The Art & Craft of Making Clothes: Sew Your Own Best Pair of Jeans

1. Intro: the perfect pair of jeans. They fit your body's curves to a T. These are the genes that live in your imagination, but they don't have to be. The truth is, you can make your own perfectly fitted pair of jeans at home on your own machines. Hi, I'm Anna Perez and among many other things, I'm a seamstress and prototype ist. I've been sewing for about 20 years now, and what I love most about it is that it gives me the ability to create something really unique that's also fit to my body. In this class, I'll take you through all the steps to create your own pair of fitted jeans at home on your own machine. We'll go over materials and machines, take our own measurements to draft our own pattern. I'll take you step by step through the process of creating a pair of jeans, start to finish. My hope is that what you learn from this class will change the way you think about making your own clothes. This is gonna be a lot of fun, and I'm excited to have you come along and learn how to make your own pair of fitted jeans 2. Tools and Materials: before we get started, There are a few things you're going to need for this project. First, a white crayon or talk a pencil, a pen or a marker. Whatever you want to draw with a seam ripper. Some pins measuring tape. The zipper you'll be using this one is six inches. Some paper cutting scissors and fabric scissors. A ruler I like. This right angle ruler makes things easier. Your choice of thread jean needles the French curve. If you don't have a French curve, you can download a pattern and print it out. Some gene buttons hammer to attach them and a calculator. Or you can use your brain. And it's also helpful to have a yardstick for the pattern paper. I'm going to be using this along role of white Kraft paper. You also need an iron, a cutting board. This is the thread you typically see being used for genes. It's, ah, more heavy duty than your basic thread, but it's still thinning up for your machine. This is upholstery thread. You can also use this, Um, but keep in mind it's a lot thicker, and if you have a smaller household machine, it may not work well, it's really important that you don't use thread that's too thick for your machine. This can cause a lot of problems, like broken needles, nodded up thread and can even damage your machine. I'm gonna be using this Kenmore household sewing machine. It's a little bit more heavy duty. I'm also gonna be using this, brother. Ah, Sir Jer, and I'm gonna be showing you how to sew a button hole with this brother. Household machines. You're also gonna need about a yard and 1/2 to 2 yards of denim. Depending on your hype. Two yards should be safe, and you're gonna need to pick out a fun fabric or the inside of your front pockets. I think it's fun just to have something a little different in your pocket. You just want toe choose something. That's, ah, basic cotton. Ah, something that's not stretchy and something that is going to be durable enough for everyday use 3. Measurements: you're gonna need to take a few simple measurements so we can draft your custom pattern. It's really important that you keep these measurements loose. Um, just to leave room for error, because we can always take away more fabric, but we can't put it back. When you're taking your measurements, you wanna wear something that's pretty thin. Ah, that won't add a whole lot to, uh, your measurements and you want to keep the tape measure pretty loose. So you need to measure your waist If your pants are not going to come up to your waist, Um, you can leave that out, but I'm gonna be making some highways. So jeans and you need to measure your hips right at your hip bones. And then you need to measure around her. But around the white pissed, biggest part of your butt again, remember to keep that tape measure loose. Then you need to measure your thigh. Just, um, at the biggest party or thigh by the crotch. And then you're gonna measure your inseam from your crotch all the way down to your ankle. About 29. Okay, so you're gonna measure your out. Seem so you're going to start at your waistband. Measure all the way down to your ankle. That was about 39 inches. And you're going to measure the cup for your the bottom of your pants. You want to make sure you can get your foot in and out of, um, the genes of the bottom. That's really important. Next I'm gonna measure, um, the crotch curb. I'm gonna go from my belly button all the way underneath, and, ah, to the same point on my back. I'm gonna take that measurement. Then you're gonna measure from the top, which is, in my case, the waste down to the hips and then from the hips to the but about three inches. And then that's about six inches. And then you're going to measure also from your butt measurement to your thigh. That's another six inches 4. Drafting the Pattern: you want to start off by writing down all your measurements on a piece of paper. Now we can take our measurements and draft our pattern. Using a few basic equations, we're going to create a little diagram of the front and back panels of the legs just to make things a little easier on us when we drop the pattern. But first we're gonna use this equation X being the measurement divided by two minus one, divided by two that's going to give us the front measurement for waste. The hips and the butt. X, divided by two plus one divided by two, is going to give us the back measurement for the waist, hips and butt X, divided by two minus one is going to give us the measurement for the crotch cup and thigh of the front legs. X, divided by two plus one, will give us the back measurement for all those that's going to give the back measurement two more inches than the front. Go ahead and label all of your measurements on your diagram and put it somewhere where you can see it while you're drafting your pattern. The back of the pants are going to be, Ah, split up like this at the top, you're gonna have a waistband and the back yoke that's going to take up some inches. So you're back panel is really just going to start right there. This is gonna shorten your crotch ling quite a bit. So we're gonna leave 1.5 inches for the waistband. Two inches for the back yoke on the outside, and then three inches for the back yoke on the inside. We subtract this 4.5 inches. Ah, that's gonna leave us with 9.5 inches or the crotch curve in the back. A pure diagrams and measurements where you can see them. We're going to start with a straight line and we're gonna close it off. Uh, with our right angle ruler, this is gonna be the bottom. The cup of our pants and that measurement waas seven inches. We're going to start off with the back legs and add our seam allowance. Now we're gonna follow that line all the way up Measure are out. Seem which was 39 inches and we're gonna close that up with our right angle ruler again. We're gonna measure up one inch for the curve of the hip and taking our French curb. We're going to go ahead and connect those, um, slight, very slight curb. Now, from this point, we're going to measure down 1.5 inches for the waistband and then two inches from that point for the back yoke. This is actually going to be the top of the pants right here because we have the waistband in the back yoke. So taking our ruler, we're going to try to line it up at a 90 degree angle from the curve and draw line. So from the very top that we started, we're going to measure down three inches. That's going to be the point of our hip measurement. And from there were going to measure