I Made My First Pair of Jeans! McCalls M8007

So, even though I have been sewing for a few years at this point, I am still terrified of making pants, a fear I am hoping to conquer this year.  Or, at least that is one of my goals. I want to be comfortable making any kind of pants for myself and possibly for others as well.  I will try and try and try until I am no longer afraid of making pants.  In the past, I have rarely been able to take a pants pattern and make a pair of pants that actually fit, hence the fear of making pants.  But this year will be different because I intend to learn how to make pants and make them well.

So, I bought this pattern from Hobby Lobby last year, and when I saw it, I thought, “Okay, these don’t look so bad.  I think I can do it.”  It is McCalls M8007.  Plus, I really like that they were denim, and also bell bottom, with a 70’s retro feel.

Despite the excitement over making the pants, the pattern just sat in a stack for months, until I finally got tired of procrastinating and decided to take a chance and make them. I made what I now know, will be my usual revisions to the actual pattern.  I had to make revisions to the front and back crotch, and also added some length to the legs because I want to be able to wear boots or wedges with my jeans.  This revision had to be made to all of the leg pieces.  This is different for everyone.  Some people may always have to make revisions to the length of the pattern, [either too short or too long] or they will have to make revisions to the seat of the pattern or the tummy part.  Depending on your body, you will likely have to make some kind of revisions to pants patterns.  Unless, of course, you decide to just make your own pants pattern and make other pants patterns from that original pattern, which I believe is probably the best way to go.

The pattern has 3 choices for bell-bottom pants/jeans with pocket variations. You can see all of the variations on the back of the pattern.  I chose to make View B because I wanted the pockets in the front and the back.  I cut a size 18.  I did not make any changes to the pattern.  When I was almost finished making them, I tried them on and had to take them in on the sides.  I will go back and cut the pattern down to a size 16 which I think might be a perfect fit.  They can also easily be taken in if needed.  I used a denim fabric I bought from Nick of Time Textiles.

This was a bit of a struggle for me, but only because I had problems with the fly front, which I had never made before. I had to do some research and made several sample fly fronts before I felt comfortable returning to the pants to complete them.  I feel very comfortable with the fly front at this point, and will make several bottoms which require a fly front to cement that part of pants making in my mind. Below are some sample fly fronts I made while doing my fly front research.

When I finished the pants and tried them on, I was very pleased.  They fit everywhere they are supposed to fit and they look really good.  I will make these again in a corduroy and also a pair in a lighter denim for spring.  Would look so good with a tank top or even a cute boho top.  I want to make a couple more pair of jeans using other patterns just to see if using my usual revisions will be needed on different patterns and if I can get as good a fit on other jeans patterns as I did on these.  Way to go McCalls!

I also love the pockets on these jeans.  They are big enough to hold my cell phone and when I wore them, my phone was in one of the front pockets at all times.  I also like the width of the bell bottoms which I consider a really wide bell bottom.  I am so very happy with these jeans.  I will definitely be making them again in a lighter denim.  I photographed this with an oversized denim bag I made a few months ago.  If you missed that post, here it is.  Denim Bag Post

As always, thank you for allowing me to share this sewing project with you. Leave a comment and please “Like” if you like.  If you have not subscribed, and would like to, you can subscribe below.  Make it a great day, and Make life better, one project at a time, for yourself and for someone else.

God gave you those hands for a reason.

Use them to make life better, beautiful, and useful.