Calf Jeans

I am one of those people, that loves to use up materials to the maximum possible and hates waste. So, when I have big remnants of fabric, I save them for later smaller projects, to be combined with other remnants, if possible.

Last year I made a pair of flared jeans out of a dark blue denim with lycra and I had about 60 cm  left. I had also some mere scraps from the jeans I made for Gaby, which are of the same fabric type and weight, only a different shade of color - asphalt grey.

I could have made a pair of jeans shorts, but I much prefer calf length jeans for the summer, so I decided to do my best and try to squeeze a pair out of my meager remnants.

For the pattern I used again the Flared Burda jeans, but in their shorter calf-length version. This pattern features flared hems, but I preferred to add simple rectangular hems, as I wanted my jeans to be straight calf length capri type pants.

 

For most of the details of the pair I used the bigger dark-blue piece of denim and I cut the back yoke, and the hems out of the grey denim.

 

I was so short of fabric, that I had to make the inside of the waistband out of a third piece of denim - a remnant from my black jeans and the back pockets are made of small scraps of fabric.

 

Pattern: Flared Jeans Burda 7050

Size: 34, short version, with corrections

Fabric: cotton denim with lycra

Time to make: 10 days

I can totally afford to buy a new piece of fabric and make myself any number of pairs of jeans, but that is not the point - my complete satisfaction lies in the fact, that I managed to use up my remnants and I have a perfectly functional pair of jeans, which I've been wearing regularly. Is that crazy or what :)))

Buttoned Side Flared Jeans in Blue

I've got a new pair of flared jeans - these are for myself! They are part of the Make Nine pledge for 2025, piece of fabric N 3 - blue denim. I bought the denim a couple of years ago with an idea to make a pair of jeans for Gaby, but she turned my suggestion down, as she did not like the color of the fabric.

To be frank, with the years I grew cold to that color too. Still, sky blue jeans can be quite wearable in the summer, with light colored T-shirts, so I hope I'll get some decent wear out of them.

The concrete inspiration for the jeans came from a Netflix Spanish mini tv series - A Perfect Story, where the two main characters walked through Athens. I loved experiencing again the Acropolis through their eyes, but being a seamstress, I could not help but analyze their clothing and I fell in love with the jeans the girl wore. I took a few snapshots, googled flared jeans with buttons on the side and soon designed the mods to my Burda 7050 pattern, to turn it into an imitation of the inspiration garment. Hashtag Make-That-Look :)

Pattern: Flared Jeans Burda 7050

Size: 34, shortened - 6 cm, no hem allowances

Fabric: cotton denim

Time to make: 10 days

Apart from the buttoned openings of the legs, the jeans are more or less the same as the ones for Gaby, but with a few shortenings here and there, taking into account my height and stature.

Next time I make this pattern, I intend to play further with the width at the knees, to try to eliminate the wrinkling at the back. On the other hand, the pair of black jeans I made at the beginning of the year is much wider at the legs and the knees and still crinkles at the back, so maybe the width is not the problem. I wish I knew more about pants construction, but most of the videos and the booklet I have were not of much help for this particular issue.

I have enough pairs of long flared jeans for now, but I want a couple of 7/8 length pairs for the summer, so there will be more pairs of jeans here. Probably 2025 will turn to be the year of the jeans :)

Flared Jeans for Gaby

A pair of jeans I made for Gaby. Yes, it's the same pattern I've already made for myself twice and every time it's a new try with various mods, in an attempt to achieve the perfect fit one day.

As Gaby is taller than me, I made these at least 5 cm longer than mine and I also raised the waist by 2 cm. Gaby chose a red thread for the decorative seams and I am very happy with her choice, the discreet red goes really well with the graphite grey.

For this pair I opted for the widest size of the leg hems, I really like the dramatic funneling of the legs from tight at the knees to flower-power wide at the bottom.

Pattern: Flared Jeans Burda 7050

Size: 34, shortened - 4 cm, no hem allowances

Fabric: cotton denim with lycra

Time to make: 6 days

Although Gaby and I wear the same size, we are far from identical in figure, so I can only hope they will fit her better. On me, I don't like the fit at the back and I hopefully guess the excessive gathering is due to the extra length and the tight knees. I've been trying various mods on the pattern, but the gathering of the legs at the back is still an issue, which I haven't been quite able to tackle.

