RIGID DENIM JEDEDIAH JEANS (WITH A SIDE OF JUTLAND)

As some of you may know, my husband and I recently opened an online fabric store - Threadbare Fabrics - currently specializing in Cone Mills Denim (including 11.5oz and 9oz Indigo S-Gene, and 12oz black). I'll be completely honest in telling you that our 12.5oz Rigid Denim has not been super popular - but maybe this will help people envision how to use it.

When we first thought about carrying denim, rigid was a must... for men's jeans! You can totally use the rigid denim for jean jackets, other outerwear, accessories, etc - but I think it looks great in jeans form. The denim comes raw, so if a man in your life (or you!) is obsessed with raw denim then this is just the thing.

Pattern: Thread Theory Jedediah
Size: 34
Modifications: Used the Jutland pattern to turn Jedediah into jeans
Fabric: 12.5 oz Rigid Cone Mills Denim from Threadbare Fabrics

The pattern I used is the Thread Theory Jedediah pattern. Jedediah makes a great slim jean - but you have to make a few adjustments first. The pattern comes with slash pockets in the front, and the option for welt pockets in the back for more of a chino look. Luckily I also own the Jutland pattern, which has more traditional jeans pockets in the front. I used that pattern, along with a healthy knowledge of Ginger jeans construction, to reshape the front pockets. I also drew a coin pocket from scratch, based on a pair of Jeremy's favorite jeans (mostly because I forgot to print the Jutland one). I also took the opportunity to shape the pocket bags to his liking - based, again, on his favorite jeans.

For sizing, I ended up cutting Jeremy's RTW size, but you should definitely check measurements against the given size chart. Men seem to be so much easier to fit, but you don't want pants that are too big or too small.

After all of my modifications (easy - really they are!), I got to work on the construction. The instructions that come with Jedediah seem slightly complicated, and because I was creating more jeans than chinos, I actually used the Closet Case Files Ginger Jeans Sewalong as my guide.

Everything came together really easily, and was looking good until I got to the front fly. For some reason, I sewed the outside curved lines a little wide of the center front, and managed to miss sewing down the fly extension and fly shield. I didn't realize this until Jeremy tried the jeans on the first time, and the fly pulled towards the middle in a really bizarre way. Unfortunately by this point, the jeans were all sewn together, and I couldn't really unpick/resew the topstitching correctly because of the zipper. The solution was to sew a line of topstitching next to the existing two, but it resulted in a wobbly *design feature* that isn't my favorite solution. Luckily he still wears the jeans and his shirts generally cover it. I considered using a navy thread to do the fix, but I worried that if these jeans last the long haul, then they might fade lighter than the navy thread, and it'd still look weird. Either way - I'll be correcting my mistake on the next pair!

And speaking of the next pair, there are some more tweaks to make. The Jedediah pattern creates pants that sit a little higher on the waist than Jeremy prefers. One solution would be to measure your intended recipient's favorite jeans at the fly, back yoke and back curve to see what looks best. In Jeremy's situation, I'll be lowering the front rise by at least 1", and lowering his back yoke by the same. His other jeans feature a much shorter yoke, and I like the way the pockets/back curve sit - so I won't be adjusting those.  I'll change the waistband to match.

Overall - Jeremy is really really happy with these jeans, and so am I! The denim worked out so well, and it's crazy how solid and heavy (in a good way!) the final jeans feel due to the denim's quality. As soon as Jeremy tried these on, I said, "Well these are officially the nicest jeans you own." And he agreed.

Any of you brave souls out there ready to try men's jeans?! If you have made Ginger jeans (or another pattern), they really are a cinch. And if you haven't made jeans, the forgiving nature of men's fitting might make these easier than you think.

INTRODUCING THREADBARE FABRICS! (+ DISCOUNT CODE)

I am really, really excited to announce today that Jeremy and I have opened an online shop - Threadbare Fabrics!!

---

Threadbare Fabrics is an online fabric store based in Los Angeles, California. Our goal is to provide high quality fabrics to the modern sewist. Sewing clothing is something that we're passionate about, and we look forward to sharing the fabrics we love with you!

---

When I re-discovered sewing 3 years ago, I also found a real love for not only apparel sewing but fabrics as well. Because I sew as a replacement for RTW clothing, it's really important to me to use fabrics that I would find in store bought clothing. This includes soft knits, cozy French terry and sweater knits, flowy dressmaking fabrics, and of course high quality denim.

