Birkin Flares

I accomplished something major: I made jeans! Specifically Birkin Flares from Baste+Gather.  I feel so joyful. 

My material is burnt orange corduroy from IndieSew and it's great.  I snatched it up right when it was advertised and have no regrets.  I went rogue for this pattern and didn't make a muslin.  I like the fit. It's right under my belly button and there is negative ease in the hips which means they actually stay up when I walk around.

Everybody says jeans aren't hard, and they actually aren't.  There is a sewalong on the Baste and Gather website that is fabulous and really helped through the challenging bits. 

Close up of the front:

 Close up of the back:

You'll notice that there is something weird going on with the back yoke. The piece didn't look right when I cut it out, but since I didn't make a muslin I just went along with it.  The middle part of it seemed to have too much of a diagonal as compared to the sewalong pictures that seemed to continue up in a straight line from the leg.  I'll have to revisit that next time because the extra fabric makes the yoke wavy. 

I do not plan to wear a shirt tucked in with these and the rest is satisfactory, so I'm OK with that.  Being the opposite of Type A really helps in sewing....

I enjoy topstitching quite a bit.  It makes it all look put together. My sewing machine kept spitting out my needle when I tried to do the narrow row of zigzag on the pockets.  I eventually had to give up on that after doing the best I could. 

I chose to have the front of my pocket lining facing me so I can see the fun burst of color.  Nobody looks inside my pockets!

I highly recommend this pattern if you are a first-timer.  Go for it! You won't be disappointed!