Brown corduroy jeans in progress, hour 7.5.

I thought that making jeans the second time would go faster than the first, but so far I'm just about on track as far as hours logged.   The pattern is the J Stern Designs jeans pattern.

Here are my jeans, this time in brown corduroy, at hour 7.5.

The fabric is some glorious stash "uncut" corduroy fabric from Joann's almost 4 years ago, when I had this crazy idea I was going to start making a ton of corduroy jackets.  Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.  (The "uncut" part means the wales of the corduroy are not cut).

I'm using dark brown "heavy" thread for the topstitching. Not as impressive as gold jeans thread on denim, but the detail is there even if it's hard to see.

The inside pockets are made from a Robert Kaufman floral cotton I bought 4.5 years ago at J and O Fabrics in Pennsauken, NJ--on my way to my college reunion meetup--this is how I remember....

I used an 11" trouser zipper that I shortened to 5". Do men's pants really use 11" zippers? Hrm.
I dove head first into make the flat felled yoke seams, and what a mistake that was!  It is hard to do that on a fabric with thick nap.  So I then go look at a sampling of my RTW cords and velveteen pants to find out that every single pair has a mock flat felled back yoke seam.   Knowledge for next time.

So now I need to decide what to do about the back pockets and what design to use. Hrm.
Also, I was really worried about the nap of this fabric and if it would be easily crushed.   When I hammered thick seams, I only hammered the seam allowance.  I did not want to permanently damage the nap of the fabric (and the nap does feel really good!)

 The good news is the nap has good recovery after sewing, and I sat in them during dinner tonight and they didn't make little moons where I sat down (my main fear!). So YAY for that. (All pix above were taken before wearing).

I plan on undoing the side seams so I can topstitch the inseam, then redo the side seams.  I am mighty fast at undoing things I sew lately, and not as frustrated when I have to redo them.  And I want to sew them tighter up around the very top.

Oh and I sewed the seams 1/4 inch in the thigh area inner and outer seam, to gain a whole inch there, and that is MUCH better for sitting down.  Yay!


I have this crazy idea to finish these pants by the end of next weekend but I think that's rather unlikely given the time of year...but I have a huge drive to finish them so let's see...

I also cooked tonight but sadly do not have pix (sorry Gwen!)
Be well!!