down six inches for the but and another six inches for the thigh. So from our hip point, we're going to measure or we're gonna put a mark up of the hip measurement, which is nine and 1/4. And for the but measurement. We had nine and 3/4 and then for the thigh going to measure all the way up to 11. Now we're gonna take our French curve again, and we're gonna line it up with those dots. Usually the French curb will have measurements along the side, but unfortunately, mine does not. So I'll be using my tape measure. So we started out with 14 inches, but taking off the measurements for the waistband and the back yoke, we're gonna end up with 9.5 inches. So we're gonna put that 9.5 inch mark on that. Margaret there. We're just gonna line it up. Um, you want to leave more of a curve or the back? Um, the but curve just to keep ah, keep enough room for your butt. Looks good to me. I'm gonna put a mark there and trees it. All right. So notice how this curb starts to go back up. Um, you don't want it to do that, because it's gonna give you a really funky looking, but so what we want to dio is angle the curve more downward and you can just sketch that in , go ahead and measure your curve again and make sure it's the same measurement that you want and ours is. So now we're going to connect these two dots and we wanted to come in to curve and as soon as possible, cause if we have a lot of extra fabric in that area Ah, it's going to make you look like you have a baggy. But get it to where you want it. And at this point, it's gonna angle all the way down to the, um, the cuff of your pants So you don't actually need to draw this And yet, um, but you can we'll go ahead and put in our seam allowances. Now, we're going to connect these two points from the cuff to the thigh measurement, which is going to draw a straight line, and you can go ahead and freehand from this point if you want to bring it in and make it a little, uh, thinner and bring it back up to the thigh measurement, you can do that, go and measure the inseam, and here we see that it's ah half inch too short. What we can dio is draw line from the, um we can connect that line to the, uh, out seem and just angle of, ah, cut out a little bit anything more than Ah, half inch to an inch. I would, um, think about adjusting the other side of the pent the out Seem as well re hand your seam allowance in for the front pants. We're gonna close up our, um, measure are out. Seem it's gonna be the same 39. We're gonna close that off with the right angle. Measure up one inch for the hip curve and draw that in. And from that top point, we're gonna measure down just 1.5 inches and that's going to be the top of our front leg pieces. Now, going back up to the top measurement. We're gonna ah, measure down three inches and ah, then six inches and then another six inches for the hips, butt and thigh. So right here we have the waistband. That's, um, that's gonna go away. We're gonna measure our hip, uh, at this point and then our but measurement, which waas in 3/4 the front and nine inches for of If I so originally, we had 12 inches for the front measurement, but we lost an inch and 1/2 with the waistband, so we're gonna end up with 10.5 inches. The front, Ah, crotch curve is gonna end up being straighter. Ah, than the back. Unless you have a bigger belly. Um, it's gonna end up being straighter, so we're gonna use this traitor edge of our friend to curb. There you go. Measure it again and make sure it's the same. That and if you, like, who had in connect those two dots again, get it just right where you want it. And then we're gonna leave this. We're gonna draw this line later, all the way down to the cuff. Go ahead and put in your seam allowances all the way around. Now we're gonna draw in the pocket. We don't want the pocket to be more than 2/3 of the way to the, um do they fly? So I'm going to do five inches in and two inches down. You can do something funky here. You can freehand it. You can bring it lower. Or, um, we're out for like a you know, like slacks, pockets. Ah, for dress pants. Or you can do some cool angle there. Um, or you can use your French curve again. Put in a nice curved pocket like the way that looks so I'm gonna go with that. Here we go. We're going to connect these two and my lines air so straight today. Go ahead and measure that inseam. Here. We have a, uh, a little bit longer. It's about an inch longer. So we're gonna bring out our out. Seem as well we shouldn't affect the, uh the legs, the look of your pant legs. Um, as long as you bring the out seems out as well. Um, then it should be fine. You're going to cut out the little, um, extra from the pocket from the pattern. But you're gonna keep that, um, because we'll need it later to make our pattern for our pockets. So when you look at the back of the pants, you have, um, half inch for the waistband, and then you have these back yoke pieces. So the backyard pieces are going to be the same length of the ah, back leg pieces on the bottom and the same length as the way spin on the top. So we need to make them, uh, angled. I didn't start out with a right angles. Make your vacuum patterns. The bottom is gonna be the same link as the top of the back leg pieces. Go and put in your seam allowance notches and make like a box. It's open in the top. So what we're gonna do is take the measurement of the top of the back leg pieces and subtract the waist measurement from that and then divide that by two. And we're going to get the measurement that we need to come in from each side of the back yoke. So we're going to do that on both sides. In my case, it's about 7/8 of an inch. Draw a line straight up from that point, and then we need to connect thes with an angle. So I'm gonna start from this corner and dried up, too. That line, Um, at the point where it hits three inches and from the other side, I'm going to draw it up at the point where it reaches two inches and then I'm just gonna connect those two points. Then we're gonna put in the seam allowance all the way around. There we go. There's your back yoke piece. Thank you. Pattern. The coin pocket is gonna be really simple. It can be whatever size you want, Mine is going to be three inches finished. Um, tall, three inches tall, finished and two inches wide. Finished. So we're going to add, um, an inch at the top for seam allowance, and, um, happened around back pockets are gonna be pretty much up to you. I'm making mine five by five. Um, with an inch seam allowance at the top and happening on the sides and bottom. I'm just gonna measure the middle points, and I'm going to go up two inches and draw a line to that middle point. I'm going to do the same on the other side about loops. We're gonna be pretty simple making mine three inches long by two inches wide. I think two inches is Ah, a good wit to have enough to pulled over to make the pattern for the inside of the front pocket. You're gonna need the front leg use You just gonna trace that pocket opening and then go down as faras. You want the pocket to go down, put a little notch in ah, both both pieces during that over and line up the notches, take your backsplash piece and put it back. That's a piece that you cut out from the legs earlier. You're gonna put that back in, um, trace over that, and then you're just going to connect the, um, the two bottom notches, but in a seam allowance at the bottom. So this is actually gonna be folded down the middle right here. You're gonna take your front leg piece again, and you're gonna trace the cur you're gonna take the zipper you'll be using is it against the curb and mark about an inch to the side and an inch to the bottom. Take your French curve and ah, go ahead and draw Occur to complete it. This is gonna be crotch piece number one. Ah, for the left side of the pants. Then you're gonna measure that curve and draw a line to that measurement. Close it in to make a box. You want it to be twice the width of crotch piece number one. So this piece is actually going to be full mid as well right down the middle that after you fold it, and so an angle it's actually gonna look more like this, and that part of it is gonna be cut away. So this is crotch piece number two for the right side of the pants. Go ahead and cut out all your pattern pieces. Make sure you label everything. 