Jeans progress and a fabric score

Stopped in at my LFS to get some kind of jeans-appropriate button(s) the other day and discovered they'd gotten a new shipment of "designer" remnants in. They have a large table of this stuff in the back, piles of flat-fold miscellany, often mostly crap, but some gems in there if you dig deep. Most pieces are 1-1.5 yards or so, some up to 3 yards, mix of wovens and knits, sometimes lace and other "novelty" items. You never know what you will find.

I found this:

Cotton-lycra jersey with some but not too much stretch. Due to camera issues, I scanned this in; about an 8"x10" sample of the 1-1/8 yard piece that I got for $3.76 inc. tax. It will become a top of some kind, don't know what yet. A bit on the hippy-dippy side, but I'm cool with that.

I also got 1-5/8 yards of the most luscious pewter-colored rayon stretch velvet you have ever seen. OMG is it yummy. A small splurge, at $12.20 for the piece, but whatever I make from it will be worth it.

Discount Fabric Warehouse consistently offers a world's-best collection of aloha prints and tropical barkcloth and upholstery fabrics at very reasonable prices, but their garment fabric selection is (for my needs and taste) mostly "miss." So when they get good stuff in I like to show my approval by handing over the AmEx. This time they had a TON of nice stuff, including many textured and embroidered silks/silk-imposters. I was tempted by many, but would have to change my entire lifestyle in support of that kind of wardrobe, so got out the door with only two additions to the stash. And a fistful of zippers in fun colors for future use.

In other news from the sewing room today, who knew that making jeans would be so much fun?! Okay, yes, many participants in the PR jeans sew-along have posted exactly that, but I didn't expect to be one of them. My hopes hovered at the level of getting through the process without bruising my forehead too badly banging it on the sewing table in expected bouts of despair and frustration. But seriously, folks, I'm having fun. Something about completing each step and holding it up and thinking, "hey, this is starting to look like real jeans" is irresistable. I still have to do the waistband and belt-loops, and (eeep) hems, but am already itching to start on a second pair.

Disclaimer: when I say I get a thrill from seeing my efforts morph into something that looks like "real jeans," I am taking some liberties with language. Especially when applied to my top-stitching, which is, um, not at all professional looking. It's downright wonky in more than a few places, at least two of which can be blamed on Cosmo, who is fascinated by the sewing machine and prone to leaping onto the sewing table in pursuit of moving parts at inopportune moments.

Here's a peek at my lined waistband (in progress) and belt-loops strips (also a bit wonky). Not that I care: my pleasure in producing something that looks (to my starry eyes) like "real jeans" is completely outweighing any pride in craftsmanship, or lack thereof:

I've used my various-sized scraps of this Amy Butler print for so many different projects now that I've almost used it up. The pockets are this print on one side, and a different, coodinating one on the other because I didn't have any large enough pieces left to make complete pockets.

By using the scanner today I got a nice, sharp, high-res image of the weird, two-wrong-side fabric I mentioned previously, so here's a closeup of that:

This fabric is so stretchy across the grain that I didn't dare cut the waistband on the bias as the pattern calls for. This is a lengthwise strip: that ridged texture runs across the width of the fabric, rather than vertically as you see it here. I'm actually on the verge of liking it.