Gap Jean knock offs

Guuuysss... I did it!

Remember last week, when I told you I had been epically putting off sewing up a pair of jeans and all I had to show for it was my 'too small underwear of shame'??  Well real quick, for reference, here are front and back shots of those jeans, ie. the originals, before I ripped out all the seams:

After writing that post last week I was like, this is it, it's now or never, so I pulled out the jean pieces and started tracing:

 

Check out that one piece pocket bag and lining... so clever... thanks for your efficient secrets RTW.

And guess what? After all that procrastinating, in just two days I had them almost completely put together. They were just missing the back butt pockets, waistband and hems. In four days they were 100% complete.  So anyways.... here they are... ta da:

   

I'm going to have to apologize in advance for all the pics and gushing, because I'm pretty darn proud of myself right now.  In general they came out pretty much the same as the originals (who da' thought).  The obvious differences right now are that I added butt pockets and left off the belt loops.  

I've never been a big fan of belts (just one more step before getting out the door, plus they don't stretch, ... aka they're less comfortable).  However.... I think I might have to add them afterall, because as I move around the back waistband feels ever so slightly precarious.  Don't want to find myself in a 'plumber situation' if you know what I mean ;o). I think this may be because I didn't use firm enough interfacing on the waist band or maybe my denim is a little too stretchy?

 

As far as hardware goes I used the same exact zipper I salvaged from the originals, these are low rise jeans (AKA big-lunch friendly, heyo!) so the zipper is quite short.  Originally I was going to cut down a new zipper and then it occurred to me that this would be much easier and really there could be no better use for it.  The button is a metal button I thrifted with several similar, but all slightly different, buttons for like 50 cents. It says "militaires equipements" but I would assume it's not actually from a french military garment. Regardless I like it and since it's metal I think it's a pretty fitting button for jeans. The pockets are made out of a vintage floral scrap that my grandma found in a closet and gave to me a couple years ago.

 

The grey top stitching is done with just a single row of normal grey thread.  It's the same thread I used to do all the seaming, and the red top stitching on the butt pockets is also just normal red thread, but I did it on my Willcox and Gibbs chain stitch machine, which A. gave it a nice bold line and B. made it easy to rip out a million times until my inner perfectionist was content. I didn't want to invest too much in these because I didn't know how they were ultimately going to turn out, but I think next time I might give proper top stitching thread a go.

 

As already mentioned, the original jeans didn't have any butt pockets which I wanted to add on these, so I took the opportunity to try something a little different. Gotta set my self-sewns apart after all. What I was attempting with the shape and top stitching was a loose interpretation of angry transformer eyes, but I'm not really sure I achieved it.  I'm also not sure that the flat bottom of the pockets is the most flattering.  What do you guys think?

Anyhoo, I know this has been a pretty picture heavy post, but I'm going to throw just a couple more out there for you, 'cause you know... side views, plus I told you, I'm really proud of this one (just ignore that scowl I seem to be shooting out in the third pic).

  

All in all as my first pair of jeans I think these came out pretty wearable as long as the denim holds up.  Though I have to say I'm not expecting a whole lot from this fabric, I think I only paid $6/yd, but we'll see.  Hopefully adding those belt loops will go a long way and also a couple washes should soften them up a bit.  Anyways, as always, thanks for stopping by!