If you’re unsure what style to choose, read reviews or ask a salesperson to recommend a pattern.
Your pattern will probably show overlapping lines with sizes on each line. To make it easier to cut out, highlight the line for your size and then cut it out. Disregard the other lines since they’re for different sizes.
If your denim has some elastic, it may not shrink as much as 100% cotton denim.
Folding the material means you only have to cut around each pattern piece to get 2 pieces. Since jeans are symmetrical, you’ll need 2 of each pattern piece to assemble the pants. If the denim is wrinkled, iron it flat so you can pin the pattern to smooth denim.
Most jeans patterns are made up of around 10 pieces. You may be directed to only cut 1 piece for the waistband, so you’ll probably have about 19 denim pieces once you cut them out.
If you have a large cutting mat, spread the denim on it and run a rotary cutter around the paper patterns to cut the denim. Use caution when you use the sharp rotary cutter.
Use thread that matches the color of the denim since you don’t want this thread to stand out. If you have a serger, serge around the other edges of the fly so they don’t fray. If you don’t have a serger, sew a zigzag stitch around them.
Ensure that you don’t sew into the teeth of the zipper or you could damage your machine.
If your jeans pattern doesn’t have pocket bags, skip this step and just sew the front pockets together with a straight stitch.
Repeat this for the other front pocket.
Ensure that the pockets are centered on the back pieces of your jeans. Don’t accidentally sew the top edge of the pockets to the pants or you won’t be able to use them!
To reduce some of the bulk in the crotch area, trim 1 side of the seam allowance down to 1⁄4 inch (0. 64 cm). Fold the other side over and straight stitch across the seam.
If you’d like to have a more polished look, open the pant legs so they’re flat and fold the seam over to 1 side. Then, stitch along the very edge to make a flat felled seam.
Although you could use sewing pins to hold the hem in place, you don’t want to add needle marks to the jeans.
If you have time, iron the waistband after you fold it down, which can keep the fabric in place before you finish sewing.
Women’s jeans usually have about 5 loops while men’s jeans generally have 7.
In general, sew a loop on each side seam, put 2 on the front, and place 1 at the center back. If you want to use 7, put 2 more loops on the back of the jeans. If you’d like to secure the loops even more, straight stitch across the loop ends after you’ve zigzagged them to the waistband.
The denim does fray a little, so put a few drops of liquid sealant, which prevents further fraying.
You can use a flat tack button if you’d like the button to be completely smooth or a donut button, which has an indented circle in the center.
