Pattern Test: Love Notions Legato Jeans

 

Who likes shopping for jeans? Yeah... me neither. So when I heard Love Notions needed testers for their new jeans pattern, I thought it would be a great opportunity to create a custom fitted pair. And I did! I first made a muslin in a stretch camo print. They fit pretty well except the rise was too high. 

 

For my next pair, I chose a lightweight stretch denim and opted for the petite sizing. 

 

On to my final pair, for which I used a medium weight stretch white denim (or maybe simply twill?). By this time Tami, the Love Notions designer, had tweaked the fit in various ways and it was almost perfect. It had just a wee too much fabric below the seat so I took the crotch seam in just a bit and I now love the fit. More details about my various versions 👇🏼 

 

Muslin #1 - Camo stretch twill

My first pair was regular rise with full seat. They fit pretty well although the rise was too high. I struggled a bit with the zipper application but Tami prepared a video and added some addition written instructions and illustrations . Very helpful for future attempts!

Muslin #2 - Lightweight blue stretch denim, petite rise, full seat

Petite rise corrected the height but alas, I neglected to take into account that the lower rise meant I needed a longer waistband. These might look like they fit well and they did! Except I couldn't breath. 😆  After switching between topstitching thread and regular thread a bunch of times, the lightbulb went on that I should break out one of my other machines for dedicated top stitching. DUH!! I decided to finally use my Featherweight 221 (acquired at least 5 years ago) and was very proud of myself as I googled to figure out how to adjust the tension and fiddled with it until I was happy with how it looked. It worked great on the blue denim using topstitch thread and a jeans needle. Subsequently used it on the final version.

Initial attempts:

Perseverance: 

Final version: medium weight white stretch denim / twill; standard rise and flat seat

Initially, I cut halfway between full and flat seat but turns out flat seat was just fine.

Some of the fitting photos for final version:

Conclusion, the weight and amount of stretch of your fabric will impact the finish. Start with a bit of extra ease in the crotch and side seams to allow some flexibility in fit and BASTE first! You can always take in the seams to get the perfect fit.

Stay tuned for the next version…