Today I’m sharing my third pair of Ginger Jeans by Closet Case Patterns.

You can see my previous Gingers here and here. You know, just in case the present overshare about my me-made jeans isn’t enough and you want more…

I feel as though every time I sew this pattern, I am learning and improving. Sewing jeans just never gets old!

This fabric is a black stretch denim from Meter Meter. I bought it a while ago and they don’t seem to have it anymore. It does have stretch to it, but it’s definitely not super stretchy.

It’s also quite a heavyweight denim, although I don’t recall its weight. My previously sewn jeans have been in 9-10 oz denim, whereas this felt a lot sturdier so I’m guessing at least 11 oz???

I picked up this denim because a genuine black denim can be quite difficult to find, so I wanted to seize the opportunity. Time will tell how it fades in the wash!

Hey, on this note, I pre-washed the fabric with a bit of vinegar and the colour held up well in pre-washing. Is the vinegar trick supposed to be s one-time thing to help set the dye? Or do I now need to use vinegar in every wash if the aim is to preserve the black colour as long as possible?

Any knowledge out there?

Speaking of color, however, the combination of a black garment with the mid-winter lack of light where I live means that these photos are definitely not the best I’ve ever produced, so forgive the grainy grayness please!!!

I deliberately did my top stitching in a light black/dark grey tone to account for the fact that fading of black jeans is inevitable. Once that happens, I’m hoping that the denim color and that of the stitching will be more similar, as I feel that a non-contrasting look is likely to feel more durable for black jeans.

Skinny leg time

My main objective for this pair of Ginger Jeans was to really try and concentrate on getting the skinny leg shape right for me. My first pair of Ginger Jeans was the stove pipe leg.

For my second pair, the high-waisted ones, I used the skinny leg but I used the leg as drafted and didn’t make any effort to make it especially skinny, giving it an overall rather straight leg.

Although you know, just looking at these photos has me realizing that I could still go in and skinny-fy the lower legs of the above pair if I’m feeling energetic!

This time around, I was kind of conceptualizing this project as a wearable muslin for the last length of Cone Mills S-Gene stretch denim I have in my stash, so I wanted to put the effort into mastering the skinny leg shape.

My Ginger Jeans

These are the mid-rise skinny Ginger Jeans.

I started these Ginger Jeans using the same pattern pieces I had used for my most recent pair, which means they were a size 14 at the waist, graded to 16 at the hip. As my black denim, however, was not very stretchy compared to my previous denim (S-Gene Cone Denim!!), I extended the side seam allowance to one inch to give me some extra wriggle room.

Luckily I did, as I needed an extra 3/8ths of an inch in the side seam this time round! Adding in a 1 inch side seam allowance seems like a pretty sensible safety net for any pair of jeans (especially if you’re not muslining). I think I will make sure to do so as a matter of course in the future. Even when you know the pattern well, every denim fits differently and nothing should be assumed!

Now, I have sewn the Ginger Jeans a few times now, gradually making changes each time, so it’s not easy any more to set out exactly what I have modified from the original.

(BTW, I get all my methods for these adjustments from Closet Case’s extensive fitting posts and free jeans fitting e-book.)

My basic jeans modifications for the Ginger Jeans are making the crotch curve shallower and scooping out the butt in a low seat adjustment.

This time around, even though I had previously already done these mods, I went a little further with them this time around and I love the results. Although I’m still not sure if the improvements are because I’ve actually stumbled on crotch line perfection for my body or if the heavier weight and colour of this denim is simply more flattering.

In addition, I already had a knock-knee adjustment built into my pattern pieces.

I have also customized the waistband of the Ginger Jeans to my body shape and I use a version which is much more curved than the original shape. I basically use a variation of this super-curved waistband for every pair of pants I sew!

Finally, I shorten the Ginger Jeans leg by a couple of centimetres.

The main thing I wanted to do this time, in addition to the above changes, which are standard for me, was to try to address the issues my previous pairs had with bunching up at the knees.

To this end, I did a full calf adjustment on the Ginger Jeans.

