New PODCAST EPISODE Jeans Style Sewing – Skirting the Issue (#13)

Hey wait! Those aren't jeans!
Is this sewist skirting the issue? **

I was intimidated by sewing well fitting jeans, in addition to learning how to achieve an authentic jeans-styling look when it comes to fabric, hardware, and embellishment.
So, I put aside fit issues, 
for the time being, 
and created a jeans-style skirt.

Hey! The latest Enchanted by Sewing Podcast has been published!

Two Ways to Listen

i)You can listen to the show right on the web by clicking on the this link

 http://traffic.libsyn.com/enchantedbysewing/EnchantedBySewingJeansStyleSkirtingIssueFinalCastOct2013Podcast.mp3

** * * 

~ OR ~

ii)  Click on this link to iTunes  to download this and other Enchanted by Sewing shows to your mobile device (iPhone, Android, etc.) free from iTunes 

Did I miss any links mentioned in the show? If so, please post here and let me know, or else email me ,  EnchantedBySewing AT gmail

~~~

This month show is Jeans Style Sewing – Skirting the Issue**

The Enchanted by Sewing Podcast is an  extension of my regular sewing blog Me Encanta Coser, which, roughly translated, means Enchanted By Sewing. My blog is written in English. The name celebrates the historical and modern use of the beautiful Spanish Language in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, where I live.

Podcast Show Notes http://EnchantedBySewing.blogspot.com

* Post your suggestions, thoughts or questions about episodes below this post

* Laurel on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/laurel.shimer

* Laurel's Pinterest Boards http://www.pinterest.com/lrshimer/boards/
* Personal email – Enchanted by Sewing AT gmail.com

This month

1) First/El Primero - Inspiration: Why I wanted to sew my own jeans?

     * Lori talked several times about jeans she'd sewn in various Sew Forth Now podcasts. She continues to write about her projects in her long-time wonderful blog, Girls in the Garden.

* Several Threads Magazine Articles gave me the idea that jeans were a do'able sewing project. If you don't have the issues you need, check your public library. Mine keeps issues for four years. You can also buy the complete Threads archive. 

Search for Jeans articles in their online index. http://www.threadsmagazine.com/magazine-index

2) Then/Entonces - My Prototype Jeans-Style Sewing Project: What is this skirting the issue business? And what do I mean jeans style?

     Full-On Jeans Sewing was intimidating for me. So, I started with a prototype project. http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/08/jeans-sewing-skirting-issue.html

3)  After That - Breaking  jeans-style sewing down into manageable chunks

    1) Fit and Pattern Selection

        Links to Palmer and Pletsch M6361 pattern here http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/08/jeans-sewing-skirting-issue.html

        BTW...Trudy of Hot Patterns has more than one jeans pattern available, including one for men! Trudy provides a wonderful service to the sewing community when it comes to YouTube videos too.

    2) Focus on Sewing Skills and Machine Skills

    3) Special Jeans Stuff - Materials, Jeans-Style Notions, hardware, and thread - http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/08/jeans-sewing-skirting-issue-resources.html

    4) Embellishment

    5) Resources

Links to several tutorials here, including a favorite fly-front zipper you tube tutorial http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/08/jeans-sewing-skirting-issue-resources.html

4) The Prototype Project

a. In this meaty section of the show (and the most fun for me!) I talk about how I implemented my manageable chunk learning style in the prototype sewing project,  my jeans-style denim skirt

http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/08/jeans-sewing-skirting-issue.html

5) Project Wrap Up 

  My Terminado/Done posting recaps the project and has links to all postings I wrote about the prototype http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/09/jeans-sewing-skirting-issue.html

a. Why this was a successful first step project for me

    A Summary of my jeans-style skirt prototype project, with links to each posting I wrote about the project http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/09/jeans-sewing-skirting-issue.html

b. Jeans – Style Learning Continues What’s next ? Where I am now when it comes to my learning to sew jeans?

    I've continue to write about my follow-on jean projects http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com. Titles of all such postings start out with the phrase "Jeans Sewing".

~ ~ ~

Sew Easy to Sponsor this Podcast!

Looking for Job Fulfillment? *

Help give job satisfaction to a friend and be a sponsor of the 
Enchanted by Sewing Podcast at the same time!

I dreamed that when Ms. Maria, the Sometimes Sewist,  bought me and brought me home, she’d bring just a little romance to my hum drum digital life.  I’m proud to be an up to date, technically competent, ebook reading device, But with Ms Maria, it’s nothing but work, work, work and never any fun for me!  I provide her with view after view of important information, so vital to her life. But all she ever downloads are self-help books and those tedious Legal Beagle Journals....

Hey podcast listeners are you acquainted with a sad and lonely iPad, kindle, nook or other ebook reading device that’s just aching for some romance ?

Why not give her the romantic time-travel e-book, My Heart Beats Faster in Past Times? And treat your forlorn buddy to a lively spin into the glittering world of Imperial Russia! This novella is available exclusively at amazon.com. You can download it to your iPad, Kindle or Nook e-book reading device for only 99 cents! 

99 cents? That’s a lot less than a cup of coffee!

You can read a free excerpt from this romantic spin into past times by clicking here (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005HPPB34).

~ ~ ~

Foot Notes

* Thanks to Pamela for sharing this free, downloadable ephemera http://freevintagedigistamps.blogspot.com/2013/04/vintage-printable-victorian-lady-photo.html

** If English isn't your first language, you may not be familiar with the idiomatic phrase Skirting the issue - It means to avoid a subject, often by talking quickly about something else.

Ench By Sew-13 Jeans Style Sewing – Skirting the Issue

Hey wait! Those aren't jeans!
Is this sewist skirting the issue? **

I was intimidated by sewing well fitting jeans, in addition to learning how to achieve an authentic jeans-styling look when it comes to fabric, hardware, and embellishment.
So, I put aside fit issues, 
for the time being, 
and created a jeans-style skirt.

Hey! The latest Enchanted by Sewing Podcast has been published!

Two Ways to Listen

i)You can listen to the show right on the web by clicking on the this link

 http://traffic.libsyn.com/enchantedbysewing/EnchantedBySewingJeansStyleSkirtingIssueFinalCastOct2013Podcast.mp3

** * * 

~ OR ~

ii)  Click on this link to iTunes  to download this and other Enchanted by Sewing shows to your mobile device (iPhone, Android, etc.) free from iTunes 

Did I miss any links mentioned in the show? If so, please post here and let me know, or else email me ,  EnchantedBySewing AT gmail