I have more than enough pairs of jeans already, but if I come upon a similar piece of denim, I won't hesitate to make the same pair for myself.

Black Flared Jeans

Last year I made Burda 7050 jeans pattern with dark blue denim with Lycra and it became my favourite pair of jeans. This year, as part of my Make Nine pledge, I decided to use an old piece of black denim without elastane for another pair of flared jeans - my preferred jeans style, but with a few adjustments to the pattern.

I bought this denim probably three years ago and washed it immediately, as I usually do and as most tailors recommend. To my unpleasant surprise, the fabric crinkled and the crinkles left discolored traces. I put the fabric aside and bought another piece of denim for the project I had had then in mind.

This year I was positive I had either to sew the fabric or throw it away, so I gave it a second chance. Although I love my first pair of Burda 7050, I wanted to try a bit smaller size. The original 34 was kind of a bit wide on me and started fitting me great only after I washed the jeans and they shrank. Having had the bitter experience of washing a big piece of denim in my washing machine, I had decided to try making the pair first, then go through the washing process. However, because this denim has already been washed, I don't expect it to shrink significantly, so I went for a size down. I cut size 32, the smallest available in Burda, but added 1 cm to the width of the front and back pieces, thus aiming at a size between 32 and 34. If my fabric had elastane, I would have probably risked 32 without corrections for a snugger fit.

As things stand, I like the fit on the body, it is actually amazingly good, but I think the legs are still a bit problematic. First, the jeans are probably a bit long and this leads to them gathering above the narrow knee point. Next time I think I'll cut them exactly as I have for the body, but shorten them a bit above the knees as well. I can obviously, shorten them at the hem, but I'll wait for a couple more washings, as some jeans tend to shrink in length with every wash.

Pattern: Flared Jeans Burda 7050

Size: 32, shortened - 5 cm, added 1 cm width and no hem allowances

Fabric: cotton denim

Time to make: 5 days

 

Although the greyish crinkle lines are quite visible, they don't bother me so much, so if the jeans prove to be comfortable wear-wise, they might become a piece of my staple wardrobe. 

I botched the installment of the zipper this time, although I've done front fly zippers probably a dozen times already - I forgot to add 1 cm additional seam allowance to the right half of the front, so that the zipper could be installed more away from the central line. However, as I usually wear my jeans with a T-shirt or a sweater on top, the zipper is rarely visible, and the fact that it is peaking a little under the flap is not a real issue for me.

Because this was more like an experimental project, I also didn't bother with adding some ornamental stitching to the back pockets, but next time I'll definitely make the effort and adorn them, I like elaborate jeans details.

All in all, I am fairly pleased with this pair of jeans and I think this is my favourite jeans pattern of the three I've tried in recent years. I have another piece of denim fabric in my Make Nine pledge for the year and it will probably be again Burda 7050, but with the corrections I have in mind after my first two attempts. However, as it is light blue, I might leave that project for the warmer months.

Pictures were taken in front of the small church in the village of Plana after our hike to Manastirishte.

Burda Jeans for Gaby

I really wish I had managed to take pictures at least of these jeans, as showing them flat is in many respects pointless - what really matters with pants is how they fit.

The third and obviously most difficult and complicated pattern I made for Gaby were these jeans. I have several Burda jeans patterns, which I've bought through the years. Last year I tried one for myself in 7/8 length and at the end of the year I finished my flared jeans, which are my current favourite pair. Gaby, however, chose a different pattern - Burda 120 04/2010. These were supposed to be straight leg low cut jeans, with a fairly wide curved waist band. They turned a bit wide, so after Gaby tried them on, I had to narrow the legs by about 4 cm each.

Pattern: Burda 120 04/2010

Size: 34, with mods

Fabric: denim with elastane, 1 m

Time to make: one week

 

Apart from being wide in the legs, the 34 size was also very wide at the waist - I had to take the back seam in by 1.5 cm on each side, and the waist band respectively. I did not like the back pockets, that go with the pattern, so I used the pockets for my flared jeans, with the same decorative stitching.

 

Once I had finished with all the mods, the jeans fit Gaby quite well and I hope she will wear them. This is the first of my Make Nine pledge for 2024 - item No 4 straight jeans. I have two more pieces of  denim, meant for new pairs of jeans for me and Gaby, but I don't think I'll be making this pattern again, I would rather go back to the flared jeans pattern, which after a few washings turned out actually very well fitting.

