared to be pressing against his leg. That made me reject my drafted pattern.

Eventually, I decided I would modify the KS pattern to DH's measurements. (I traced the pattern this time). This involved increasing crotch depth by 1" front and back. I think a little more crotch length is required as the crotch looks slightly tight at the front and there is a slight 'frown line'. I made a full length muslin. It's long enough in the legs - the pattern gives a 32" finished length and DH takes 33". However, I might have to allow for further shrinkage.

Another thing I noticed is that while the main jeans are cut on the straight of grain, the yoke piece given is cut on the cross grain.

By this time, I decided to use the KS pattern in its entirety - pockets, yoke and all, even though I'd already drawn all these out to my own specifications, including an extension to anchor the pocket into the front seam - I'm not sure what this is called.

I'll let you know how I get on. Do you think I have done the right thing?  How would you approach this? I have probably learned a few things! Has anyone else used the SFD men's pants instructions? Was it me or was it them?

 

One last question - with the 2% spandex content, even though I don't notice stretch, should I actually be making the jeans slightly smaller?

 

Thank you for reading.

Until later ...