Hi everyone,
I hope you had a nice weekend. We received our first bit of snow and VERY cold temperatures. It was the first time I’ve had to wear a jacket since it was cold back in March.
Just in case you didn’t see my comment about Charlotte late Saturday night, she fell and broke her arm, just below her shoulder and has been in a lot of pain. I told her the Sofa Sisters would come to her aid and pray for her. She’ll be knocked out of dressing her dolls and sewing for them for a while… I hope you’re feeling slightly better Charlotte and I hope Ron is taking good care of you now! :o)
DesignDreamer asked about what pattern I used for the shirt for James…Here is a link to the pattern on Etsy…
Last night my hubby came in my sewing room and said, “Are you STILL working on jeans? (It was obvious I was… denim scraps were everywhere!) When I said, “yes, trying to get the right fit on James…” he said, “don’t you think you should be sewing dresses… Christmas dresses?” Uhhh… yes, I guess I should be…
I was just trying to get this jeans pattern figured out for good, so I’d have a nice pattern to work with…without having to think about how the pieces were going to fit…
I did make another pair last night…and lowered the waist, like so many of you said… but it may be just slightly too low… I changed it on my pattern to make it a smidgen higher… and I changed the crotch depth just a bit too…
Here are the pictures of James in his latest denim jeans…
Here are two close up pictures…
I did make a little leather belt to go with them but the stiffener I put on it was still wet…
So I wanted to see if I could make a pair of light khaki pants using the pattern but making just the legs a tiny bit wider… they were coming along perfectly and I LOVED how they were looking as I sewed the pieces together… but when I got done they seemed too baggy…UGH!
See how they are pulling in the crotch area? They are too tight and the crotch seam is too far forward… so it needs to be moved to the back a little bit… I pulled on the legs from the side to show you how they should hang on their own…
I’ve gotten quite the collection of jeans… don’t you think?
Some of them are epic fails and others were just made to see how certain changes made a difference…
I’ve made a few very slight changes to the denim ones I showed first and hope to have a good working pattern the next time I try to make a pair…and then we can get on with Christmas…
Sorry, if you’ve been bored with the process of making/tweaking these jeans… if you wait too long between your changes, you’ll forget what needed to be done to make them fit better. (Just between you and me, I’d like them to be a perfect fit!) :o)
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
Jeanne, I’m so sorry to hear about Charlotte. I’m hoping and praying that she recovers soon, or at least is painfree. Something like that can upset your whole daily routine in a blink of an eye!
Yes, it has been cold around here, and our snow is gone, except for a few places here and there, mostly on the north side of the house. However, tonight we should get another round, but it won’t be as much as Saturday’s snow. At least that’s what they are saying!
Yes, I am getting anxious to see some Christmas dresses made, since I have no boy dolls and probably never will. However, girls wear jeans too, so it is always nice to have a pattern that fits well.
Still no blog coming for me via email. 🙁
Love the details about James jeans. I learn so much by reading them. He can wear those ‘trials and errors’ for play clothes… and because boys do wear out the knees you’ll have ‘patch material’!🤗
Now I remember why I seldom make pants for MY dolls! I have trouble for myself too. I liked the fit of the light blue, they just seemed a little high waisted. The tushy and leg width seemed fine. I like the longer length like the soom doll inspiration pattern had. Just my 2 cents
And boys do dress up for Christmas too! AND they don’t require any accessories.
Have you thought of a Kilt? LOL
Charlotte, lots of prayers going your way. I hope the pain stops really soon. God bless.
Oh, so sorry to hear about Charlotte’s accident. Hope the pain gets under control very soon as well. Be thinking of her, and hope she is able to get some help around the house until she’s back in the pink again.
I had no idea that Jeanne had made so many pairs of jeans in the “Jeanne” frenzy. They all look great, but as we know, to get that perfect fit it takes a master craftswoman to complete the task. Yesterday, on our local PBS channel they had a program on a factory that makes jeans by hand using many vintage machines. It was fascinating to me, and I’m sure others would love it as well. As they were tacking that fly, I almost jumped up and shouted, Jeanne, check this out! 🙂 If I can find a link, or maybe someone else might, I’ll include it later.
