Hey Internet! Long time no blog post......
I know....for a while there I seriously lost my sewing mo-jo....I was still doing crafty things and knitting all the time but work and life just started to get the best of me and I found I wasn't enjoying any of it anymore....and it made me sad :( It's not that I no longer loved doing crafty things I just wasn't getting the joy and satisfaction out of it anymore. So I took a step back, and just allowed myself to chill and remove the 'pressure' I had put on myself to continuously do creative things at every spare moment... When I wanted to sew, I sewed, and when I wanted to knit I knit, and when I wanted to be a vegetable on the couch or go to spin class, or play HOURS of Zelda (breath of the wild what have you done to my life?!) then I just did those things and tried not to be mad at myself for not doing #AllTheThings all the time. And that really, really helped...just letting myself be myself without beating myself up for not doing every single thing on my massive 'I want to do all the things' list. I also started a bullet journla which also really helped because it let me write down all the ideas I have in my head for all the projects I either wanted to start or have started and create realistic goals for when I can get those projects done (I also got to deep dive into bullet journals on Pinterest which is highly satisfying) :)
So how did I get my sewing sew-jo back? Well it started with my last pair of jeans ripping a hole in the crotch.....Let me clarify, I. Live. In. Jeans. I wear them to work every day, I dress them up for nights out (the classic 'jeans and a nice top') and I can't get by without them. So one day in February I found that I literally did not have any more jeans that had functional crotches or had not been patched so much that the crotch was more patch than crotch at that point........
Last year I had set a goal to make my first pair of jeans, and to do that I refused to buy any more jeans even though my collection of jeans with crotches was already limited. While I did make a pair of Morgan jeans last fall (I posted a pocket placement image of them on my instagram ;) I wasn't stoked about them because I realized two things 1) button fly jeans do not gel with my style of sitting....due to shortness I often sit cross legged or in some other twisted pretzel position because my legs won't reach the floor and having them dangle in the air while sitting for long periods of time is uncomfortable....this sitting style results in being stabbed in the lower gut by the plethora of button fly buttons..... 2) I hadn't ever owned a pair of 'boyfriend jeans', and even though the style is classic, it's not my go to style of jean so I felt kind of underwhelmed when I had 'made jeans huzzah!' but then didn't really wear them.....so while they were in the jeans rotation they weren't my go to jeans....
So here I was with a pile of extensively patched and/or crotch-less jeans and a conundrum....cave and buy jeans or just bite the bullet and make a pair of skinny jeans that I KNEW I would wear. So that's what I did, I took out the Ginger Jeans pattern that I had been hoarding forever, grabbed some cheep yellow denim (it was on sale for $4 a meter!) and set myself up with no expectations. I was just going to try the pattern as it was in size 8, minus 4 inches in length because, again, super short human here, and see what happened. Around this time Heather announced that she was going to be releasing a jeans making class but the videos hadn't released yet so I figured this was a chance to take a stab at making these knowing that if the whole thing went wrong I would at least have a class to fall upon. So I did it....and guys......they **bleeping*** FIT! One moment I was marveling at my well done zipper installation, the next I had put them on and was running around the apartment while simultaneously holding the front together (I hadn't put in the jeans button) wiggling my butt in all the mirrors (so like the two mirrors that are low enough where I can see my butt) grinning ear to ear! :D
Ironically I haven't finished this pair of jeans yet....because they are yellow and it was February...so not entirely practical at that stage.....So I ran to my stash and immediately cut out my next pair AND by this time Heather's course had released so I made these Ginger Jeans with all of her tips and tricks (I can't recommend her class enough! It's like having a private class with your super awesome sewing friend! She's there, dispensing helpful tips about techniques and things, while also dosing you with some amazing body positivity along the way!)
JEANS!
LOOK! JEANS! That look just like all my other jeans! But this time, WITH A CROTCH!!! :D More pictures because I typed way too much above and you deserve more pictures!
Jeans! With crotches AND rivets! (So professional looking!)
More smiles! This is despite the fact that you can see how much excess fabric I have at the knee because of my strong calves..
These bad boys have been in heavy rotation, so in order to avoid another crotch mishaps I HAD to make another pair, so I did!! This time I used made an adjustment to the calf area to help with the excessive bagging at the knee and the tightness on the calf (being short means I spend 3/4 of my life on tiptoe resulting in calves of STEEL). I used LLadyBird's full calf adjustment tutorial to do this, also employing her 'super scientific method' of identifying her calf by holding the pattern piece up and just marking the approximate spot. I also added some back pocket decoration ;)
Cheeky butt photo! What self respecting jeans blog post wouldn't have one?
I also made this second pair of jeans in a heavier weight stretch denim which gives them a more 'high end' feel. While the adjustment did help a bit I didn't quite get the right spot and the ankle is much wider than my original pair so more room for improvement but I am surprisingly not disappointed with the fact that these aren't perfect...I think that's a combination of Heather's positive reinforcement during her class and the fact that regardless of some small fit issues I MADE JEANS THAT I WEAR! AND I can now say I am wearing handmade jeans almost every day!
The excess fabric at the knee situation has been improved by the calf adjustment...however the ankle is quite large, you can't see it here because the cuff is rolled.
I'm actually on a jean making kick right now! I've completed a third pair while writing up this post (I don't have pictures yet but they will be present throughout #MeMadeMay2017) with the additional change of taking in the waist band a bit as I found myself having to pull the waist band up repeatedly during the day, and modifying the ankle to be narrower following the calf adjustment.
:D sooooo proud of the Jean button installation and zipper fly!
Speaking of Me Made May I'm so excited to re-launch my blog writing with this post and to formally pledge my commitment to the challenge with this first outfit where I can say I made every single item, I knit the cardigan, made the tank top AND made my jeans! This is a huge accomplishment for me and something that I've really wanted to do but I had this mental block about skinny jeans, thinking that they would be way too hard to pull off sewing myself. I'm so glad that I'm over this mental block and that jean making has gotten me over my sewing and crafting slump and back to my happily crafting self :)
So without further: for Me Made May 2017 I, Becca of Becca Made that and @beccamadethat on Instagram, pledge to wear at least one me made item of clothing each day for the month of May, with the additional challenge of at least one me made outfit once a week. I'll be pretty flexible with the posting for this challenge, using a combination of some daily snaps, weekly round ups and blog posts :) I'm so excited to have my sew-jo back and I can't wait to see everyone's creations throughout #MMM2017
Me Made May 2017 Day 1. Ginger Jeans, Willow Tank, and Reine Cardigan :D