~~~

This month show is Jeans Style Sewing – Skirting the Issue**

The Enchanted by Sewing Podcast is an  extension of my regular sewing blog Me Encanta Coser, which, roughly translated, means Enchanted By Sewing 

My blog is written in English. The name celebrates the historical and modern use of the beautiful Spanish Language in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, where I live.

* Post your suggestions, thoughts or questions about episodes below this post

* Laurel on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/laurel.shimer

* Laurel's Pinterest Boards http://www.pinterest.com/lrshimer/boards/
* Personal email – Enchanted by Sewing AT gmail.com

This month

1) First/El Primero - Inspiration: Why I wanted to sew my own jeans?

     * Lori talked several times about jeans she'd sewn in various Sew Forth Now podcasts. She continues to write about her projects in her long-time wonderful blog, Girls in the Garden.

* Several Threads Magazine Articles gave me the idea that jeans were a do'able sewing project. If you don't have the issues you need, check your public library. Mine keeps issues for four years. You can also buy the complete Threads archive. 

Search for Jeans articles in their online index. http://www.threadsmagazine.com/magazine-index

2) Then/Entonces - My Prototype Jeans-Style Sewing Project: What is this skirting the issue business? And what do I mean jeans style?

     Full-On Jeans Sewing was intimidating for me. So, I started with a prototype project. http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/08/jeans-sewing-skirting-issue.html

3) After That - Breaking  jeans-style sewing down into manageable chunks

    1) Fit and Pattern Selection

        Links to Palmer and Pletsch M6361 pattern here http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/08/jeans-sewing-skirting-issue.html

        BTW...Trudy of Hot Patterns has more than one jeans pattern available, including one for men! Trudy provides a wonderful service to the sewing community when it comes to YouTube videos too.

    2) Focus on Sewing Skills and Machine Skills

    3) Special Jeans Stuff - Materials, Jeans-Style Notions, hardware, and thread - http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/08/jeans-sewing-skirting-issue-resources.html

    4) Embellishment

    5) Resources

Links to several tutorials here, including a favorite fly-front zipper you tube tutorial http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/08/jeans-sewing-skirting-issue-resources.html

4) The Prototype Project

a. In this meaty section of the show (and the most fun for me!) I talk about how I implemented my manageable chunk learning style in the prototype sewing project,  my jeans-style denim skirt

http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/08/jeans-sewing-skirting-issue.html

5) Project Wrap Up 

  My Terminado/Done posting recaps the project and has links to all postings I wrote about the prototype http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/09/jeans-sewing-skirting-issue.html

a. Why this was a successful first step project for me

    A Summary of my jeans-style skirt prototype project, with links to each posting I wrote about the project http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/09/jeans-sewing-skirting-issue.html

b. Jeans – Style Learning Continues What’s next ? Where I am now when it comes to my learning to sew jeans?