Thanks so much for the shirt link. Not that I would attempt one myself. I tend to stick to the simpler stuff. 🙂
Can’t believe that it is below 32 this morning. Good thing I covered the jade plant on the porch last evening. This is unusual for us at this time of year. Usually, more of a January thing. Keep warm everyone.
I found the listing for PBS. It is called Craftsman’s Legacy #403 The Jeans Maker All you have to do is look it up, and I think you can view anytime. It was very interesting. Apparently there is another series called Rivited, which is also might be interesting. 🙂
Hi Joy,
I found the PBS series, but when I tried to view it, it said to make a donation before I could view it… I might try again on my desktop… I was trying to find it on my phone…
I did see another video called Roy, the human jeans maker… it was pretty interesting…
Thanks, Jeanne
Seems like forever since I could find you☺️
I just signed up again to see if that will send me the blog each day.
Charlotte I’m so sorry about that arm. That is the only thing about internet buddies….. no pot of soup or box of cookies brought to you. Yes you will be added to the prayer list. Don’t be afraid to take some pain meds…it will help get you past the worst of it.((Hugs))
Jeanne…your patience is never ending. Pants are so tricky. Wonder if a lighter weight denim that has a bit of stretch in it would be easier to get the fit right?
I bought a pair of jeans at the UFDC convention from Dianna Effners both and they fit the little darling perfect. You had to wiggle them on…there was no waist opening…just enough stretch in the fabric to pull them up. I traced them and did make a decent pair…once☺️
Have a good week everyone.
Wow. Lots of jeans, but the fine tuning is proving very challenging. Why do I think you are actually enjoying this? Almost there, Jeanne, and the shirt is super, and you apparently have figured out what you will do the next time to make it even better. You’re quite the thinker and seamstress, etc, etc, etc.
CHARLOTTE, I saw Jeanne’s comment about your accident yesterday and wrote a comment. We are all so terribly sorry this happened. I, for one, most truly hope this happened after the baby shower because you were SO excited about it. I pray your broken bone is getting the proper attention and care. I am just so, so sorry and saddened this happened. Prayers? You bet! Be good to yourself and be a good patient.
Some snow here last night. Tonight is supposed to get down to 8. Thank goodness for heat and warm clothes. I am most grateful for what I have.
Is everyone else getting the daily email for this blog? I am still tapping into the previous blog every time. Looking forward to the next installment of Jeans 101.
Hi Sally,
Yes, I’m still getting the blog to my Inbox each day. It hasn’t skipped a day for me. The second one that came to my promotions folder is gone now and has been since Jeanne got her blog back, but I always deleted that one anyway so who cares.
I don’t get the next installment on my emails either. I resubscribed, but that didn’t help.
Sally, I haven’t gotten the blog in my email since Jeanne had that problem either. I have to use an old blog to get it. I used to get two, but now, none,
You are right to get these pants right while you are working on them and to end up with a perfect pattern. If the girls are shaped a bit differently, some of the earlier efforts might work for them. That shirt is a treasure. Then he’ll need a leather book bag for school. Then you can go back to Christmas, New Year’s and Midwinter (which always works well for Kirsten).
Charlotte’s break sounds miserable. I had a high break like that — high enough that a cast didn’t work, so I had to be quite careful. I used a big Ace bandage, which my mother rewound every couple of days. The possibilities for dressing were limited because I couldn’t raise my arm. We cut some blouses from the neck to the shoulder to the end of the sleeve and sewed on ribbons to tie the shoulder and sleeve after it was on. (We bought new cheap loose blouses for this,)
Years earlier I had broken a bone in my hand and friends said to take lots of calcium. My doctor was thrilled at my progress. He said, “You are a fast healer.” Then I stopped taking the calcium and on the next visit I had made no progress at all. Back to the calcium. I’ve broken bones twice since and always take lots of calcium, but of course, you always have check with your doctor to be sure that it won’t cause a different problem. When you are young, your body will handle almost anything. Later it gets fussier. A 91 year old neighbor said, “You pay a price for living a long time.” But it’s worth it.
