Jeans journey begins

 The gift of time! Monday was a statutory holiday in Ontario, so I had a day off. But for a strange reason, federal employees don't have the day off (something to do with the collective agreement already had a certain amount of days off when Family day was instated...). So I had the house to myself.

My plan was to get lots done. I had school work, and sewing plans. 

My sewing plans were to trace two patterns while I had the dining room table to myself: the jeans pattern and the McCalls jumper pattern. I had also watched bits of my jeans fitting class (Craftsy, Jennifer Stern-Haseman, The Perfect Jeans: Fitting Techniques for Every Body).

There were bits of her instructions I was not sure about. She has you do your measures, including your actual, natural waist. However, the jeans don't go up to your actual waist. And she spends a lot of time in one of the first lessons on how to adjust the rise. BUT SHE DOESN'T SAY HOW TO TELL IF YOU NEED TO ADJUST THE RISE. Fortunately, I have also had pinned this blog  Lifting pins and needles at a page titled "14 Top Jean PREP sewing tips & secrets" based on a different jeans pattern which maybe I should have used? She gave me the idea to measure the rise on my pattern, and I compared that to my usual jeans. 

Anyway, I traced the three main pieces I need for a muslin, then went to start tracing (and redesigning) the jumper, but I did not have enough of the Swedish tracing paper.

So I went directly to cutting out a really cheap muslin of the jeans. Not even quite full length... The fabric for this muslin - an old bedsheet may not survive the manipulation of being a muslin - it already has a tear in it! But I just wanted to get the initial sense of the leg width. 

The initial fit seems mostly fine but a bit snug. I have been thinking about this today, and since the fabric is 100%non-stretch, I think I will let out the hips a tiny bit, and possibly make another recommended adjustment. The waist is at the correct spot, but I may need to adjust because when I sit it does pull down. (my fitting course has the solution for that).

I am also worried that there is a bit too much fabric at the back - but I don't think she deals with that! 

I will definitely be making a second muslin before cutting into the main fabric!