Hi Friends!
As you can see I’ve been busy! Sometimes it feels good just to sew and sew and sew and get some things done!
I first had to work through some of the design issues that were bothering me on the Butterick 5682 Jean. What I didn’t like most of all was the fact that they kept falling off of my hips (believe it or not). In my case the pattern wasn’t giving me enough rise in the back in order to come up over the hips and stay put!
So first up, I gave myself a longer rise in the back. 
This alteration wasn’t complicated. I just raised the center back several inches and then curved the waistline back towards the side seam.
The second thing that bugged me about the pattern were the size of the pockets. Both the back patch pockets as well as the depth of the front pockets. To me they just seemed to be too too small, child size even. The thing about putting a small pocket on a large, ahem, arse is that the arse is going to look huuuuuuge! Something I dare say I’m trying not to highlight if you know what I mean!
So the back pockets got an overhaul.
And I tried out some pocket designing. A little basic but certainly not too overworked. The front pockets were deepened so I can actually put my hand in them and I added a 5th little pocket on the right hand side.
The third thing that had to get changed was the length of the zipper. You can see that best in the photo above. I lengthened the zipper a good 2-3 inches and decreased the width of the topstitching slightly. To me, the original was just too short and wide, again, not what a plus size girl is going for!
I experimented with some added topstitching along the center front and adding a bias finished edge to the waistband. I had mixed results but it was a good lesson to go through those processes.
The thread I used this time was the Dual Duty Jeans Topstitching thread and I have to say I DID NOT LIKE IT!!! It was so hard for my machine to get a good tension with it and I did get frustrated having to take out back stitching, several times! And look at that buttonhole. Oh. I had some difficulty. I think I’ll have to fix it with just a handworked button hole and call it a day.
The Denim I used was a 12 oz colored denim I bought online years ago. It is heavy and stiff and it really pushed the limits of my machinery. I made belt loops but decided to just not even try to put them on. I’m going to sit on those and try them out on some samples to see if the machine can do it. I don’t want to ruin this pair!
For the button, I found some hardware at Vogue Fabrics of all places. I actually went there after work to see what Denim offerings they had and would you believe they actually had several styles of jean buttons, dungaree buttons, lots of denim choices, though you have to move very heavy rolls to get your hands on what you want, but the one thing that was missing were rivets!!! They had the rivet tool but absolutely no rivets! So those will be elusive for me and I’ll need to find a source on-line. I still have some silver rivets leftover from the last pair but I really want a copper color for this version.
So next up is the Butterick 5612 top. I’ve had this fabric and top lined up since September and finally finished it this weekend.
I made up a size XL exactly to the pattern specifications and the only change I made was the set of the buttons on the front tab. I chose to place the three buttons close together in the bottom 2/3rd of the front tab.
The sleeve tabs must be a design after thought. They just are goofy. For one, they are too long and second they are rather wide compared to the width of the front band and the collar band. I like the look of the rolled up sleeve so in the next edition if I do this pattern again the tab will need to get redrafted.
On the plus for this pattern, it is very comfortable. The sizing is large and even thought I made an XL which should have been perfect I actually think it might be too big. I can tell my bra straps are exposed on my shoulders. The next size down might be just right. I know, so goofy!!!
I’ll close with this close up of the neck band. This, to me, was a little challenging. I mostly had difficulty keeping it even all the way around. For some reason the band tended to get narrower as it came over the shoulders. I know it’s just a lack of fine sewing on my part and I’ll need to pay more attention to that! I think because it worked out the same on both sided it actually looks intentional!
Happy Sewing Everyone! I’ll be back soon with an update on the 16 Patch Double Pinwheel project! Borders are On!!!
Till then…
~Cathy
So off I went to the store to purchase the battery and came home. I spent some time looking for tools that would work, gloves, glasses and old clothes and proceeded to follow the instructions…
