Jalie’s Eleonore stretch jeans have taken the sewing world by storm. I’ve seen some wonderful versions of these jeans out there but I must admit I remained skeptical. The thought of flattering pull-on jeans sounded wrong to me. I had to check it out for myself. Am I ever glad I did! I’m hooked!
I bought some stretch denim at Jo-Ann’s for a muslin. I chose my size based on my hip measurements. That put me at an “R”. This worked out great.
The fake fly and front pockets are nice details that help with the illusion of these being “real jeans”.
When making a muslin I normally don’t make any changes but for these I narrowed both the inseam and side seams by 3/8″ from the hem tapering to nothing above the knee. For the length I went up one size to “S”. I’m 5″7″. I also took other people’s advice and cut the elastic shorter.I removed 1″ from both the front and back. This eliminated the chance of any gaping. I used 1.5″ elastic instead of the 1″ called for on the pattern. I’ll be doing this for future versions as well.
The back has two patch pockets. Trust me that my pockets are aligned correctly. My pose is what is making them look misaligned 😉
I was so excited with my muslin that I ordered some white stretch denim from Mood Fabrics even before cutting out my second pair. Yes, I made a second pair within 24 hours.
I had purchased this cocoa colored denim based on my friend Bernadette’s recommendations. Thankfully she keeps better records than I do so she reminded me that the fabric was ginger stretch denim from Emma One Sock. Bernadette has made a whole bunch of great looking Eleonore’s so when she told me about this fabric I knew I had to have it.
The only alteration to the pattern I made to these was to lengthen them by 2″. I was not sure what height heel I was going to be wearing with them.
These jeans are a pleasure to sew; such great results in so little time.
Did I mention that they are comfortable as well?
The shirt is Burda Style 09-2013-117
Love this pattern! Why did you use 1.5 inch elastic? I’m just curious since I have been working on a muslin of these. I assume you also widened the waistband to accommodate the elastic? They look great!
Thank you Teresa. I used 1.5″ based on reviews of the pattern I read on sewingpatternreview.com I had plenty of 1.5″ elastic on hand so I went with it. I did not have to make any accommodations to the waistband. I used the pieces provided in the pattern and it all worked out.
Fabulous Lucy!!! I must have these for work! What do you mean when you say you took out “1” from the front and back..?”
Thanks!
Thanks Cindy! You will enjoy making these. I cut the elastic 1″ shorter than called for on both the front and back pieces. Many reviewers mentioned doing this to avoid gaping. It worked well.
those look great – I keep looking at that pattern but I haven’t tried it yet. so tempting.
Thank you Beth!
Love the jeans and totally covet the cocoa denim! Can you share where to find some? I have a heck of a time finding wovens with a 20% stretch.
Thank you Nancy! I don’t remember where I bought the fabric. I’ve had good luck at Britex.
I have this pattern and this is SO encouraging as this is the Year of the Pant for me. ps–the Burda shirt looks way better on you than on the Burda model 🙂 so kudos for your vision!
Thank you Laurie!
So glad you’ve gotten hooked on this pattern. They look great on you. I think I’ll follow your lead and narrow the legs on my next pair.
Thanks Cissie! Your beautiful versions of this pattern inspired me.
Love these! Keep trying to pick a favorite and simply cannot. Great job! And how did I miss that Burda top? You look great!
Thank you Jennifer!