Petite Ginger Jeans!

I’m always up for a challenge and up to this point I have been a jeans nay-sayer. “You can’t make your own jeans for many technical limitations, blah, blah, blah! “(Which I voiced in a previous post, that has inexplicably disappeared for some unknown and unrelated reason-seriously!). But leave it to Heather of Closet Case Files to prove me wrong! When she released her latest and greatest Ginger Jeans pattern I was intrigued. I got down off my high horse and decided to take them for a spin.

I cut out the first pair in the actual fabric as I knew the changes I would need to be made would be minor and only petite in nature. Heather knows a good pant shape, so don’t mess with it too much (see Pant Philosophy). (disclaimer: this fit was tester version, so the crotch issues have been cleared up.) I basted it together and then made my petite alterations, including reducing the inseam so it is ankle length and good for flats:

Because RTW jeans are sewn together with a chain stitch machine, and I am not fabulously wealthy enough to own my own, nor have unlimited space, I had to make due. So because these are slim and take a lot of tension and pulling, I reinforced the seams with 3 lines of stitches along the inseam and out seam. Overkill? Perhaps, but splitting my pants is one of those fears for me, akin to visiting the dentist for some.

Next up- I’m spoiled and I will flaunt it now. I work in the NYC Garment District so I walk one block north to get my jean button and rivets put in then I walk two blocks south to Jonathan Embroidery to get my keyhole buttonhole and bar tacks done. Voila! These look pretty snazzy don’t you think? Now be selective about the denim you choose. I mistakenly let the fabric dude and Mood talk me into this denim because “it’s a beautiful Ralph Lauren!” Well, big mistake. This stuff is as stiff as cardboard and spoiler alert: I have a hard time bending my knees because of it. No flying round-house kicks here. Whatever denim you think is perfect, go just a little bit lighter weight then that.

These turned out really great! There are only two things I would change: my selection of denim (major fail on my part) and I would reduce the back pocket bag length. The alterations photo is left blank as this is totally personal preference. For me I would even reduce a full inch in length, but it’s up to how petite you are!