Flared Jeans Burda 7050

So, finally, a photosession of my flared jeans. I should confess I really struggled with these and I am not at all happy with the fit. I made a muslin and I did some corrections to the pattern that the muslin indicated - I added 2 cm to the back rise to take into account my fuller seat and I also  made a -1 cm correction for low seat, which was supposed to take care of the back horizontal pleats. However, they are even more pronounced now, so I'm not so sure about that correction.

Although I am more a 36 than a 34 Burda size, I've noticed that their pants run big on me, so I made the 34 size and even it is a bit big on me. I took in the waist by some 6 cm and I like how the pants fit my back seat. I only wish I had cut the waist band on the length and not on the width, as my denim is very stretchy on the width and the band stretched when I topstitched it.

Pattern: Flared Jeans Burda 7050

Size: 34, shortened - 9 cm, corrections for low seat and full seat

Fabric: denim with lycra

Time to make: 10 days

I like the decorations I did on the back pockets, these are my own addition. I believe I saw something similar on Pinterest.

The fit at the front is passable, but at the back of the legs there are so many different pleats :( I redid the inner seam three times, but I couldn't figure a way to get rid of them.

There is something going around the knees, but despite all the fitting videos I watched on Youtube, I still have no idea what is wrong with the fit and why there is so much crunched fabric around my knees, back and front.

I left the jeans unhemmed, I intend to wear them and wash them at least a couple of times, before I finally hem them, I don't want them too short.

I bought a new piece of light denim fabric and I want a pair of flared jeans for the summer. It would be better if I could figure how to make these fit me better, but even if I don't, I think I can live with what I've succeeded so far. These will definitely get a lot of wear.

Colorful Calf Length Burda Jeans

Finally yesterday we had the long-awaited sunshine and warmth in a series of cold rainy May days. It's been so cold, that my bougainvillea, which I took out on the balcony in the beginning of May, counting on the fact that summer was just around the corner, began withering from the cold. And guess what - it's 9C and raining all day today. But that is today, and yesterday we took pictures of my new calf-length colorful jeans.

I've been planning on sewing a pair of jeans and dreaming of colorful jeans for long. Apart from all the jeans pairs I have in my Burda magazines, I specifically bought no less than 7 jeans patterns and I'm planning on testing at least two or more of them this year. Actually making a pair of jeans was N6 on my Make Nine list, so at least I can cross this one out.

For my piece of colorful cotton denim with elastane I chose Burda 6534 from their spring/summer 2017 catalogue. It is a classic jeans pattern, slim legs, two lengths - full and calf, slightly lowered waistline, at least this is what it says on the cover.

My first and most basic mistake was that I didn't make a muslin. I know I am not the Burda style figure type - that I have confirmed every time I sew with Burda patterns. Their model is much taller than me, with broader chest, shoulders and waist and smaller hip to waist ratio. I have wider hips, narrow waist, I am much shorter - how did I expect the pattern to fit me?

Of course, I made some adjustments for length at the length lines, but the main issue with pants is the area between the waist and the crotch - and there are so many variations there in lengths and widths between figures. Yes, now I know my lesson - if I want my pants to fit me well, I do have to make a muslin first.

One call I made right - I chose the smallest 34 size, although I am supposed to be 36 according to Burda tables. But I know that their pants run large on me, so at least that I made right. Then I measured the pattern pieces, compared them to my actual measures and decided that things looked OK. 

As it turned out - the front line is too long on me and the pockets are to high - I should lower it at least by 2 cm. Meanwhile I need to raise the back with at least 2 cm, as I have a fuller bottom and I need more length there. At the same time I had to take in the waist at the back by 5 cm! and additionally some 3 cm at the side lines, because the jeans were gaping awfully at the waist.

Pattern: Burda 6534

Size: 34, needs adjustments

Fabric: cotton denim with elastane, 1 m

Time to make: two weeks

Yesterday I visited my favourite fabric store again, but alas, they didn't have any colorful denim fabric on stock, they had even ran out of this one, so I returned empty handed. I mean, of course, not literally empty-handed, I did buy some other fabric, as all normal people when visiting their favourite fabric stores do, but there won't be any other summer jeans soon and I did want to try my notes on another pair. However, I'll be testing one other Burda jeans pattern these days and I do plan to make a muslin first.

A cute squirrel we saw in the park, while filming the jeans