5. Cutting: When you're drawing out your, um, pattern pieces on the fabric, you want to use the wrong side of the fabric. Normally, you wouldn't go all the way to the edge of the salvage if you wanted to avoid it. Uhm, I'm going to incorporate into my pants. You have your pieces been down? Just, uh, currently trees, sweet tea war going on White graham or chalk This case, I didn't like how short sample genes were. So I'm gonna add a few inches half inches, Teoh Bottom of these pants Lay your pattern pieces out in a way that conserves fabric just in case to make in the states and a lot easier to a new piece. If you have from the fabric love to do that, start with the biggest pieces first, and then that the smaller pieces in, um, little spaces that are left Remember to trace the right side and the wrong side of your pattern. Since this crotch piece is going to be on the left side, we want to make sure it's placed correctly. Um, Denham, it's gonna lay down just like that. Go ahead and cut out all your pieces and, uh, leave them aside. You leave plenty of room for your waist, and we're gonna be cutting that later. And that really should be one piece it's gonna be about. You have to. Here's the fabric I'll be using for the inside of the front pockets. It's some kind of cotton, but mostly I really like the feel of it. And the patterns. You can pin it down. Um, this is a pretty small piece, so I'm just gonna freehand it. I'm gonna hold the pattern. You probably can't see the line. Um, because it's in pencil, but it's there. Okay, now we have our first pattern. Our first pocket lining pattern. We're gonna put this over. Use the paper pattern for that. We just cut out. I think it's easier trace around the paper pattern, so I'm gonna use that already. Now we have both of our front pocket linings. It's gonna be folded like this. And, um, a little floral part you see in the back is gonna be covered with denim piece left 6. Prep: I highly recommend that you first make a sample pair of jeans, um, out of some cheap fabric, just to make sure you're happy with your pattern and the way that it fits. I like the fit of my sample pants. Um, for the most part, the only thing is that there is a lot of fabric bunched up right under my butt. And the's, uh, legs could be a little bit longer. Now that you have all your pieces cut, there are a few things were going to do just to prepare and make the actual construction of the pants go smoothly to start off by ironing all your pieces. This makes it a lot easier to work with them. And, um, the accurate. You can also iron the belt loops. At this point, this will make it easier to sew them. You know, hold both ends to the middle and then fold. Ah, that over Just iron. It sold the iron there for a second. And there you go. Do that with the other belt loops and you're good to go. We're gonna make sure we have all our pattern pieces cut out. We have the front and back legs, the back yoke pieces, back pockets, coin, pocket folded crotch peas, curved garage peas, both of the ah, from pocket backsplashes. All five of the belt loops and the pocket linings. We're gonna be cutting the waistband later. So here you have your folded crotch piece. Right now it just looks like a rink rectangle grabber, curved crotch piece. So this edge is gonna be attached to the right side of the pants, and they're gonna lay over each other like that. So we're gonna need to match this shape and put an angle in there, so we're gonna turn it inside out. And so, from the folded edge to the bottom corner, we pulled it back right side out. You're going to see it has that shape now so you can choose to, so ah, that the little edge. Or you could just iron it, make sure they're the same length and you're good to go. We're just gonna so all of the truth together, they're a lot easier toe handle this way. And, um, easier to keep track of you. Don't lose them. So we're just going to set the these aside for attaching Leader, We're gonna take our coin pocket and fold it over twice at the top, and then we're gonna flip it over, and so it with our pretty stitch on the top, we're gonna feel with our finger the edge of the fold underneath and try to follow that. Bring it back around and put another stitch on the top. We're going to do the same with our back pockets again along the edge, trying to keep the same distance between the two stitches. Here we go. At this point, um, if you want some kind of squiggly design on the back, you can go ahead and so that in there, I'm gonna keep my design pretty simple. Um, so I'm just gonna draw with my white cran. I'm gonna make an almost ex across the back. Quite an eggs. Okay, now, I'm just gonna I don't know if you can see it, but there is my design. I'm just gonna follow those lines with stitches. You want to be careful when you're starting from an edge that has no reinforcement were thread doesn't jumble up in, um, your fabric doesn't get caught up in the the machine. Make sure and hold it tight. This is some pretty strong thread that I'm working with. This is the upholstery thread, and you can tell it's already it's wanting to pull. So just give it a tug and straight now, that fabric, I'm just gonna repeat that design on the other pocket, but in reverse. Here we go. So we have our to back pockets with their designs on them. And I have, um, facing this way. You can iron it right now. Here we have our pocket lining. We're gonna turn it, um, right side out. And we're so the bottom edge, and we're not gonna So a full half inch we're gonna So like, um, an eighth of an inch or something. Not an eighth. Sorry. 1/4 of an inch. We're going to do the same with the other one. Make sure it's the rights. Right side of the print is facing outside. No, we're gonna complete thes. Um, we're going to complete this French, seem by turning the pocket inside out again. And we're gonna so along the bottom edge, um, to conceal the edge of the fabric on the inside. So we're gonna so, um, more like 1/2 inch now just to conceal that edge To do the same with the other pocket, make sure you're sewing to the make sure the fabric isn't. Fold it over anything. Now we're gonna attach our coin pocket to the backsplash. Keep in mind you're gonna lose half an inch up of the top, so adjust that Ah, pocket where you want it. So we take our pocket lining and we put the backsplash and, um, coin pocket on the inside. You can see just how much of the pocket Ah, the coin pocket you're going to that will be visible to you. You're gonna lose about 1/4 of an inch off of the pocket lining. I'm just gonna move it down like that. And that looks pretty good to me. So you can pin it, um, in place. I am just gonna pull this over. Well, the under like that, And I'm gonna so along the edge of that coin pocket, this edge is going to be