I have been sewing for almost four decades and have never attempted to make jeans. I’ve worked with denim in many capacities but have never attempted jean style pants. The thought of applying that button with a jeans rivet kit, inserting the fly front zipper correctly and stitching through all those heavy layers (while trying not to break 50 needles) was intimidating.
When I came across this Simplicity pattern S8701, my first thought was to make the pants out of cotton or linen fabric and just use a regular button. But I’ve always had to alter purchased jeans in some kind of way and constructing my own would give me a custom fit. I had some extra denim fabric, from a maxi skirt that I had made previously made and thought, “Why not?”
The pants require a 7″ zipper, one 1/2″ jean style button (with rivet kit) and 1/4 yard of lightweight, fusible interfacing for the waistband. I always alter the length of my pattern pieces before cutting. This is one less adjustment to make after construction. I cut a size 12 for the lower hip area, even though I wear a size 6 or 8 in ready-made clothes. I rounded off the mid-waist to a size 10 before bringing the high waist in for a finished size 8. Then I proceeded to install the waistband.
In the world of sewing patterns, you have to abandon the size you think you are and focus on the fit. The finished measurements of all patterns are across the board and do not coincide with “standard” size clothing off the racks.
Inserting the fly front zipper was not hard at all. Installing the rivet style button was much easier than expected as well. I followed the instructions on the rivet tool kit, and it worked like a charm! Lastly, I left the bottom side open on each leg and the hem unfinished. I want them to fray just a little bit.
After I installed and topstitched the waistband, I wished that I had done the traditional contrast stitching. That toffee brown color would have been a nice compliment to this shade of azure blue. That’s alright. Now that I’ve gotten past my inhibitions of making jeans, I’ll add that contrast stitching the next time. I’m fortunate to have a heavy-duty Singer sewing machine which also made the construction smoother. I definitely recommend using Simplicity pattern S8701. The illustrations and instructions were clear and concise. They made it “simple”.