You probably know that you can have groceries delivered by Instacart.com. The delivery person can bring them right into your kitchen.
Hi Marilyn,
You shared great tips! I’m so very sorry about the broken bones : ( but happy you healed quickly. Your neighbor is right.. it really is sooo worth it!
Good Morning Jeanne,
Goodness you are a perfectionist! Pants are a pain in the you know what! LOL
I think George is right, Christmas dresses should be your focus. After all there will be plenty of time after the holidays for tweaking James jeans. 🙂 just my humble opinion…Ohh ok it’s really because I want/need a new Christmas dress for my dumpling hehehehe…
I know about poor Charlotte and feel sooo bad, she knows my prayers are with her. I have Charlotte’s address if any of the sofa sisters would like to send her a card. I’m sure she won’t mind me sharing it with just the sisters. You can email me at just_ingrid1960@yahoo.com
Woke up to a snowy blanket yesterday. It really was so picture perfect and so very pretty. I wish I’d thought to take a photo. It’s all gone today. Winter wouldn’t be so bad if one day the snow was here and the next it was gone! lol
Hope everyone is well and staying safe
Hugs
Ingrid
What a slew of jeans you have created. Maybe they will fit some of your girl dolls and you can create an outfit around your “experiments”. The jeans you think are too low look a lot like some of the ones on men I see walking around. And you have not yet created a pair of hip hop pants (thank Heaven). I always thought how lucky men are that “waist” is not an issue for them. I used to have one, even after I had my children but these days I can’t seem to find it anywhere.
We had our first cold front (definitely not a misnomer) go through here Friday. The temperature dropped 40 degrees when it blew through and then kept dropping. I’m seriously thinking of firing my HVAC people. That would be my two sons. When they installed my new system back in early summer they got the A/C going but “postponed” hooking up my heater because they needed to do something regarding the size of the lines. I can see where it wasn’t high on their priority list at the time since we were having 100+ degree temps nearly every day. When David was heading to his shop Saturday he said he was going to have to put on the heat. I said lucky you we don’t have heat in the house. He said what! It seems I was the only one who remembered it had never been hooked up. Evidently it was one of those things where Sean thought Jason did it and Jason thought Sean did it and David was sure one or the other had done it. We have an electric fireplace/entertainment center and the fireplace contains a heater so we closed the door to the kitchen and turned that on. It helped but today they will officially hook up the heater so the whole house will be warm. It is really late for us to have our first serious cold front and usually the first couple are not too bad and might have triggered a reminder about the furnace before the night temps were in the 30s as they have been.
I am so terribly sorry to hear about Charlotte. If I lived closer I would definitely give her a hand with things. She was so excited about her upcoming sewing projects and I know how disappointed she must feel. I will be praying for her recovery and for her pain to go away quickly.
Just looked out my window and it is pouring down rain. Saturday and Sunday were cold but clear and beautiful. Today is going to be cold and rainy. Perfect day to head to my sewing room.
So happy to hear that you will have heat! Don’t want to get frostbite in your sewing room. 🙂
Hi Barbara, Your fireplace sounds cozy but I hope the heat is on at your place soon. Enjoy your sewing time and new machine.
Oh Charlotte, I’m so very sorry about your broken arm. I will be praying that it heals quickly. What an unfortunate thing to happen right before the Thanksgiving/Christmas season. Rest and take good care of yourself.
That’s quite the jean collection you have going there, Jeanne. As far as jeans/ pants go only one of my dolls ever wears them. Gilead has a pair of capris and a pair of 1980’s style jeans I bought from Etsy. It was the seller’s pattern and you could buy the pattern or pay $8 more and have her make them. The pattern was fairly easy, but my time was more valuable. Other that that my dolls wear dresses or skirts. If I ever did have a boy doll he would wear pioneer, Civil War, Victorian/Edwardian or 1930’s styles.
Personally, I’d rather see some Christmas dresses as well. Christmas and Easter/ spring dresses are my favorites. You only have 41 days until Christmas!
Dear Charlotte, It is late but I want you to know how very sorry I am that this happened to you. You are foremost on my prayer list. I pray you are getting the care you need and have a great healing result. We look forward to the day that we see your comments first every day.