I'm sewing jeans! Ginger Jeans by Closet Case Patterns

Ask me a month ago if i was going to sew jeans this year and i've told you "No, why on earth would I sew jeans?" I have multiple pairs of store-bought jeans and two pairs that are my favorites that I basically rotate out. I can only wear jeans to work on Fridays, but jeans are usually my go-to for weekends. But still, sewing jeans wasn't even on my radar.

Enter Ginger jeans by closet case patterns. I kept seeing them pop up and heard reviews about how good the instructions were for the fly front zip. And that got me thinking... I've never sewn a fly front zip. I love learning new techniques. This would be a great way to learn. And how cool would it be to say that i've sewn jeans. It's very impressive sounding.

http://closetcasefiles.com/closet-case-file-sewalongs/ginger-jeans-sewalong/

I couldn't stop thinking about it. I started looking at places to order denim (couldn't splurge on the kit). Ordered a swatch from girlcharlee. Kept re-reading the posts about the jeans... I do realize there have been other jeans patterns out there. But these came with a sewalong. And I'm very much a visual learner, so if i can see photos of how to do the zip fly, that's better than any amount of words. In fact, i usually don't read sewing pattern instructions, just look at the images. So I finally clicked "purchase" and bought the pattern. No turning back now.

I was too eager to get started that i didn't want to wait for ordering fabric online, so I decided to just hit the local chain stores over the weekend. If only I had known i was going to want to sew jeans - i was in NYC last month and walked right past rows of denim!!! Oh well, this was going to be a test version anyway, so i didn't want to spend a lot of fabric. Looked at joann's first but left empty handed... too stiff, too heavy, not stretchy, too light... (and i had a 60% off fabric coupon! but who else gets annoyed that those coupons are only good on Regular priced fabric. well practically everything is already slightly on sale, so what can i use my 60% off on??? the denim was on sale 30% off, so i wouldn't be able to use the 60% off coupon. booo. and the denim they had wasn't super cheap. it was around $13/yard)

Anyway so i headed to hancocks. thought i wasn't going to find anything there either... but all notions were half off so i decided to stock up on needles and pick up denim needles while i was at it. but off to the side they had one small row of denim, and i managed to pick out some that might be okay for a muslin. (plus they actually let me use my 50% off coupon so it was only $6.50/yard!) so i rounded up a zipper, buttons, and thread (also all half off!), and impressed both the lady who cuts and the cashier when they asked what i was making and i replied, "oh just some jeans". super casual. haha. so i washed and dried my denim immediately, and on sunday cut everything out. 

Next, I'll baste it up to see how it fits. hoping it fits ok without too many changes, but we'll see! also hoping my topstitching turns out okay, since i picked bright gold which will really stand out. but, this is a test, this is only a test...

I'm really looking forward to this sewalong and seeing the jeans that other people are sewing up. Let me know if you're making the ginger jeans or if you've made jeans before! Did they make you feel like a sewing ninja? I'll try to post more progress shots on my instagram "soisewedthis" and also using the hashtag "#gingerjeans".