14oz indigo nep selvedge denim jeans
Wassup yall got another pair of jeans here. I made these jeans about 4-5 days ago, and have been wearing them since. These pants were made from a 14oz 100% cotton indigo selvedge denim with a bunch of texture and nep. This denim was milled in Japan at Kuroki mills in Okayama, and I got this fabric in LA from Premium Denim Outlet. I saw this denim in person and knew I had to get it. The fabric kind of reminds me of stars in the sky, snow, reverse colored cookies and cream iced cream, or a granite/diorite rock. Something different I did on this pair was do a snap fly instead of buttons. I did this because I was annoyed at how my buttonholes were coming out, and I looked for an alternative. I remember seeing a snap fly on a pair of jeans from Tilden Jeans, so I wanted to try it out. I will go back to the buttonfly on my next pair. I don’t think the snap fly is bad, but I see two minor issues with it:
Not as secure
I knew the snap fly wouldn’t be as secure as a buttonfly, but I was quite surprised by the strength and honestly didn’t see it as a huge problem. Though I did notice the top snap would come undone every so often if I put too much tension on it when moving/sitting. I personally don’t have a problem with buttonflys and prefer them to zippers/snaps as I don’t find them slower and find they lay better over the crotch, so I will be moving back to them. Plus I get some added security compared to a snap fly. Overall cool test though.
Unprofessional look
This is more of a personal subjective issue, but I think a snap fly looks more unprofessional and immature than a buttonfly. I don’t care about the look that much, but the more professional I can make my pants look the better. So the buttonfly will return.
In terms of fit there are some changes to be made, and overall I should have done more fitting and will do so on my next pair to fix all these issues:
New crotch curve
I don’t like how these pants curve around my butt, so I need to change the crotch curve. Through my fitting I thought I got it right, but turns out I didn't. I wouldn’t say the pants give me a wedgie, but I think the center back seam ‘breaks’ too early between my legs, not really curving super well around my butt. I can’t feel it, but visually it’s not super flattering. This was also an issue for my sister's pair of pants, and it’s definitely worse for her. So I will fix that in my next pair for her. I will try and fix this by scooping the back crotch curve more, and potentially increasing the crotch extension of the back.
Too big of leg
Somehow the legs on this pair of pants feels a little too big. I am very surprised by this as I patterned the leg off of a pair of Samurai jeans I had, but somehow the leg of this jean feels big. Visually it looks decent, but when I wear them I feel the legs are too large. I think for my next pair of pants I will make the knee and hem smaller, but maybe not the thigh as I don’t think I can have a smaller thigh without affecting the crotch curve in a bad way.
Too high of rise
It seems I recreated some of the issues of my last pair and didn’t learn. The rise on this pair however isn’t as high, but I do think it’s still a half inch too high. This should be a simpler fix with a rise adjustment.
Pockets too deep
I didn’t realize this could be an issue, but it seems my pockets are slightly too long. This causes the items in my pocket to sit a bit far down, so when I sit down it’s harder to get the items out of my pockets. Again, this should be an easy fit by shortening the pocket bags.
Texture of fabric
The texture of the fabric is honestly amazing with a bunch of nep, bump, and texture in general, however, similar to my last slubby pair of jeans, I think these jeans would be hard to wear everyday because of the texture. I often find a really cool fabric and want to make a pair of pants ASAP, but as time goes on the uniqueness of the fabric wears off and I find that I want to wear a more basic fabric. I do want to use this fabric again in the future, maybe for a pair of pants or a jacket, but we will see. Looking forward, I hope my next pair of jeans will fix these problems, and I think I have to perfect fabric for them. Thanks for reading.
