I’ve been procrastinating for months about fitting the Hot Patterns boyfriend jeans – I did make another pair in a moleskin, non-stretch heavyweight cotton which were an improvement over the last ones, but still not right by any means. So when I saw Heather of Closet Case Files’s new pattern was a boyfriend jeans pattern, the Morgan Jeans, I had to snap it up. My Ginger jeans all fit really well with very few adjustments required, so I thought the Morgan jeans would be at least a much better starting point than the Hot Patterns ones.
I did go for a wearable toile, using some stripy denim I got at the Knitting & Stitching Show in Edinburgh at the end of April. Unfortunately, the stripes produce an optical illusion similar to a target when photographed which is….awkward…..I’ll leave it to your imagination! This is the best photo I have of the jeans from any distance, please excuse the silly face….
Please also excuse the fact that I’d been wearing these for two days before taking these photos. I went for the cropped length with these – by which I mean hacking off a good 10cm from the hem, the cropped length on the pattern actually ends up being the perfect normal length for me. I cut a straight size 16, and apart from the length, the only adjustment I made was to take my normal wedge out of the top of the centre back seam. I’m pretty happy with the fit, particularly when they’re not all bagged out with wear…..
You’ll see that I cleverly avoided having to do any sort of stripe matching by cutting the back pockets so that the stripes went the other way – I did this for the waistband, coin pocket and hip pocket facings as well. Yes I am lazy, but I quite like the effect as well.
I actually really like these, and they’ve been handy for the few hot days we’ve had so far this summer – hot being a relative term, obviously, the denim is lightweight but would probably be too warm for proper hot weather, anywhere but Scotland….. They’re a little bit on the large side, I could probably have gone down a size but heeded the pattern instructions to go up if you’re between sizes.
Feeling pretty confident on fit, I went ahead and cut into my lovely dark indigo selvedge denim. I swithered for a while about going down the size, but it’s a much heavier weight fabric than the stripes, and again decided to err on the side of caution.
Again, these photos were taken on holiday after several days wear, so excuse the wearing creases. After basting these to check the fit, I came to the conclusion that I should probably have gone down a size. I ended up sewing a 2cm seam allowance on all the vertical seams (apart from the fly) just to bring them a little closer in, as well as the normal centre back wedge, and in general I think that did the trick. These are super comfy, and just right for the casual look I was going for.
Not sure why I’m leaning so far forward here! The denim is much darker than it appears in these pictures, it’s a true dark indigo which I love. I think it will wear and fade really nicely as well.
The fit of these is great from the front, and in general I’m really happy with them, but there is some wrinkling under my bum which is really obvious here, and to a certain extent in the stripy pair as well. Does anyone have any tips as to what’s causing this? I’ve done a bit of research and wonder if I need a full seat (hate that word) adjustment?
One of the things I love about this pattern is that button fly. You can just see the bottom of it peeking out from under my top. As usual, Heather’s instructions make putting the fly together dead straightforward, and it just adds that certain something to an already great pair of jeans. There is a lot of hammering involved, obviously, and I would recommend not doing this part of construction early on a Sunday morning because you can’t wait to finish your new jeans and wear them straight away. This may cause marital discord (ask me how I know….)
Love that row of buttons, something very aesthetically pleasing about it….
I used some scraps of Nani Iro fabric (left from my Flutter dress) for the pockets and waistband lining which makes me smile every time I put my hands in my pockets. My machine had a little bit of a tantrum over topstitching the waistband, I had to rip it out once and even after fiddling about with the tension and scrap practice for ages it still isn’t quite right on the inside. Looks fine on the outside though, so I wasn’t going to rip it out again! The colour in the above picture is probably the closest to real life, just imagine it a couple of shades darker still…..
I went for a classic copper colour for topstitching, and I’m really pleased with how it turned out, again I took that little bit of extra time to make sure it looked good rather than rushing it. I’m calling these a big success, they’re comfy, fit relatively well and fit into my casual wardrobe perfectly. There will be definitely be more Morgan jeans in my future.
As a quick Brucey bonus, the top I’m wearing is also a relatively new make. It’s the same combination of fabrics as I used for my Aurora top, and the pattern is the Jersey Top from Simple Sew, received free with Love Sewing magazine a while back. I do love that slouchy feel, those raglan sleeves and the lovely wide neckline.
If anyone does have any fitting suggestions for my under-bum wrinkles they’d be very gratefully received!
Mrs Whiskerson 