I’ve made some rather cra-a-a-a-zy, and yet rather out-there groovy-baby jeans!
And they double up as overalls too! should I ever feel the urge to wear a pair of overalls… 
Sneaky conversion between the two by way of a few flat buttons inside the waistband coupled with buttonholes on the bib and straps… #havingmycakeandeatingittoo
So, these are the Jenny overalls/trousers pattern by the ever clever and uber-cool Heather of Closet Case patterns. Actually I made TWO pairs of Jennys!… but first things first; this blue denim pair are my first. To be honest I don’t know if I’m ever going to blog my second pair because I’m suffering from a retroactive hate for the fabric I used… but we’ll see! Heather asked for us to make them with the bib if at all possible, since she wanted to check out how the bib bit looked on chests. So I bravely went there. Initially I was pretty sure I would prefer to wear them as jeans, but now I’m actually a bit torn since the bib bit is rather cute?! I’m just not sure if I’m “cute” enough to get away with it, you know? I think I have a good grasp on what my style is, and “cute” is likely a stretch for me. I’m keeping my options open, but so far I’ve only worn them out in the wild sans bib #notbrave
The upper part of the legs I cut from a piece of blue cotton denim that was given to me by my friend L when she cleaned out her garage, but it was a smallish piece, not big enough for the whole jeans. So obviously, I had to make up the difference somehow. Remember my maisa jean jacket? well I actually kept all those leftover bits, most of them were the original pockets and waistbands; and I had great fun cutting and arranging and cobbling them together to make up the diff… all that patchwork does make the legs a little heavy, because of the double layers of fabric in the pocket buts, plus embroidery and rivets and belt loops, but overall (haha, see what I did there) it’s not too bad! My love of how they look outweighs the weight… if that actually makes sense!
I’ve worn them a couple of times already, whoops! It’s not that long ago I would not allow myself to wear things until I’d blogged them; must be mellowing out in my old age, hmmm. They’ve actually attracted several individual, real-life compliments from random passers-by on both occasions… this is extremely rare for me, and it’s pretty nice to hear!
In the below picture you can see the closure; a lapped zip in the side seam and disappearing inside the pocket. I really love this discreet and clever feature, although being right-handed I find it a little awkward to do up that waistband button situated where it is slightly to the back of the right side of my body. On subsequent pairs I think I’ll probably switch this closure to the left side of the trousers. Having said that though, the instructions for inserting the lapped zip are outstanding! I’ve inserted about a million lapped zips in my time, to the point where I barely follow instructions anymore, however I followed these ones to the letter, without “thinking about it” (you know what I mean) and my lapped zip is immaculately and perfectly aligned. I should follow directions more often!
Details:
Jeans/overalls; the Jenny overalls by Closet Case patterns, cotton denim and recycled old denim jeans
Tee; the Nettie by Closet Case patterns, white jersey, details here
Cardigans; both the Miette, a free pattern by Andi Satterlund, details of the red one here, the mustard one here
Shoes; made by me, details here
Soooo; I usually like to get at least one ” out in the wild and actually wearing it” photo of the things I make… well, the little monster, I mean; Clara, and I were waiting for Craig to finish scoping out Bunnings (baby door for the patio at the beach house) and on the spur of the moment I just propped my iPhone up in the grass outside. Bam, photoshoot, DONE!!! Who needs a fancy camera and a tripod, anyway?! Oh, OK, if I’m going to even pretend to be a blogger then I guess I gotta keep up appearances, at least some of the time… 
Anyway it’s not a particularly good shot of my jeans, more like flipping’ terrible; but on the other hand Clara happens to be looking rather beautiful in a wolf-prowl-y sort of a way… Please admire that her coat is looking momentarily spiffy and fluffy and washed and brushed! #didntlast
btw, people often accuse her of giving side eye in my pictures.. it’s only because her eyes are actually half blue, half brown! which makes for a particularly side-eye-y sort of optical illusion!
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