pretty sick. So keep that in mind. Um, when you're going over it, ideally, um, you would want to use an industrial machine for making denim jeans because there are so many little, um, spots that are pretty sick when they get folded up, Um, on industrial or at least a more heavy duty sewing machine is going to do better for you. You just want to keep in mind that it could be difficult for your machine. And you want to listen to your machine. If it's struggling and not force it, we're gonna take our backsplash pieces and, um, used the surgery along the curved edge, lift up the foot and slide it under there. Um, just because you're starting with kind of, ah, a small edge we go, There's our first piece, and our other pocket piece also surged the edge of the folded crotch piece and then the curved crotch piece. Okay, here we have our to, um, front pocket backsplashes with just the curved edge. Um, through the surgery, we're going to start by attaching to the back yoga's to the back leg pieces. You can go ahead and pin these. You don't have to pin them, but, um, it makes things a little bit easier to keep track of. We have our, um, back yoke pin to the back leg piece. We're gonna so a full half inch, um, all the way down. You don't have to use one, but I use a scrap of fabric to save the thread. Um, may not seem like you're saving threat wit if you don't have to pull the threads so it doesn't up into the machine every time. Um, then to me, you're saving thread. So we're gonna take our, um, two pieces over to the surgery and surge that edge. You wanna line up the, uh, the two needles here with, um, your existing stitch to make sure you're not going over that, Um, And then also make sure you're not cutting off too much fabric over here with the blade here. We have a nice ah edge that is not taking over our existing scene. We're going to take our pieces now and hold the scene over, um, to the bottom because we're gonna be sewing a top stitch over the bottom. Um, uh, edge. Sure. None of the fabric is getting folded on scene. Eso a couple stitches down and then so back over, um, second top stitch, making sure we still catch that. Ah, surgery edge is not totally perfect, but, um, it looks good to me. Now we're going to do the other side of the pants, other back leg. It's really important that you don't use thread that's too thick for your machine. This can cause a lot of problems, like broken needles, nodded up thread and can even damage your machine before we get started. There are a few things you're gonna need for this project before we get started there. A few weeks before we get started. There are a few things you're gonna need for this project. You're gonna need to take a few measurements. You're gonna need to take a few simple measurements so we can draft your custom pattern. It's really important that you remember to keep these measurements loose. Okay, You're gonna need to take a few simple measurements so we can draft the the measurements. We can draft your custom pattern. It's really important that you keep these measurements loose to leave for their Remember, you can always sick. It's really important. Okay, you're gonna need to take a few simple measurements so we can draft your custom pattern. It's really important that you keep these measurements loose. Um, just to leave room for error. because we can always take away more fabric. But we can't put it back Now. We can take our measurements and draft. Now we can take our measurements and draft our pattern with a few basic equations. Now we can take our measurements and draft our pattern with a few basic equations. Now we can take our measurements and draft our pattern using a few basic equations. Now that you have all your pieces cut, there are a few things. Now that you have all your pieces cut, there are a few things were going to do in preparation just to make the actual construction of the pants go smoothly. The way the back pockets look is entirely up to you. Really. The only thing limiting yeah, okay. With back pockets are designed is entirely up to This is a fun part is really only limited by your imagination. The way the back pockets look is entirely up. Teoh. The way the back pockets are designed is entirely up to you. Um, this is a really fun part that is really on that this is a fun part that is really only limited by your imagination. Now that we have the back part square way. We're going to get to work on the front pockets. Now that we have the back of the pants all squared away, we're gonna put together the front pockets. Okay? This is actually my favorite part of making pants. I know it scares a lot of people, but making the fly is actually a lot of fun. Okay, this is actually my favorite part of making pants. I know it scares a lot of you, but making the fun, but okay, this is actually my favorite part of making pants. I know it scares a lot of people, but making the fly, I think, is a lot of fun. I highly recommend that you first make a sample pair of pants with your pattern out of some cheap material. Like bedsheet or okay. I highly recommend that you first make a sample pair of pants from some cheap fabric just to make sure you are happy with your pattern and the fit and everything about it. I highly recommend that you first make a pair of sample pants out of your No, I highly recommend that you first make a pair of sample pants a sample pair of cheese. OK, I highly recommend that you first make a sample pair of jeans, um, out of some cheap fabric just to make sure you're happy with your pattern and the way that it fits. Before you go, any further test fit your genes. All right, before you go, any further test fit your jeans just to make sure they get you okay. Before you go any further before you go, any further test fit your jeans just to make sure they actually fit you. And you like the way that they fit. This is another really scary part of making pants for a lot of people, but it doesn't have to be. This is another scary part for a lot of people, but it doesn't have to be. Now for a few finishing touches. There are really so many ways that you can embellish your genes. Um, okay, Now, for a few finishing touches, there are really so many ways you could embellish a pair of jeans and just added, uh okay, now, for a few finishing touches, there really so many ways you can embellish or add a little something to your pair of jeans Ah, it's really only limited to your imagination again. Don't let the simplicity of the genes that we made today ah, limit your imagination and what you have in mind for your pair of jeans. Now, for a few finishing touches, there really so many ways you can embellish or add a little something to your genes. Don't let the simplicity of the genes that we made today limit your imagination. There you have it. Making your own pair of jeans a little less scary. Now, I'd love to see I would love to see. Okay, I would love to see you make your own pair of fitted jeans, and I'm here to answer any questions that you might have along the way. Thanks so much for taking my class. I hope you enjoyed it and learned a lot. And I can't wait to see some of your creations until next time. Have a beautiful day. Well, there you have it. Yeah. Yeah. And there you have it. You just made your own pair of jeans making your own para fitted jeans. A little less scary now. And there you have it. Ah, and there you have It is making your own pair of jeans at home a little less scary now. And there you have it. Does making your own pair of jeans at home seem a little less scary now? I