I’ve made various pairs of silver jeans over the years, but never in fabric quite this reflective. It’s a foiled stretch denim from a new-to-me company, Top Fabric. I found it in their online shop a while ago but ummed and aahed about it for quite some time because it’s quite pricey and narrow enough that my favourite jeans pattern would need at least two metres. Anyway I was lucky enough to get fabric money for my birthday, so here are the ultimate silver jeans.
The pattern started life as Burda 103b 07/2010 but I’ve made it five or six times over the years and tweaked here and there each time. The most dramatic change is probably lowering the waist by a couple of inches. The original pattern is astonishingly high waisted; something I often find with Burda trousers. I also added the back pockets to the pattern at some point. Looking at this version I think they need to be a bit larger and closer to the centre back seam. Maybe I’ll fix that next time.
One thing I really like about this design is the extra panel down the side of the leg. It’s just about visible in the picture below.
The top stitching caused much agonising over thread choice. I went with a very light grey and it seems to have worked well. I did the buttonhole and bartacks for the belt loops in regular thread in the same shade. I find I get a much better result that way; neither of my machines likes making dense zigzags in thick thread. The rest of the stitching and seam finishing was done with black thread because the base fabric is black.
The fabric is a bit more difficult to work with than regular stretch denim. You can’t unpick without leaving marks and the foil surface is very slippery. I used Wonder Tape instead of pins to hold things in place while sewing the fly front and back pockets because pin marks would have been very visible.
The fit isn’t perfect in that I have my usual problem of folds under the bum. But I have only worn these for try ons so far. I find the fit on skinny jeans improves after a bit of wearing time. My gold jeans had the same problem when I made them and now they’re much better. The silver ones currently feel quite tight but again I expect they’ll ease up with wear.
I’m hoping these will be very versatile. I’m wearing them with a t shirt here but I think they’ll also work with a big white shirt, and worn under either of the white dresses I’ve made recently when the current heat wave finally breaks. And I think I have just enough scraps of the fabric left to make a Vogue 1247 skirt too. Silver is a neutral, right?
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Silver is definitely a neutral! These are so awesome!
Neutral with balls! Love ’em and wish I could still wear jeans without feeling like a trussed turkey lol
You definitely need a glam white shirt…maybe that Okistyle one? hmm?
Thanks! I am thinking of trying that one, but I am going to do Style Arc’s Juliet shirt first. Pattern and fabric are sitting in stash waiting to go 🙂
it’s a great one= just the odd little dart is tricky to decipher [I did it three ways before I got it right lol]
Ah, thank you for the warning. It was your version that got me to buy the Juliet pattern originally by the way!
cool! I now have two. I was surprised that the sash disguise my tum a bit rather than accentuates it…who’da thought?
Neutral but with attitude! I like the underplayed look with a tee, but white and silver pack a punch.
Impressive! The topstitching color is a success imho. Curious what sort of presser foot you used?
Thanks! I did all of it with the basic foot my machine came with. I’ve got a couple of edgestitching style feet but they don’t do well on curves so I very rarely use them. I have been wondering if an open toe foot might be helpful though. The more I can see where I’m stitching the better.
These are certainly a statement pair of jeans! I don’t think I’ve seen such reflective silver fabric before – is the denim stretch cotton? You’re right these will be fabulous with a white shirt.
Thanks! There was no fabric composition given but the base fabric feels like a cotton with elastane to me. However the foil side gives it a plasticky texture.
They are amazing. What a smashing success!
Beautifully made. Your top stitching thread is exactly the right colour. Your silver jeans will look great in any combo and especially with a big white shirt.
Silver is definitely a neutral in your wardrobe. Your new jeans look great.
These are so cool! And this fabric will be amazing in the V1247 skirt. Worn with a white shirt I can just imagine how amazing they are.
I love these! You have great style.
silver is definitely a neutral. those are fantastic!
I love these and as everyone has said silver is a neutral. I think the skirt will be fantastic in this fabric. I’m interested if you have washed these yet or Pre washed the fabric. I have some silver denim that is not quite so coated or plasticky but I test washed a square and it lost a lot of silver. That may be a good thing as I’m a bit shorter and rounder and not sure I could get away with jeans.
Thanks! I didn’t prewash the fabric I made the jeans from, although I have washed a sample to see what would happen. It got a bit duller and picked up some crease marks. I’ve had other silver fabric where the silver has completely washed off after one wash!
Totally cool!
O.M.G! I love these in silver! (Please excuse me while I clean up the drool all over my keyboard)
These look fantastic!
Oh i love these, they’d definitely vibe with my wardrobe. The pockets do look a touch small – i agree. Recently i’ve been copping a sneaky perve of many a backside for pocket size and placement. I have a wonkitated pocket template which was copied off some long extinct excellent jeans, i like the wonkiness, it’s quite flattering. As it happens those jeans (blue) had an awesome panel of tweed at the side, they always looked put together and i still mourn their passing! X
Haha I’m glad it’s not just me checking out other people’s jeans pockets! I do like the sound of your tweedy jeans. Definitely smarter than the average jean.
The silver jeans look fantastic – and getting a skirt from the scraps would be a bonus.
I’m with Lesley on the pockets – I would skew them out at the bottom and move a little towards the side seams. I have very little waist/hip definition and this seems to give some illusion of shape to my butt.