    I've continue to write about my follow-on jean projects http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com. Titles of all such postings start out with the phrase "Jeans Sewing".

~ ~ ~

Sew Easy to Sponsor this Podcast!

Looking for Job Fulfillment? *

Help give job satisfaction to a friend and be a sponsor of the 
Enchanted by Sewing Podcast at the same time!

I dreamed that when Ms. Maria, the Sometimes Sewist,  bought me and brought me home, she’d bring just a little romance to my hum drum digital life.  I’m proud to be an up to date, technically competent, ebook reading device, But with Ms Maria, it’s nothing but work, work, work and never any fun for me!  I provide her with view after view of important information, so vital to her life. But all she ever downloads are self-help books and those tedious Legal Beagle Journals....

Hey podcast listeners are you acquainted with a sad and lonely iPad, kindle, nook or other ebook reading device that’s just aching for some romance ?

Why not give her the romantic time-travel e-book, My Heart Beats Faster in Past Times? And treat your forlorn buddy to a lively spin into the glittering world of Imperial Russia! This novella is available exclusively at amazon.com. You can download it to your iPad, Kindle or Nook e-book reading device for only 99 cents! 

99 cents? That’s a lot less than a cup of coffee!

You can read a free excerpt from this romantic spin into past times by clicking here (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005HPPB34).

~ ~ ~

Foot Notes

* Thanks to Pamela for sharing this free, downloadable ephemera http://freevintagedigistamps.blogspot.com/2013/04/vintage-printable-victorian-lady-photo.html

** If English isn't your first language, you may not be familiar with the idiomatic phrase Skirting the issue - It means to avoid a subject, often by talking quickly about something else.

Jeans Sewing: Skirting the Issue - Terminado!/Done!

¡Que Bueno!
Huzzah! 

Worth the Work
I created this jeans-style denim skirt
in order to work
on jeans sewing skills
I do feel more confident about approaching my
first jeans project.
I'm also really looking forward to wearing this
great new addition to my wardrobe!

On the final evening of Labor Day weekend,  I finished the jeans-style denim skirt (  Palmer and Pletsch M6361 )  I've been blogging about over the last month. (*) The task was acquiring the tenor of a forever-more sewing project. Those are deadly! Sometimes I get so tired of long-term sewing projects, that they get popped into an in-process bin and you know what happens next, right? Often, by the time I return to the bin it's even more intimidating. Or maybe it just looks silly or dated. I didn't want to have my skirt become a UFO (What Lori often referred to as UnFinished Objects in the Sew Forth Now Podcast). So I kept at it, even when other sewing projects sung out, and they definitely did! You can just bet I never let myself take that jeans needle out of my machine.

My skirt looks so official
with it's jeans button
I lined the waistband with a light weight
cotton batiste print
I interfaced it with a medium weight
fusible. That was a big decision and
I'm glad I did interface it now.

I really wanted to shelve the skirt many times, because sewing that heavy weight 11-oz denim (like Levis 501's ), figuring out where to find and apply rivets, jeans button, when to do the topstitching (I wanted complete lines of stitching because it sure shows when it's not), not to mention addressing the faux flat-felled seams, was just a lot of unfamiliar-to-me work and techniques. I never managed to get the real kind of flat-felled seams to to roll around and stitch straight, though I'm good with the faux look for now. I blogged about that a couple of weeks back.

Oh and don't get me started on the curved waistband! I think the topstitching and waistband seam and top of waistband finally go straight across on either side. I sure checked those (and pinned, re-pinned, hand and machine basted and re-basted) to get those areas crisp and clean. I did have to add a snap on the inside of the fly. I think  that was because I over-fitted the garment a little and the fly band gaped a little. I over-fitted because otherwise the a-line skirt didn't 'a' out. At least for me, that heavy denim is not at all easy to work with. Maybe it's simply different than what I'm used to sewing with.

I'm really proud of myself for doing something hard and new-to-me. When I get ready to sew my jeans project for the Pants Drafting class I'm currently taking at Cañada, I'll have a head start on some of those techniques. I'm sure they won't be perfect, but they will be lots better than if I hadn't sewn this skirt first.

Another thing I'm glad I thought to do. I sewed several fly-front zippers (FFZ) in trouser and shorts project over the last year or so. So, although I still don't love doing a FFZ, they don't overwhelm me. And that was important when learning to work with heavy fabric, different threads and needle-type, new-to-me techniques and hardware.

