Chocolate Brown Barrel-Leg Jeans

Hi! I never intended to leave such a gap between posts, even though I have been sewing and planning projects. The weather here in the UK has been so incredibly dark, wet and cold that taking photos of my new makes has been impossible, but we ended up having a short spell of dry and bright weather yesterday morning and I quickly got down to taking photos. So, I’ve tried out a new jeans silhouette as I mentioned I would in my previous post, therefore may I present to you my new chocolate brown barrel-leg jeans

If you frequently browse Instagram, you may have seen a few barrel-leg styles pop up on your feed. One Instagrammer caught my eye (@twilly.by.tina), and she was wearing the Smartpattern Barrel Jeans. Smartpattern is a German company that, at the moment, specialises in trouser or jean patterns. The best bit is that you can completely customise your pattern to your measurements and choose various design features… amazing. More on that later.

My fabric came from Selfmade and is a 10.5 oz denim with a bit of stretch. The pattern actually specifies a non-stretch denim, which meant I did end up taking my jeans in a little bit just below the waist, but that’s all…a small price to pay, I reckon, and I love the brown colour 🙂 I think I used 1.60m of fabric, and I only had scraps left.

So, let me tell you more about the pattern. You can choose just to purchase and download a standard-sized pattern, which gives you sizes 32-62, but you’re limited to specific parameters, like leg shape and crotch depth, and so on. I decided to go for the fully customisable option, which is more costly, but well worth it in my opinion. You get to choose how extreme(or not) you want the barrel curve, the leg length, whether you want knee darts, side strip inserts, crotch depth preference, back yoke shape, closure type, etc., etc. After the various design features options, you then add your personal measurements when prompted.

These were my style choices:

Leg shape: slightly shaped
Length: 7/8 Length
Leg design: Strip insert
Knee darts: 1 knee dart
Waistband height: medium
Crotch depth: normal
Front pockets: round
Back yoke: O shape
Back pockets: angular patched on
Waistband width: 40 mm depth
Waistband solution: shaped
Fly: Zipper

Now, because the barrel leg jean is a new-to-me silhouette, I needed to make sure I really liked the style before committing to cutting into my denim. I decided to sew a mock-up to test fit and shape. And you know what? I couldn’t believe how good the fit turned out! It really paid off using the customised option, because I barely had to make any changes. All I had to do was take in the upper hip a bit and scoop the crotch curve down at the back for my low butt. Ooh, I forgot to mention that one of the fit parameters was to choose from 4 options of butt shape, from very flat to very curvy. I chose number 2, and it was just right (it just needed to be lowered a bit).

I really took my time sewing up these jeans. The instructions were fabulous, with many photos for each step, which made the whole process a joy. You must check out my back pockets, I’m quite proud of them 🙂 I had fun doing the fancy stitching. As you can see, I decided on black stitching after much procrastination and going back and forth between cream, brown, and black. Ultimately, I’m happy with my choice, which is good because there’s a lot of stitching. I’m lucky enough to have two sewing machines, so I set one up just for the topstitching to save me from continually swapping out my threads.

My pocket bags were made from scraps of viscose fabric, and my zip came from stash. I didn’t use a hammer-on jeans button and chose a regular sew-on one from stash.

When I was quite close to the end of this make, I tried them on and decided to make the knee darts smaller. I just felt like the legs curved inwards a bit too much for my taste. This proved to be a good move because now they feel just right.

So was this a successful test of a new-to-me style? Yes, yes, it was. I really wasn’t sure if I would like them or not, but I’m chuffed with them! Even my hubby said he liked them…he said they were ‘cool’…I’ll take that, hehe 🙂 I think I would classify these jeans as ‘Barrel-Leg Lite’ because I didn’t go all out with the volume and curve (you can go with even less curve and volume if you want), and I know I can easily style them with many of my tops and sweaters. I may even make another pair…or two. Are you tempted to try the style? Let me know in the comments.

See you soon!