I’m really happy with this mod, although I think I will still take it a little further next time. (I feel that it’s a bit hard to know how much bunching is inevitable because, you know, knees are ball and socket joints which need a significant range of motion…)

I wasn’t really sure how much extra room to add in around the calf in my full calf adjustment. I ended up adding in a little over a centimetre. That doesn’t sound like much at all but the problem is that you basically make this modification by cutting a y-shape into the back calf and adding space at the tightest point of your calf – which is the point where all three ‘lines’ of the Y meet.

This shape means that when you add in even what seems to be a small extra amount at the point of the calf which is too tight, it ends up making the increase to the rest of the leg piece, down to the ankle, seem enormous.

I’m not sure if this is technically correct but, after making my full calf adjustment, I narrowed my pattern pieces again at the ankle (although not back as far as their original shape), as they just seemed ridiculously huge otherwise. When I tried to add even just another cm to the size of my full calf adjustment, the subsequent shape of the ankle just looked like a crazy bell bottom and I could not, for the life of me, understand how it would have worked. So I went with small steps!

After baste-fitting my jeans, I then pinned them into a super-skinny form according to the peculiarities of my legs.

Ginger Jeans: Front Pocket Tricks

The other change I made was based on a tip I got from Heather Lou in person when I sewed the Morgan Jeans in the Jeans Master Class last year.

Both the Morgan Jeans and Ginger Jeans just happen to be drafted in such a way that the pockets and coin pockets hit at an especially curvy part of my body, accentuating certain lumps and bumps that I don’t want to be accentuated.

I tried to address this on this pair by creating a visual trick – something of an optical illusion. By moving the placement of the coin pocket up about an inch and slightly lowering the jeans pocket line, the pockets skim over the top of my curves in this area rather than emphasizing them. Especially in this heavier denim!

Such a simple modification, but it feels like a real winner!

Here’s a tip though. I somehow messed up when redrafting the coin pocket piece and my coin pocket piece was initially too small. However, the edge of the coin pocket was still inside the pocket itself by more than an inch when flat, so I decided this would be fine. I didn’t want to redo it!

Well that one-inch plus “hiding space” when the pattern pieces were flat was NOT enough when those jeans were on the curvy part of my body. The too-small overlocked edge of my coin pocket bulged out of my pocket and I had to unpick and put in a new, larger coin pocket.

For the new coin pocket I also interfaced the entire coin pocket, in the hope the additional rigidity would help create a bridge over my curves, rather than hug them too tightly!!

Back Pocket Fun

I decided to take a really personalized approach to these Ginger Jeans back pockets.

In real life, I work in the field of international law.

Which is why I decided to adorn my back pockets with the motifs of peace and justice.

After all, if you care about something deeply, why not emblazon it on your arse and sit on it!

In the world of international criminal law, the peace vs. justice debate is a dynamic in which, to grossly oversimplify, some suggest that holding leaders and commanders criminally responsible for international crimes (we’re talking here about genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes…) can actually stand in the way of peace in troubled regions of the world. As those who commit these kinds of atrocities are more likely to try to hold onto power at all costs if they fear that they will be criminally prosecuted when the conflicts or wars come to an end.

The other side of the debate posits that there can be no real lasting peace that doesn’t have justice and accountability at its core.

Obviously, I’m deliberately oversimplifying given that this is a sewing blog, but you get the idea!

Both views are, without doubt, simplistic, but hey, these are jeans pockets I’m talking about here, there’s not room for too much nuance!

And I loved the idea of having these reminders of that debate, which is often presented as being at the heart of the ‘problem’ of international criminal court, visually represented.

There’s no need to choose between peace and justice really – both can fit on the expanse that is my butt!!

And a little reminder of what drew me to my profession in the first place – namely the importance of the issues at stake – can’t go astray as I pull on my jeans in the morning!

All in all, I’m feeling really proud of these Ginger Jeans. They are definitely a visible improvement on my previous pairs and I’m feeling confident that the tweaks I’ve made will allow me to improve even further when I cut into the final Made-in-the-USA Cone Denim in my stash!

Oh and, finally, a little P.S! If you like to get your blog hits through Bloglovin’, feel free to follow me over there: you can find me here. And you can find me on Instagram here.