I didn't make the cute pockets or belt loops I meant to do (I know how to use a double needle to make those belt loops professional too), cuz I was just done with it. I'm planning to prep the pockets and belt loops for my jeans project first , because those are really the fun part. In this case I'd had enough and just wanted to move on with life. That's the way it goes with me, when I'm learning something new. In software application development (and probably other fields as well, I imagine), we called that MVP - minimal viable product.

Sometimes I just want to be finished/terminado!

Now I'm planning to do some fun and familiar sewing for a bit. I have another one of my favorite shirts to finish up. I last blogged about it as Kit 1 (here's a link). I'm now calling it "Lilacs and Liberty". It's a romantic fem style - lilac Robert Kaufman gingham with accents in a darker purple and green Liberty of London Tana Lawn print, (which I recently identified as the Liberty print "Mauverina") and sparkly'ish buttons. Bet it will look cute with the denim skirt too....

The challenge of acquiring new sewing skills, and the pleasure of returning to comfortable and favorite sewing projects, keeps me....

Enchanted by Sewing!

~ ~ ~

* All the posts about this project, begin with the phrase "Jeans Sewing, Skirting the Issue"

1) I began writing about the project, fitting and pattern selection on August 9'th http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/08/jeans-sewing-skirting-issue.html

2) When Zippers Fly

http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/08/jeans-sewing-skirting-issue-when.html

3) Resources

http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/08/jeans-sewing-skirting-issue-resources.html

4) WAISTing Time

http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/08/jeans-sewing-skirting-issue-waisting.html

5) Absolutely Riveting

http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/08/jeans-sewing-skirting-issue-absolutely.html

Jeans Sewing: Skirting the Issue

My new amiga Colette,
is a big help when
it comes to creating a fitting muslin/toile
for the M6261 pattern.
Plus I get to use up this poplin for the fit garment.
I wonder what I thought I'd make out
of this when I bought it? :-)

I've blogged and podcasted before about my determination to  learn to sew jeans.

Until i had an actual project to sew, just doing sample sewing didn't motivate me enough, to work on my jeans sewing techniques. I sat down a couple of times this summer, and worked on denim flat-felled seams. Mostly what I learned is that when I stitch a heavy denim (11 oz), it's much more challenging to fell straight lines , than lighter weight cotton such as the ones i felled in my intermediate sewing construction class, or the scraps of 7 oz mid-weight denim, leftover from last summer's shorts and cap project. I fussed around thinking about different things to try,  and wondered if maybe I would even need a heavier duty machine, as was mentioned in a couple of different sewing forums.

I also thought a lot about simply getting straight lines of topstitching. I've located jeans needles and a variety of threads (topstitching and heavy for the seams) . In my sample sewing, I'd already run into tension issues. How could I expect to do the contrasting colored topstitching on pockets, waistband, and hems if I don't work that out?

And have I mentioned learning to install rivets and those special jeans buttons? I want to know how to do those too.

In addition to the challenges of jeans sewing skills, like flat-felling, and special embellishments, there's the whole issue of getting a jeans pattern to fit. Who among us doesn't find that a challenge?

I was determined to be really ready to sew jeans, but I was too intimidated to simply jump in and starting sewing them.

So how about a sewing project where i just sit down and work through some of the jeans techniques and special embellishments, as best as I can, but i don't actually sew jeans?

No I'm not talking about a cute cushion or a fetching tote bag, we're talking a denim jeans-style skirt. This skirt will still require fit-work too, which is a great opportunity to use my new dress form, Colette, whom I brought to life in summer school. Fitting a skirt to Collette, seems like less of a fit challenge than jeans (Colette isn't bi-forcated so I can't fully fit jeans on her, though she can help with some aspects).

M6361 is my idea of a good, basic
jeans-style skirt

I've chosen Palmer and Pletsch M6361, a  skirt and trouser pattern that suits my idea of what a jeans-skirt should look like. Here it is http://sewing.patternreview.com/patterns/47923

So far I spent about six hours fitting the skirt in this mid-weight teal blue poplin fabric, and several more hours cutting out the denim and getting going on my actual skirt. I've already realized that I'm not going to make real-true flat-fellled seams, but I'm still hoping I'll get a faux flat-felled look going. I'm relatively happy with the fit at this stage, though I haven't gotten far enough with the real skirt yet to be sure. I've also decided to wait to fit and cut out the curved waistband until I'm farther along with the project. So I'm crossing my fingers that I'll get a look and fit I"m happy with.

I'm really glad I'm getting going with my jeans sewing skills - even though I'm creating a different kind of garment. I'm looking forward to  blogging more about how the project goes.

Getting going with my jeans-sewing skills (and getting a skirt out of the deal!) keeps me enchanted by sewing!