In my natural habitat - photo by Kyle Peters

About two years ago, I started shopping for fabric in the Los Angeles garment district, and I felt like it opened up a whole new world. The sheer amount of choice was outstanding, and my stash grew and grew (oops!). However, the first time someone asked me where I bought the fabric used in a garment posted on Instagram - the answer was "the Los Angeles garment district" and sadly it was not available online.

Because of moments like that (and my total devotion to fabrics), Jeremy and I thought it would be wonderful to open an online fabric shop so could make some of our favorite fabrics available to people all over the country (and world!).

While the goal is to stock other fabrics in the future, denim seemed like an easy choice for our initial launch. My love affair with denim started when I made a pair of Ginger Jeans for the first time - using, of course, high quality stretch denim from Cone Mills.

Currently in stock, we have two weights of Cone Mills S-Gene denim (11.5oz and 9oz), stretch black denim and rigid indigo denim. The S-Gene denim is amazing - the fabric snaps back into place, and doesn't bag out after a day of wearing. The jeans I've made with this denim can be worn 4 or 5 times before washing, and often that's because I feel they're dirty and not that they're stretched out. All three stretch denims would work great with the Ginger Jeans, Jamie Jeans and Angel Jeans patterns!

The rigid denim would be a great choice for men's jeans (including Jedediah and Jutland), jean jackets (like Kwik Sew 3251 and the StyleArc Stacie), other outerwear and accessories.

Long story short - we're so excited about Threadbare Fabrics and happy it's open that we'd like to offer a discount code for the first week* - DENIM15.

We'd love to hear from you - so please feel free to email us (threadbarefabrics@gmail.com) with feedback and even your requests for what types of denim and other fabric you'd like to see in the shop! Also, please sign up for our newsletter if you'd like to receive notifications of new fabrics, and most importantly - future discount codes!

Subscribe to our mailing list

Thank you so much for joining us on this journey (or at least making it to the bottom of this post)!

*discount code expires Sunday October 11, 2015 at 11:59pm PST.

A MATCH MADE IN FALL HEAVEN // GINGER + LINDEN

If only it were fall in Los Angeles - it was in the 90s and 100s this weekend, but I'm pressing onward with my fall wardrobe!

While this may not be the most exciting combination ever, these jeans and sweatshirt will be getting major rotation in my wardrobe when the temps cool down. Mixing and matching basics like these is the MO of cooler weather dressing, and I'm excited to add two new pieces to my closet.

And because there is nothing quite groundbreaking here, there are little details that make both of these items a little special and different from my other versions of the same pattern.

Pattern: Grainline Linden Sweatshirt
Size: 10 (bust), 8 (waist), 12 (hips)
Modifications: Split hem bands!
Fabric: French terry (now sold out) from Girl Charlee

As seen previously in my Fall + Winter Wardrobe Plan, first up is a new Linden sweatshirt. This is my favorite, read: only, sweatshirt pattern and this is approximately the 7th or 8th time I've made it. I found this knit on Girl Charlee a few months ago, and snapped it up immediately. French terry makes for easy wearing in LA's warm to cool seasonal temps - it's warm, but not too warm. I think it will also layer really well with button up shirts.

 
In order to make a basic sweatshirt a bit more fancy, I decided to go with a split hem, following Jen's tutorial. I also went with actual rib knit for the cuffs and bands due to the low stretch of the terry - and luckily Joann had a perfect match.


Pattern: Closet Case Patterns Ginger Jeans
Size: 10, View B (high rise)
Modifications: Added 1/4" at the top of each leg piece, grading to nothing below the pocket. This added about 1" and helps my waistband lay flatter.
Fabric: Cone Mills Denim in black

A girl can never have too many jeans, and this happens to be my 5th pair of Ginger Jeans. A few months ago, Heather very kindly sent me some extra black Cone Mills denim she had purchased from Closet Case Files, after it had sold out. The denim is, of course, really nice, and it's almost more of a dark charcoal gray than a true black. That's just fine for me because I think I'll be making some true black pants in ponte knit this winter (ahhh elastic waists...).

Because of the black denim, I wasn't quite sure what to do with the topstitching - I was waffling between very visible topstitching and subtle topstitching. Gold struck me as too bright, black seemed too bland - so (for some reason) I decided to go with purple! The inside of the pants is a full on purple party too - serging and pockets. I think the purple blends in pretty well below the hip (it's only on the center leg seam). Above the hip there's definitely a lot more color, but most of my shirts cover the fly and most of the pockets - so it wasn't too crazy of a choice. I also have some pink topstitching thread that I'd love to use some day. :D


And that's all, folks! Two very basic, very key pieces in my fall/winter wardrobe are finished!