would love to see you make your own pair of jeans. I would love to see you make your own pair of fitted jeans, and I'm here to answer any questions that you might have along the way. Thanks so much for taking my class. I hope you enjoyed it and learned a lot. And I look forward to seeing your creations until next time. Have a beautiful day. 7. Back Pockets: Now that we have the two back pieces, we're going Teoh, situate our back pockets are the placement of your pockets really matters. If you have your pockets too high, it's going to give the illusion of kind of a droopy butt or what I call guinea pig. But, um, and if the pockets are too low, it's gonna kind of make it look like you have a wedgie. Um, so we're gonna go, We're gonna go somewhere in the middle, and, um, we're gonna line the edge up with the edge of the pants. I'm going to measure this. Ah, about 1.5 inches that's gonna put the edge of my pockets at two inches in. And then we're gonna measure the top, um, up to the back yoke and make sure that's the same on both sides. And then we're gonna pin everything in place, doesn't hurt to double check and make sure the pockets haven't moved, and they're still in the same place. Now we're gonna pulled in the sides and the bottoms of the pockets and pinned those in place. This is gonna make it a lot easier to, um, two. So the pockets on. Now, we're just gonna measure one more time. Um, after the pockets have been pinned and make sure everything is still the same measurements , we're going to start with this top corner. It's pretty thick, so keep that in mind. I'm gonna lower my needle first and then just start sewing. We'll bring it to back stitch eso your thread doesn't start unraveling. Right? So along close to the edge as you can situate that needle exactly where you want it. Be careful not to run off the edge of the pockets when you get to the of throwing the edge of the pockets. Um, you want to reinforce that edge? So I take it in you jeans and that I'm you know, I'm gonna so at an angle, Teoh, um, toward the edge of the pocket again. And then I'm going Teoh. So along the existing seem take your time with the back pockets. Really well done. Back pockets are a thing of beauty, in my opinion, um, so be as precise as you can and or are willing to be. We're gonna angle it out again and, um, returned back to our initial, um, corner. He's gonna bring it down a few inches or a few stitches. Um, to reinforce that scene of stitch, you don't have to add Ah, another row of stitches. Here, you can bring it down just to ah, it's like a triangle. But the extra road does help to reinforce it. So instead of adding the extra row of stitches, this is what it would look like. Okay, Now you have both both of the, um, back leg pieces with the back pockets and back. Yo con. Now we're going to attach those along the, um but curve, you want to make sure that these seems right here are lined up, so we're gonna pin that in place a full half inch. We're gonna put that video, and we're gonna top stitch. Ah, close to the edge of that scene. You're nothing. It's folded in 8. Front Pockets: Now that we have the back of the pants all squared away, we're gonna put together the front pockets that's going to sit in there like that. You can feel, um, bottom edge of that backsplash. So to make our backsplash pattern, all we did was add two inches to the bottom of the piece that we cut out and curved that up to about one inch to the side. Uh um towards the crotch piece. This is about how much you're gonna lose when you attach the lining to the front leg pieces . First, you're going to attach the lining to the front leg piece like this in pennant in place so you don't get confused and do the same with the other side. We're gonna sew them together along that curve just along the curve. Don't forget to backstage. Now, after we've cut the little notches for the curb, we're gonna so atop scene pop stitch along that curve. But we want when we're holding it. We want the, um, lighting to be a little bit in side because we don't want to be able to see it. Um, poke out from the outside of the pants. We want to make sure nothing gets folded in when you're sewing this scene. So we're gonna top stitch on the top of the Denham just so that you can see there. There is a tiny bit of, um then I'm kind of, I guess were lapping the, um, not really overlapping. But you get the idea the lining is not showing from the outside. We're gonna so as close to the edge as we can manage. There we go. - There we go. There's our, um, pocket. So far, now we're gonna attach the backsplash to the pocket lining. We're gonna so ah, long edge. And then along this curve right here, just make sure everything is flat, and then we're going to so just there where it's, it holds over. And then along the edge, they were going to so the same around the edge. And, um, along the curb for the other pocket you want to so try to so in the middle of the surgery stitch, Now we're going to go around the edge. We're not gonna go full half inch for the, uh, seem we're going to just so along the very edge, just to keep those pieces together. Now we're gonna put a stitch here and making sure everything is flat. We're gonna stitch that together. Okay, here we go. Go ahead and do the same thing for the other side. Make sure you get all the layers in that edge. 9. The Fly: okay. This is actually my favorite part of making pants. I know it scares a lot of people, but making the fly, I think, is a lot of fun. You can go ahead and grab your crotch pieces. This curved crotch piece is going to go in the left, um, side of the pants and the folded crotch piece is going to be attached to the right side of the pants. Zipper is gonna be, um, attached right here and right here, and it's gonna be concealed when those are, um, top of each other. So we're just gonna go ahead and pin this, uh, edge right here, Get ready to So the zipper is gonna be pinned to this edge in turn over the zipper. So it's facing downward after you sew the zipper. Um, there you're gonna So this piece over, we're just going to So, um, along here with the full half inch seam allowance, - All right, now we're gonna take this piece and fold it along here, and then we're gonna go ahead and top stitch when you top stitch. Um, we always want the pretty seem, which is the top, seem ah, facing outwards. So we're gonna So, um, with the crotch piece downward and we're not going to So all the way to the edge of to the bottom of the crotch piece, we're going to go up, um, about an inch and start an inch from the bottom of the cross crotch piece. Now we're going to attach the zipper. If you have a zipper foot, go ahead in. Use that. Now. Um, I don't have a zipper foot for this machine, so I'm just going to so as close to the zipper as I can. Um, remember to leave a little bit of the denim showing underneath. Ah, for one. So you can make sure that you're not losing the Denham underneath E um, the zipper somewhere. And also, just to give it a little bit extra at this point, you're gonna have to move the zipper down past the zipper foot and go ahead and continue sewing. There we go. Now we're gonna take our folded crotch piece and lay it right over the zipper. And ah, just so it in place close to leverage as you can. - Now that we have our zipper sewn into one side, we're going to top stitch right along this edge. You don't need to. So all the way to the end, just to the end of the zipper. Now that you have the zipper attached to the folded crotch piece on the right side, we're, um we need to