Teach Yourself VISUALLY Fashion Sewing: Make Over Your Jeans Tutorial
Do your favorite old jeans need a fresh look? Give them new life with godets—fabric pieces (typically triangles with rounded bottoms) inserted into the seams. Godets can add flare to a pair of straight-leg jeans and add a pop of color at the hem. Author CaroleAnn Camp shows you how in the book Teach Yourself VISUALLY Fashion Sewing:
First, find some lightweight fabric. You don’t need much for two godets; look for fabric-store remnants or in your own stash. Think about the fabric’s drape and how the godet will look when combined with denim.
Decide how far up the seam from the bottom of the hem—and how wide at the bottom—you want the godet to be. There’s no rule about size here; experiment until you find the size you like. Try 6 inches high and 3 inches wide to start. Mark your jeans with the location of the godets.
Mark and cut two godets the size you want, plus seam allowance. Use the hem stitch of your choice to hem the godets. The bottom of the godet can be rounded or straight, or even have a point.
Slit the side seams of the jeans 1/2 inch shorter than the height of the godet. Trim off any extra bulk from the seam. Most jeans have flat-felled seams (which are machine-stitched in a way that encloses the raw edges), so it’s easier to cut two slits—one on either side of the seam.
With right sides together, pin one side of the godet to the jeans, starting at the hem. Match up the hem of the godet with the hem of the jeans. Adjust the top of the point as needed.
Stitch a 1/4-inch seam as far up to the point as you can get.
When you get to the top, you may have trouble sewing over the thickness of the jean seam. Don’t worry! Stop and pin the other side of the godet, right sides together, to the other side of the jeans, again matching the godet hem and the jeans hem. Sew the other side from the hem to the point with a 1/4-inch seam allowance. Finish the point with a few stitches of hand sewing if necessary.
For many other ways to spruce up your wardrobe with altered and new garments, check out Teach Yourself VISUALLY Fashion Sewing, now available from Wiley.
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