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Jalie 2908 - Little Girl Jeans

My younger daughter had her sixth birthday in January. I purchased some clothes for her as a gift. One of the items was a pair of jeans and they were a terrible fit. We took them back and tried a different size, but they were all bad. She was bummed about that, so I told her I would make a new pair for her.

Awhile ago someone gave me a few cuts of denim. They're all too short to be used for me and I don't really care for the finish of most of them, but they're great for kids' clothes. The fabric I used for these jeans does have a bit of stretch and a very soft feel, making these actually quite comfortable.


I used Jalie 2908 and am really happy with the result. The only modifications I made were for length (adding some), leg shape (straight vs. boot cut) and the waistband. I wasn't impressed with the waistband the last time I used this pattern, so this time I did my own thing. I made a pattern piece to match the circumference of the top of the assembled jeans and then cut out a few small wedges from the top edge down. After I overlapped the cut edges of the wedges, I had a gently curved waistband piece. Adding seam allowances and center front overlap finished it off.


I left off the belt loops and rivets in the name of speed and efficiency. The pocket bags (overexposed in the photo) and fly guard are made from a pink animal print cotton. The inner waistband is finished with bias tape - shocking pink, of course!


At our house, we have a bit of a love/hate relationship with buttonhole elastic in waistbands. Love: the adjustability. Hate: the buttons seem to really irritate hip bones. The waistband of these jeans was pretty close to being just right for size, but I suspected they would bag out and droop a bit due to the stretch in the denim. So, instead of the buttonhole elastic, I just added elastic to the back half of the waistband and fully enclosed it rather than making it adjustable. Since the waistband wasn't too much too big, I didn't make the elastic much smaller than the back. It seems to be working well.


For a fun detail, I used my daughter's initials on the back pockets - JB. The right pocket is the mirror image.



I'm happy with how they turned out. She likes that they're comfortable with lots of PINK and I like that they've got some room for her to grow. I don't like that she's already 6! Wah! How does that happen?!?

Comments

  1. Great looking jeans and very satisfied looking daughter....yeah Mom!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your daughter does look happy, they look great.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Perfect! You're such a amazing and talented seamstress! I'm always awed by your creations!! Great idea to use your daughter's initials on the back pockets!

    ReplyDelete
  4. hug fan of you.. looks great. We have a great collection of African fabrics. Good quality at lowest price. For whole sell price Visit us hope you guys love them.
    Sequin Fabrics

    ReplyDelete

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