attach to the zipper to the other crotch peas. But before we do that, we need to attached both of the leg pieces. So we're gonna go ahead and pin those together, and we're gonna so up to this point here, just up Teoh, where that last seem ends, you want to make sure both of the crotch pieces are on the outside. You don't want those to get caught on the inside when you make your seem. So when you so these two pieces together, you want to keep the stitch on this side? Um, not you don't want it to go over to the crotch pieces. You want to stay on the leg, um, pieces right up to that seem. And then backstage. All right, this is what we have. We want the, um, left side to be able to cross over the to the right side about an inch. At least half an inch. Um, it's going to shift anyway when you sew it, we're going to start this seem the top stage right below that little, um, the edge of the zipper. Because we really don't want to hit that zipper. Um, when we're sewing. So we're going to start from here and go down and top stitch all the way down to the crutch . Make sure the layers of Dunham are pulled it over to the side that you're stitching. All right, Now we have our front abuse front of the pants, and we can attach the zipper to the other side of the fly. I'm just gonna pin this here to keep it in the same place. Make sure everything is nice and flat. You want a pen, your zipper to the other crouch piece. Double check and make sure it's in the right spot. You want it to be overlapping enough. So when you're wearing the jeans, it'll hide the zipper. All right, so now that we have our Zuber pinned to the other crotch piece ready to so we really don't want to. So it to the leg piece yet. So we want to get that out of the way. And ah, at this point, you can take away this pin. You take away these pins and go ahead and unzip the zipper. We'll make it easier for you to so so as close to the zipper as you can again. Having a zipper put for your machine is really helpful right now. And at this point, you're gonna need to move your zipper up past the sewing foot just to get it out of the way again. Go ahead and realign your zipper and continue sewing. Who had an put? Ah, second stitch in there just to, um, reinforce the zipper. I know that your zipper's attached. Um, we just need Teoh uh, top stitch. To do this, it's gonna be the edge of this crotch piece that we're attaching to the front leg piece. So we're gonna pin everything in place and, um, just sketch where you want the seem to go, you can feel with your finger, um, the edge of that crotch piece underneath, and you want to curb it into right below the end of the super. And then that second stitch is going to be going right there. I was going to reposition these needles to get them out of the way. You don't want to attach the folded crotch piece yet, so make sure that's out of the way Almost to the edge of the seem. We're not gonna go quite all the way yet. Go ahead and put in your second stitch and bring it almost to that scene. Now, we're going to reinforce this area right here. This area is going to get a lot of where. So we need a really strengthen it. I'm just gonna dio a, um, a zigzag. Turn it round, go back and forth for a while. My throat is pretty thick, so back stitching is a little iffy sometimes, especially over thick fabric. At this point, we want to make sure the folded crotch piece is underneath, and we're gonna put in this reinforcement right here. Okay, here we go. You can finish off this seem over here. I didn't finish out. Stitch. Go 10. Waistband: This is another scary part for a lot of people, but it doesn't have to be. We're going to start out by measuring the top of the pants all the way around, even that little bit that gets tucked underneath the other side. This one's about three and 1/4 so we're gonna add an inch for C Malala's. Then you want to put on your jeans and measure yourself about an inch to an inch and 1/2 above the top of your pants so we'll take the measurement of the top of the pants. We'll add an interest seam allowance, and for me, that comes to 35 a quarter. Then we're going to take Ah, your measurement. We're gonna add two inches for the part that gets tucked under and one interesting allowance, and that's gonna bring me to 33 a half. So the shape of your waistband pattern is gonna look something like this. You're longer measurement is going to be up at the longer edge of the top, and that's going to somehow curve and connect to the shorter measurement, uh, the bottom. So we're going to start with a straight line measure out your longest measurement. Find the middle, and from there, measure out, Um, your smaller measurement. So here we have the middle and here we have longer and in shorter measurement, you're gonna have to curb the measurement in. If your piece isn't curved, you're gonna have a gap behind your back. So we're just going to draw a line up from the ah, shorter measurement straight up. And then we're gonna take our tape measure and bring all the way to the edge of the longer measurement. Ah, find the middle point and hold that. They're at the middle point, and then we're going to take the edge and curve it up to create a nice curb. Um, you can eyeball this part and just curve it, Um, very gently up Teoh. Um, a point that looks right to we're gonna kind of piece together that curb with a few notches . We can go ahead and ah, draw that curve in again. It's just going to be a very gentle slope. We're going to measure up 1.5 inches all the way down the curve. We're going to close in the end of that with our writing a ruler, and then we're going to take the, uh, tape measure again. Go to the shorter measurement and curve that up and just make sure that comes to the right measurement, and it does. So we're gonna feeling that curve. Then go ahead and put in your seam allowance of happen. Inch all the way around. You can use the ruler, or you can use the French curve, or you can pretend it whatever method gets you there. So we're going to cut this out and flip it over to the other side. Gonna hold it right here of this middle line. No, we're just gonna trace it and cut it out. You wanna make sure you have left enough fabric, um, or cutting out your waistband pieces. They really should be one continuous piece. Okay, so you're gonna take your to, ah, pieces, and you're gonna so just along the top edge, which is going to be the shorter length, you know? So the sides and then the top edge all the way down. No. We're going to cut off the corner. Be careful. Ah, that you don't cut through your thread. This is gonna help it um, the corner turned out okay, Now we're gonna So this part of the waste bend to the top of the pants. You're going to use that full half inch seam allowance all the way down. This may take some time just to make sure, um, all your layers air in place and that you're getting a nice, continual, even curve without any fabric bunching up, and you're gonna have a little bit of fabric at the end that you can cut off. But it's a lot better to have, um, extra fabric on the end so you don't have to pull your waistband constantly all the way down. So we're just gonna go right up to the edge of this, um, the top of the pants and you can see we have about an inch, uh, extra left over. So we're just gonna so that straight down, remember it back stitch that we're going to cut that piece off and the corner. All right, you can see your corner is nice and pointy. You turn it. Ah, right side out again. Now we're gonna so all the way along the top of the ah waistband