Easy Does It

I'm about 3/4 through the latest iteration of the Clover pants and, of course, I have some feelings.

• Why did I decide to turn the side zip into a back zip??
• Oh yeah, the last insertion of the side zip was so horrifying, it seemed prudent when I started this.
• Alas, there are all kinds of things one must consider when moving a zipper i.e. cutting 2 back facing and waistband pieces, not one and when, exactly, does one insert the invisible zipper?
• I made a waist adjustment to this version - essentially I cut an inch off the previous version at the waist.
• Then I discovered that the ease in the fabric I'm currently using is rather different than that of the previously-used denim.
• Of course, having already finished the inner leg seams, my only recourse was to seriously diminish the seam allowances on the outer legs.
• Which means there's practically no way I can faux fell the seams.
• BTW, is there a secret to faux felling when one has already sewn up the tubes of the legs? Seam allowance issue aside, I don't know how I might be able to sew to the bottom of the leg with my machine, given bunching. Maybe I need a free-arm?
• Next machine I get is going to have a) a free-arm and b) it will be mechanical.
• This fabric has so much drape (I suspected this might be the case) that there will be pulling at the crotch.
• It's not that the garment doesn't fit (though it sure as hell isn't loose in that area) but the fabric falls and extends so readily, that the confluence of the 3 tubes (waist, leg one and leg two) invites drag.
• I'm so sick and tired of all the "OMG, there's pulling at the crotch" talk out there. We're human beings. When we move, the fabric reserves the right to drag.
• Nonetheless, it makes me feel bad.
  
• I'm not going to judge the process right now. This could all come back from the edge.
• But if it doesn't, I don't know that I will give this pattern another go around.
• Maybe that's the post-sewing haze talking.
• Where's my wine?
  

Zipper Dentata

For the woman who doesn't understand zips, the lapped jeans zipper is a special kind of anxiotic. Otherwise having come quite a way with the Jalie jeans - at the regrettable, frustrating, pace of a snail, I might add - I have spent the last week contemplating its many potential pitfalls. I've read Peter's tutorial, I've read Debbie's. And, seriously, it just scares me more.

Don't get me wrong. Debbie and Peter are awesome instructors and their instruction is well-thought out and beautifully presented. So have at it, Jeans Sewists of the Future.

To me, it just looks really fucking hard.

By the end of today, I couldn't handle the suspense any longer. While, arguably, I should be knitting (more on that soon), I just had to hit the sewga room (aka lair) as soon as I got home from work. Note: Mid-week sewing is a rarity in these parts.

I brought every tutorial I could get my hands on. Combined with the (thankfully) useful Jalie technical drawings - the directions are a bomb IMO - I got with the job.

Within an hour I had sewn the zip neatly - that tape Debbie mentions is SO useful - but when I turned the whole thing over, it occurred to me that I can't tell the difference between it and a regular invisible zipper. Have I done something wrong? I'm sure I followed the combined direction to a T. There does appear to be a slight overlap on the left side (if you can call it that) but it's not very pronounced. Does one create the lap by sewing the left fly front in that ubiquitous rectangle-meets-oblong top stitch shape? I haven't done the top stitching yet. I figure I should determine whether I need to rip the whole thing out first.

I guess my problem is that, despite all I've read and the many pairs of jeans I've reviewed, I just don't know what it's supposed to look like at this point.

I would welcome any feedback.

PS - I know this would be easier to judge with photos but I just don't have the energy for snaps tonight.