Fit and Sew Custom Jeans

Overview

Fit and Sew Custom Jeans addresses both the construction and fit of jeans simultaneously

Other books gloss over the fitting of jeans, having you guess your adjustments in the flat pattern stage. By the time you try on the jeans, it may be too late to fix areas with poor fit, and if you can, you'd need to rip a lot of topstitching, which is a real chore. Helen uses a combination of tissue-fitting and fabric fitting. This means not using a typical ready-to-wear sewing order. See the chart on what size to choose based on the type of fabric you have. Fill out the Jeans Profile so you consider how fitted you want the jeans for how they will be worn. Prepare the tissue for trying on to determine rise, width, length, and crotch shape. Learn how to gauge how much smaller the pattern can be in width based on a stretch of the denim. There are many ways to do a fly front, but which is best for incorporating fit? This is why the author tested many different techniques using her order to see which worked best. She sewed a total of 31 pair of jeans for herself and others so make sure she was truly giving the best solutions for fit.

Reviews

"I have worked with Helen Bartley for many years. By assisting at our hands-on workshops she has developed the skills needed to be a fit expert. She is now the lead instructor in our Portland, OR workshop location. I love her attention to details. Everything needs to be first class and professional whether it is the venue in which she teaches, her sewing, the samples she presents to student, or her beautifully done instructional digital slide presentations. Students love her you can do it attitude. She is also very innovative. She has always loved making jeans and while writing this book she has taken sewing jeans to a level not seen in the past." —Pati Palmer, CEO Palmer/Pletsch

Author Biography

Helen Bartley is a Palmer/Pletsch Certified Sewing Instructor who has studied jeans construction for years. The sewing methods she has developed for jeans include fitting-as-you-sew. Helen is a lead instructor for Palmer/Pletsch fit workshops and teaches the jeans fit and sew workshop, gaining years of hands-on experience. Teaming with Palmer/Pletsch to publish her book was a natural because owner Pati Palmer is a fit expert and has designed for McCall's patterns since 1980, including jeans patterns. Helen has taken fitting and sewing jeans to the next level of perfection! Pati Palmer, dubbed the FIT EXPERT by sewers around the world, is the author of 10 sewing books, and editor/publisher of 23 more books and 18 how-to videos. Pati has also designed and written instructions for more than 200 patterns for The McCall Pattern Co. Prior to that she designed for Vogue Pattern Company and then for McCall's since 1980. McCall's dubbed her its Fit Expert because her patterns include innovative fitting instructions. She has designed a half dozen jeans patterns for McCall's. An international leader in the sewing industry, Pati has had her books and patterns featured in Family Circle, Vogue, Australian Stitches, and all of the major American sewing publications. Ann Gosch has been a technical and copy editor for nearly 35 years, with clients both inside and outside the sewing/quilting industry. She was a regular contributor to Sew News magazine and other publications for 15 years before turning to editing in 2002. She has edited a wide range of subject matter, for magazine and book publishers, businesses and nonprofits, and individual authors. Jeannette Schilling is a technical illustrator with experience in the sewing industry. She uses all of the Adobe products with proficiency. As a free-lance illustrator she has done several books and projects for Palmer/Pletsch. Linda Wisner, Palmer/Pletsch Design Director, has been designing sewing books for over 40 years. An expert at integrating how-to instructions, illustrations, and technical and fashion photography, her award-winning work can be seen in over 30 titles. She is also the author of Creative Serging for the Home, and a copy editor of several other Palmer/Pletsch publications.