Stitchin’ away at those zero waste jeans

Work is part way through the zero waste jeans project (last week I cut them out and the week before I did research and procrastinated). I’m happy with how things are going so far and I’m enjoying putting them together.

I forgot to buy a zip so I’ve done everything possible before the fly front needs to be done. I did consider a button fly instead, but I’d really like a zip.

I’m topstitching with a deep red Gutermann upholstery thread (the colour is deeper than in this photo).

The denim is like cardboard. Hoping it will soften up after a couple of washes and wears. I don’t want to risk giving my overlocker a hernia so I’m using zig zag to neaten the seams.

You may recall I decided to have knee patches on these jeans, partly to make them a bit different but mostly to dispose of the excess fabric.

I chalked out the knee patch shape on both front legs…

…and filled it in with strips of denim. You might notice that they’re not exactly alike.

Some bits I used had the fringed selvedge. Zero waste proponents are pretty hot on using the selvedges, preferably in an artistic way. I’m still not sure; my entire training and career has been decidedly anti-selvedge. In factories they are trimmed off and either thrown away or (more often) hung from a hook for anyone to use. The most common use for selvedges is to tie up bundles of cut work for machinists, but there’s a host of other useful factory applications: tying power cords out of the way, hanging up cardboard patterns with, winding around scissor handles to make them more comfortable (fleecy is best for this), holding open the broken roller door until the repair man comes, tying back hair when you forgot a pony tail elastic, etc etc. Anything but use them in clothes! So just for a change, I thought I’d give selvedges a chance on these jeans, in the interests of zero waste.

The back pockets have selvedge detail on them to match:

The coin pocket is a bit, erm, unorthodox.

That’s about all for now,

Cheers!