all the way around we need to tuck this little corner in first, though. We're just gonna tuck that in and under like that. We're going to start from the bottom. Ah, edge and so up to the corner. And then So all the way around the waistband. You wanna make sure none of, ah, your fabric is being folded inside that seem when it's on the very edge of that, um, the waistband seem, And then you just want to so back down to the bottom corner of the way. Spin. Remember to talk that little piece in at the end. Just want to conceal that. The next thing we're going to do is just fold this edge underneath on the backside all the way down. We want to fold it in a way that when you're doing for the top stitch, it's going to catch on the other side. So we can Dio is just pin that in place all the way around the waistband. Would you have the entire waistband pinned? You can go ahead. And so it we're just going to start, um, along this edge where we left off and then we're gonna turn. And so all the way down the waistband. Remember to check often, Um, that the layer underneath the other side of the waistband is still, um, still being caught in the stitch. You're not losing it underneath there somewhere. This part can be kind of a slow process. You just want to really make sure everything is nice in, ah, flush and flat. And you're getting both of those layers underneath. All right, there we go. Looks lace. It's really important that you don't use thread that's too thick for your machine. This can cause a lot of problems. Like broken needles, nodded up thread and can even damage your machine before we get started. There are a few things you're gonna need for this project before we get started there. A few weeks before we get started. There are a few things you're going to need for this project. You're gonna need to take a few measurements. You're gonna need to take a few simple measurements so we can draft your custom pattern. It's really important that you remember to keep these measurements loose. Okay, You're gonna need to take a few simple measurements so we can dress the little measurements we can draft your custom pattern. It's really important that you keep these measurements lose to leave for their Remember you can always take. It's really important. Okay, you're gonna need to take a few simple measurements so we can draft your custom pattern. It's really important that you keep these measurements loose, Um, just to leave room for error, because we can always take away more fabric, but we can't put it back Now. We can take our measurements and drive. Now we can take our measurements and draft our pattern with a few basic equations. Now we can take our measurements and draft our pattern with a few basic equations. Now we can take our measurements and draft our pattern using a few basic equations. Now that you have all your pieces cut, there are a few things were going to do just to prepare and make the actual construction of the pants go smoothly. Now that you have all your pieces cut, there are a few things now that you have all your pieces cut, there are a few things were going to do in preparation just to make the actual construction of the pants go smoothly the way the back pockets. Look is entirely up to you. Really. The only thing limiting yeah, okay. With back pockets are designed is entirely up to This is a fun part is really only limited by your imagination. The way the back pockets look is entirely up to you. The way the back pockets are designed is entirely up to you. Um, this is a really fun part that is really and that this is a fun part that is really only limited by your imagination. Now that we have the back part square way, we're going to get to work on the front pockets. Now that we have the back of the pants all squared away, we're gonna put together the front pockets. Okay? This is actually my favorite part of making pants. I know it scares a lot of people, but making the fly is actually a lot of fun. Okay, this is actually my favorite part of making pants. I know it scares a lot of you, but making the fun, but okay, this is actually my favorite part of making pants. I know it scares a lot of people, but making the fly, I think, is a lot of fun. I highly recommend that you first make a sample pair of pants with your pattern out of some cheap material like, ah, bedsheet or Okay, I highly recommend that you first make a sample pair of pants from some cheap fabric just to make sure you are happy with your pattern and the fit and everything about it. I highly recommend that you first make a pair of sample pants out of your No, I highly recommend that you first make a pair of sample pants a sample pair of jeans. Okay, I highly recommend that you first make a sample pair of jeans, um, out of some cheap fabric, just to make sure you're happy with your pattern and the way that it fits. Before you go, any further test fit your genes. All right, Before you go, any further test fit your jeans just to make sure they get you okay. Before you go any further before you go, any further test fit your jeans just to make sure they actually fit you. And you like the way that they fit. This is another really scary part of making pants for a lot of people. But it doesn't have to be. This is another scary part for a lot of people, but it doesn't have to be. Now for a few finishing touches. There are really so many ways that you can embellish your genes. Um, okay, now, for a few finishing touches, there are really so many ways you could embellish a pair of jeans and just Adam. Uh, okay. Now, for a few finishing touches, there really so many ways you can embellish or add a little something to your pair of jeans . Ah, it's really only limited to your imagination again. Don't let the simplicity of the genes that we made today limit your imagination and what to have in mind for your pair of Jeez. Now, for a few finishing touches, there really so many ways you can embellish or add a little something to your genes. Don't let the simplicity of the genes that we made today limit your imagination. There you have it, making your own pair of jeans a little less scary. Now I'd love to see I would love to see Okay, I would love to see you make your own pair of fitted jeans, and I'm here to answer any questions that you might have along the way. Thanks so much for taking my class. I hope you enjoyed it and learned a lot. And I can't wait to see some of your creations until next time. Have a beautiful day. Well, there you have it. No. