Making the Real Deal Jeans SKINNIES

Hello Blogland - in case you have been on vacation in a world with no internet, or hiding under a rock; let me introduce you to The Real Deal Jeans - part of the Women's BundleUP! collection organized by Pattern Revolution.

The Real Deal Jeans are my 8th pattern for women - and they certainly put all my patience and abilities to the test.  I grew a lot in designing this pattern - and all of my testers deserve a medal of honor for participating in the 6 week testing process.

Now the pattern is a straight let design - I went with a straight leg for two reasons. 1) There were already a few skinnies available on the market, and 2)I feel that a straight leg is the most versatile for varying body shapes and for being able to adapt to different styles.

Today, I am sharing a quick tutorial from my amazing tester, Emily, who adapted her RDJ into skinnies.

Tutorial:

1. First, sew up your pattern all the way until you are about to attach the waistband.
2. Now, try on the pants inside out.
   
3. Using straight pins or safety pins, mark from mid thigh down to the hem along the outseam.  You want to make sure that you are following the curves of your leg, but don't pin so snugly that you can't comfortably move.  Make sure to mark where you want the bottom of your hem to be as well. *Skinny jeans are typically hemmed just below the ankle bone.
4. Take the pants off and lay them on your cutting surface.
5. Using a straight edge and a marking utensil, follow the line of your pins to create a sewing line and hem line.
   
6. Cut your jeans 1.5 inches below your hem line.
   
   
   
7. Stitch along your new outseam marking line and trim off your excess fabric.
8. Hem the bottom of your jeans as described in the pattern.
9. Finish up the waistband and fall in love with your new skinnies!!!!

Now don't miss out on buying the BundleUP! collection and sewing up your own Real Deal Jeans.  Share all your creations with me on Winter Wear Designs Fun.

The Real Deal Jeans

The Real Deal Jeans have now released!!!!!  These are amazing with so many variations for how to make them awesome and perfect for you.  Grab them at a once in a lifetime deal as a part of the Women's BundleUP!

This fabulous floral twill is from Girl Charlee

I'll be sharing some variations for you here on the blog so that once you get your first pair or two made, you can start playing around with them.

One of the first variations I want to share is how to get that super cool worn out and distressed look that you see in all the stores and on all the fashion pages.  This takes a bit of time, but is fully worth the final product.

Source

One of my Amazing Testers, Tanu, distressed this pair of shorts, and we all fell in love.  So she wrote up a tutorial for you-  the tutorial covers frayed holes and 'worn' distressing.  But she mentioned some other tips in our group that I will list below.

Tutorial

Other tips:
To get a crinkled seam -  This takes prior planning!  Take the edges of your pattern piece (back pockets or back yoke and dampen them with water or a mix of water and startch.  If you have a pleater, pleat just the edges of the fabric where you want the wrinkling to be, and leave it to dry and set for 12-24 hours.  *If you do not have a pleater - which most of us probably dont, run a gathering stitch along your seam allowance and pull it tight.  Set some heavy weights on top of the edge and let dry for 12-24 hours.*  Once the wrinkles are dry and set, run some sand paper over the ridges before you unpleat/ungather the fabric.  Now when you sew the seams together you will have a great wrinkled seam just like the professionals do.

To fray the hem - For this you can follow the tips in Tanu's tutorial - you just wont be working on a square section, you will be working on the bottom edge of your shorts/capris.  Using your seam ripper, slowly unpick the horizontal threads around the hem line.  Work out thread by thread until you have the length of fraying that you would like.


I hope you have fun playing with these techniques, and make sure to share all your creations with me on FaceBook.

The La Croix Cross Over Top forWomen

Last week was pretty busy for me - ok can we just say INSANELY busy for me!!!!  So I completely forgot to blog about my new release for women - The La Croix Cross Over Top.

I love this pattern because it became a true collaboration between me and my tester group.  My original version was a simple tank with a cross back - I had the idea that it might be able to be reversible, but wasn't sure it would work.  So I started testing with a  pattern for just this top.

My testers were awesome, sewing it up, giving feedback, and then they remembered that I had mentioned the possibility of reversibility and started asking.   I was doubtful since I knew the original neck wouldn't work in the front... but with a few tweaks, I figured out of to make it a truly reversible top.  And then they asked about sleeves....I looked out the window at the piles of snow and thought, heck yeah, we should add sleeves.  And thus the final version of the La Croix came to life.

The options are awesome for creating vastly different looks from one pattern.  I also love how easy it is to dress up and down depending on your fabric choices and accessories.

You can check out more tester versions in the album on my Facebook Page

I hope you enjoy the pattern and enjoy sewing for yourself - and remember, sometime the best final projects are the result of collaboration in an awesome team of people!

Girls Bundle UP! And the Release of the Phresh Blazer

Well the new year has definitely been kicked off with a busy start!  Between getting back from an awesome vacation to visit family in South Carolina, putting the boys back on 'School Schedule', preparing for the Bundle UP! Sale and working on my next women's pattern; there are times when there just don't seem to be enough hours in the day.

But today is such an exciting day because the BundleUP! sale has launched, and in it is my first full size range pattern for girls (my first girls pattern is the free Petit Pan available in just size 2-4).  I took a bit of a leap on this one, jumping into girls pattern drafting with a fitted and tailored blazer - but this pattern is just so ME!!!!!!!!!  Luckily I've had a while to work on it and get it just right.  In the Bundle process you have to submit your design idea over two months in advance - so to say I've been sitting on this secret for a while is no understatement.

But now I get to share the Phresh Blazer!!!!!!!

I love outerwear - I've know that since my very first time sewing along with PR&P, we hit 'personal style' week and I had no clue at the time what my personal style was, but I knew I was making a jacket.  So the Phresh Blazer is my graduation into KNOWING what my personal style is.  It is clean, tailored, detail oriented, and filled with fun options and a great fit.  I am a classic girl with a modern twist - and I promise to keep bringing patterns that fit this style to the market!

The Phresh Blazer is a fitted jacket designed for stretch wovens.  It has options of 3/4 or long sleeves in a gathered or straight style.  The Ruffles on the back add a girly flair, but are also optional.  And what jacket is complete without some pockets!?!?  So there are optional welt pockets as well.

Girl Charlee provided the phenomenal Rose Pink Vegan Leather (aka pleather) for the cover photos and instructions - THANK YOU!!!!  This is a great light weight leather that drapes, shapes, and sews beautifully.  Be careful with your top stitching though - you will want to use a walking foot, silicone foot, tissue paper, or the scotch tape trick to make sure your fabric can feed smoothly and evenly.

This image sums up my elation over the final product of this pattern - a child like dancing and twirling in the sun:

My testers were amazing and I am so thankful for them!

Check out more tester images HERE!

Check out all the patterns in the BundleUP! Collection, and make sure to check out the stops of the BundleUP! Tour.