If I stand just so, hands in pockets, one knee slightly bent, t-shirt tucked oh so casually, almost thoughtlessly, you’d swear I’d made myself a pair of honest to goodness jeans.

And if I can just manage to keep myself at this very angle, gazing out wistfully at the mighty St. Lawrence, you won’t see my wonkily topstitched fly or puckered and oversized waistband.

“Jeans!” you’ll exclaim.

“Yes, behold: Jeans,” I will sagely reply.

These come not a moment too soon, considering the state of my jeans collection. I’m down to one pair that still allow me to bend over without risk of indecent exposure.  But even the good pair have the ever growing threadbare inner-thigh patches of impending doom. (Yes, it’s a mouthful. And a literal pain in the ass.)

• Pattern: Burda 7863  An easy one to skip over – silly looking models/styling on the envelope.  It was handmadebycarolyn‘s many attractive versions that sold me.
• Fabric: Stretchy Denim (2 or 3% stretch?)
• Size: 12 – my hips would put me in a 14, but the pattern is drafted with zero ease and I wanted negative ease.

These jeans will have to serve as a wearable muslin for future better versions. It’s a great pattern and fits pretty well straight out of the envelope. There’s a lot I’ll change in my next pair though:

• shorten length of fly
• keep waistband uninterfaced, as pattern suggested; adjust length
• use smaller belt loops
• change profile under knee for a more attractive flare
• confirm whether my knock knees are, in fact, the reason for the constant weird bunching I get around the knees in all pants
• cut only a half pocket from denim (the visible part), use a lightweight material for the rest… avoid pocket shadow
• experiment with topstitching in traditional “jeans” colours – I thought I wanted a more subtle look, but I’ve worked up a hankering for a more canonical pair

But what jeans related woe can’t be remedied by throwing on an olive coloured, belted, military style jacket? This is one of the very few self-stitched items that I have virtually no complaints about: my favourite colour; goes with everything.

Gimme some epaulettes, eyelets and four patch pockets – I’m good to go.

• Pattern: Belted Military Jacket
• Fabric: Light weight wool blend twill
• Size: If I remember correctly, 40? But my impression was that the sizing was off with this pattern. I expected a 40 to be slightly roomier, enough for a bulkier sweater underneath.