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And there you have it. You just made your own pair of jeans making your own para fitted jeans. A little less scary now. And there you have it. Uh, and there you have it. Is making your own pair of jeans at home a little less scary now. And there you have it. Does making your own pair of jeans at home seem a little less scary Now, I would love to see you make your own pair of jeans. I would love to see you make your own pair of fitted jeans, and I'm here to answer any questions that you might have along the way. Thanks so much for taking my class. I hope you enjoyed it and learned a lot. And I look forward to seeing your creations until next time. Have a beautiful day 11. Front to Back: Now it's time to attach the front to that. So we're going to do that along the inseam, We're gonna line up the seems of the crotch, and we're gonna pin everything from the crotch down. This is gonna show us if our legs were the same links. In this case, it looks like our right leg is about happening Wonder than our backs legs. We're gonna worry about that later and, uh, go ahead. And so it looks like our other leg is just as much, uh, longer on the other side. So that's good news for us. It means legs won't be all weird and twisted. All right, Before you go any further test your just make sure thank you. You can Dio is in one side of the legs front in the back, legs together as your, uh, wearing them on the other side. You type it for me. Everything looks to be getting pretty well, except there's still Cem excess fabric right under the But so I'm gonna show you how to take care of that. If that happens to you take are insane and, uh, in a little bit more, we're just gonna take a chunk out of it. Start with a little bit at a time because, you know, you can always take away more, but you can't put it back. All this fabric is gonna be going away. Sketch the other side, trying to make them even here. Is that point in the middle of the crunch. We're gonna so right along the, uh, chalk mark on the trail and work right on again. If you like it. Go ahead and was a surgery finish that scene. Now that we have these attached, we're gonna do the top seen pop stitch all the way down. So we're gonna attach the outsides of pants You're going over that obvious angles from back you to the bottom of the from the back yoke to the top of the back leg pieces. You can curb that and you don't have to do such a sharp angle. I just want to make sure all your layers are being accounted for. You saw these together and take the who half inch seam allowance if you can. If you can afford to do that so it looks like our pant leg is an even half inch long on the backside, which is great news for us because it means that it won't be twisted and work. Wear it. I hadn't put it through the surgery. You can top stitch the out, seem, um, all the way down you about ah, a few inches or so below the front pocket and you want a top stage over backside of the pants that make sense. Top city over the back leg piece. Um, this is gonna be front pocket from pulling and being all weird. When you're wearing the pants, there's the front pocket and I have just top stitch over the back, especially if they're a little bit tight on you. This is gonna help a lot with that, and it's also going to reinforce that area. 12. Finishing Touches: now for a few finishing touches. There really so many ways you can embellish or add a little something to your genes. Don't let the simplicity of the genes that we made today limit your imagination. So we're going to start by digging out those Ah, but loops that you sowed earlier, and we're gonna just separate all of them. Your belt loops are going to go. Ah, here and here on the front and then here on the back, lined up with the back pocket. And then there's gonna be one in the middle of the back there. So you want to make sure you're pretty Stitch is facing outward, you know, fold under the, um, top of the belt loop and light it up with the top of the waistband. And you're just going to go, uh, over it a few times back and forth, and then you're going to do the same thing with the bottom part folded underneath. You're just gonna do that with all of the belt loop? This area is gonna be really thick. This, um point on the back. All right. No, We're going to cut off that extra Ah, from the cup of the genes. We're gonna pulled it inward like this twice. We'll put in place just to make it easier. All right, Once it's pinned all the way around, you're gonna so on the top part because that's where your pretty stitches gonna show. So you can feel with your finger the edge of that fold underneath and try to stay on that, you know? All right, we are almost done. We just need to attach the buttons. So your buttonhole needs to be about an eighth of an inch bigger than your button. So we're just gonna make a little box, and that box is going to be really so, uh, the buttonhole. I'm gonna show you how to sew it first. Ah, on your regular machine with a zigzag stitch. You just want to So a basic, uh, seem all the way around this box twice is sufficient. There we go. There's our stitch that we're going to go over to zigzag, and we're going to They get a really, really um short lengths we're just going to do is exact all the way around that box. This is gonna take some practice if you've never done buttonhole like this before Just getting knows a zigzags lined up. We're gonna take our seem ripper and just poke it through that space in the middle. And, um, as you can see, our whole is obviously too small for a button. It may take several tries for you toe find buttonholed that you're happy with. I'm gonna show you how to do a buttonhole with this brother household machine. This has a lot of different embroidery stitch options, buttonhole stitch options as well. The first thing you need to do is change out your sewing foot. So there's a little lever in the back. You just push that and it drops out. Here's our buttonhole, so input the button pops in here in the back. And then this little bar in the front is what attaches to the machine right here. So you might need to lift up your lever a little bit more and then just pop it in place. There you go. You also need to pull down this little lever here that's going to tell the machine how big to make the buttonhole. You're gonna see your buttonhole being made, um, through this little window. So we're gonna do our selection on this scrap. Ah, if that is the edge of the pants, this is how we're gonna eso are buttonhole because it's going to go kind of backwards, and then you just need to push down the foot, and it will do it all by itself. We're gonna take our seem ripper and rip the middle. Oh, be careful not to rip the, uh, the seams while you're doing this. Here we go perfect size for our button for the sake of continuity. And, um, because they want the same thread on, uh, that I used on the rest of my pants I'm going to do the zigzag option is that thread that I'm using again is a little too thick for the brother machine. There we go. So the button has this little nail kind of looking piece that gets hammered into the back of it to figure out where you're gonna put your button, Um, you and a layer Jean's own flat and just poke Ah, the shock or crayon through the hole. Um, to the very outside of the whole, we're gonna take our nail piece and ah, poke it through the jeans and they were going to take it out and poke it back through on the other side. This was just so we could find the right place to put it. Now we're gonna take our but in and you want to lay down a piece of scrap fabric underneath on top of your cutting board or whatever you're hammering on and just hammer it. Probably one light tap is good enough to secure it, and it's not gonna move. Here we go. 13. Conclusion: and the genes are officially complete. I have to say I'm pretty happy with the way these turned out my body make my butt look pretty nice. They're highway sit, which is just what I wanted have this beautiful salvage edge along the sides in the waistband hugs my body. These jeans are no longer a figment of my imagination. You could take what you learned today to make more things like he's cool floral pants for summer. Or you can modify the pattern and make shorts. Once you nail down your own pattern, the possibilities are really endless. I would love to see you make your own pair of fitted jeans, and I'm here to answer any questions that you might have along the way. So much for taking my class. I hope you enjoyed it and learned a lot, and I look forward to seeing your creations