Bell Bottomed Jeans Burda Style 2009-11-125, version #2

My younger daughter is thrilled with the response to her jeans. She is claiming to have started a trend (thanks Joy) and to be very fashionable. I unkindly pointed out to her that using a 2009 pattern probably meant that she was not quite on the cutting edge of fashion, but this did not seem to have much effect on her euphoria. I thought sewing euphoria only worked for the seamstress, but it seems to have a wider effect than I suspected. I am pleased to join Joy's sew-a-long, as I have already finished! (The only way I can finish on time at the moment seems to be by starting early)
The flattering cut of the jeans did inspire a request for a pair from daughter the first. As seems to be the case lately, this was a last minute, rushed job. She left for a visit to her grandparents on Thursday night, and I started them on Tuesday night, after finishing daughter the second's pair after work on Monday night so that she could wear them to her friend's house on Tuesday. I am getting good at this mid-week sewing! I am using this as an excuse for the dodgy hem photo you will see later in the post.



To respond to justlikeaboughtone this is how I sew a lot. My only sewing "secret" is that I sew all-the-time and instead of doing other things (including some where my decision to sew instead of doing them is not necessarily the correct decision). Also, I am now in the fortunate position of having a sewing room, where I can leave a project in the middle, with all the pins in and the scissors on the table, as my children are past the dangerous objects up high stage. Not having to put things away saves a lot of time.

(Daughter the first did wag a "spare" at school so that we could measure for the hem - don't tell. I said in the note to school that she had to keep an appointment, just didn't mention the with me bit)



The pocket stitching is from her design, and were much more tricky to sew than her sister's. Can you tell she takes Graphics?

As she was not permitted to try on her sister's jeans, I had her try on the calico toile, which was a little tight in places. Completely forgetting my last post, where I whined about denim stretching, I carefully adjusted for the tight places, so now both girls have slightly too large jeans. Fortunately they do not care. I also lengthened the toile by about 7cm, for the longer legs, but mysteriously, then had to remove about 3cm in hemming. This may have been measurement error, or possibly my addition of back crotch length after adjusting for leg length. The hemming issue has reduced the volume of the bell a little, but the trousers still have a pleasing shape.



Despite the enthusiasm for this pattern in the comments on the last post, when I looked at patternreview last week, it had not yet been reviewed. As Audrey points out, this pattern is from one of the Take1-Make4 articles. There is one review of the straight pair, #124, but I thought I would detail my design and construction changes to the pattern here as I may not get around to writing a review for a few days. They fit the girls pretty much like other Burda patterns, so the fitting adjustments were not unusual. They may be slightly longer than standard Burda trousers.



1. POCKETS
Instead of patch pockets with a buttoning flap at the front, and in-seam side pockets, I chose to use more traditional jean style pockets. The back pockets are from Jalie jeans 968, and the front pockets were drawn free hand on the toile, and checked for position and hand access at this point. The inner pocket part is quilting cotton, but I left the visible, under part of the pocket as denim, as there is a front stay pocket extension.
When constructing the pockets, I stitched in the ditch of the front leg central seam to further attach the stay and to prevent pocket bulge.
2. TABS
For the first pair,in the last post, I reduced the length of the tabs at my daughter's request. I also only used 3 tabs, as one was wonky, and I was feeling lazy. The bottom of the tabs have a decorative button attached, which required pliers to pull the needle through 5 layers of denim and 2 of quilting cotton ( the inner waistband and the underneath of the tabs are made from a cotton print in my version, to reduce bulk)
In this second pair, I used 5 tabs at the pattern length, to hold a belt better at the back, and have not yet got around to sewing the buttons on the tabs. (time constraint problem mentioned above)
3. GODETS and TOPSTITCHING
I did not agree with Burda's instructions here. I wanted the point of the godet to lie flat, so pressed the leg and the godet seams to the leg (opening the leg seam, but pressing the godet seam to the outside.



This allowed me to topstitch differently from Burda.

Burda's trousers have an asymmetry at the top of the godet. I prefer symmetry. When topstitching, I stitched along each side of the leg seam first, then topstitched inside the godet seams, stitching across the top and crossing over the first part of the stitching to form 2 triangles. I am quite pleased with how this turned out, particularly for these godets at the back in a variegated thread, where somehow the hot pink has managed to hit at the top for both legs.

Sewing luck! This of course is entirely due to my precision sewing. (smirk)
I have enjoyed making these jeans, and am slightly sorry that they are not in the house at present, as I had vague thoughts of squeezing in to them to see if they would suit me too. Maybe this is why I made them a bit big. However, as my daughters have long slim legs, and mine are quite the opposite, (they take after their Dad) I strongly suspect that I will have to enjoy these vicariously.
I am looking forward to seeing other versions in the sew-a-long.