Quadra Jeans Ambassador Project for Fabric Godmother

For this, my second Fabric Godmother Ambassador project (you can see my first one here), I decided to take on the mother of all selfless sewing projects: jeans for Mr SoZo. You can read my post about this project on the Fabric Godmother website here, however, here's an abridged version with some extra details. 

For this Ambassador project, I chose the Thread Theory Quadra Jeans pattern which is part of the range of PDF patterns that you can purchase through Fabric Godmother's website. I paired the pattern with this unusual rust-coloured denim. I thought that it'll add an alternative to the sea of navy and grey that comprises his wardrobe, plus I thought the small stretch content would make these slim legged jeans more comfortable.  

If you're attempting to implement more of a 'slow fashion' approach to your sewing, as I am, making a dude a pair of jeans ticks a lot of the boxes. Firstly, making jeans is literally a comparatively slow sewing project. Secondly, Pat, like many guys, will wear his clothes until they are basically rags. So these jeans are likely to have a lonnngggggg life with many wears.

So, the instructions recommended sizing down if you are using a fabric with stretch, so I chose the size 28” even though his measurements put him as a size 30. In the end, I let them out again a bit at the waist (I waited until I fitted the side seams before cutting out the waistband), so I’d probably start with the size 30” next time and give him a bit more room throughout the whole leg.

I'd also like to mention something that an Instagram post featuring someone else's Quadra jeans project gave me a heads up about; if you're making one of the smaller sizes, you may find that the back pocket pattern piece is crazy-big. Unlike the Ginger jeans pattern, for example, the pocket piece is one size, rather than graded between the size range. After measuring the pockets on his current RTW jeans, I ended up reducing the pocket by about 1.5cm along the sides and bottom.

This final thing I'd like to mention about this project that I didn't write about in the FG post is the pocket bags. Although my woven fabric scraps selection is extensive, I really didn't have anything that worked well with the rust denim. But in the same week that I began this project, I also had to encourage Pat to decommission one of his well-loved and overly-worn out work shirts. The fabric was excellent quality, somehow both crisp and soft, and I was able to squeeze both pocket bag pieces out of the back section, thus giving his old faithful a kind of reincarnation.  

So would I use this pattern again? Very likely. The next time he needs a pair of jeans, if I can find the time and muster the selflessness, I'd definitely consider making him some more. This might be one of the rare sewing projects that might be cheaper to make yourself than to buy at a comparable level of quality in the shops. Is that some kind of unicorn of the sewing world?!