The Jamie Jean from Named Clothing

This is my first post on The Monthly Stitch and I am cutting it very close on posting my February Challenge of Pants.

Buying jeans is a nightmare. I love to sew them. I started hearing about this Named Jamie Jean and wanted to try it.

The Jamie Jean is a skinny jean. Named Clothing Co. is in Finland. This is a downloadable pattern, but only has 16 pages with 2 sizes per page. When you buy it, you get all six sizes-34-44.The instructions are in a separate file.

I used a cotton/poly/lycra jacquard with tone on tone black zebra stripes. I bought the fabric while on a very quick trip through my local Joann’s. I was there to get thread for another project and told myself that if they had a tone on tone stretch denim that I could get it to make the jeans. Well, they had it! I only spent $15 for the fabric, because it was on sale, too!

I really enjoyed sewing this pattern. Once the 16 pages were assembled, it had to be traced because the pieces were overlapped. It also had the seam lines printed, along with another size. It was a little disorienting at first, but it was easy to trace because I used tissue paper. I wasn’t sure about the pattern.

There were a lot of pages in the instructions, but the real instructions only had 9 steps. Some of these were broken down into smaller steps. I did try to follow directions, but I also like to serge multiple pieces at a time. This caused me to jump around a little. I also ended up sewing the back pocket a little different than they did, but it is on and I’m not taking it off.

The majority of the instructions were great. The order of the steps were logical and explained well. Unfortunately, the instructions for the zipper left me–with a lot of practice putting in zippers–confused. Once I figured it out, the zipper went in well, but it wasn’t very straight forward.

I really like the top stitching on the front seam and inseam. It really adds a subtle high end detail. The front pocket is also different than the standard western jean pocket, which requires the front seam. I’m not sure if I am a fan of the front seam yet. It feels a little odd, but since I like the jean, I might try harder to get used to it.

I made no alterations to the pattern. In fact, I haven’t even hemmed them. I usually wait a few washings before making a final hem because of shrinkage. I hate it when I love a jean and it ends up too short.

For more on the Jamie Jean please visit my blog, Mrs. Toad Sews.