Dawn Jeans (View C) by Megan Nielsen Review
In January I took part in the Sheffield Social jeans sew-along. The prompt was just to pick a pair of jeans and we’d meet up every Monday on Zoom to discuss our Toile and Tribulations. It was really fun meeting other sewists and learning from each other. I will definitely keep participating in other sew-alongs. Here is my experience sewing the Dawn Jeans by Megan Nielsen (View C).
Fitting My Dawn Jeans
Toile 1
My measurements put me at a size 14 on the waist and a size 6 on the hips. I had to do some grading from where my dressmaking waist (size 6) sits to the top of the jeans (size 14). Afterwards I made the same adjustment to the pocket lining and facing. While constructing my toile I followed the instructions except I only did one row of topstitching with normal thread to practice. At the end, the first toile fit okay but there was some fit issues to address. I used the Closet Core jeans fitting guide to figure most of my fitting problems.
My first toile issues:
- Gaping waistband – The waist and back yoke were top big so took 1.5cms out of both pieces.
- Lengthen Crotch – There was drag marks on the front on the crotch area so I made a 6mm adjustment
- Flat seat adjustment – There was extra fabric under my bum area so I also made a 6mm adjustments
- Moving pockets – The pockets kept moving whenever I put my hands in or took my pants so I made a stay pocket based on the Sewing Collective tutorial. This is the best, it prevents your pockets from moving at all and gives a bit more support. When following the tutorial for the Dawn Jeans you have to make sure to cut/fold your pocket piece in half before you start tracing.
- Short waistband – The waistband was too short so I added a bit on both sides. This was a problem someone else on my group encountered so it may be a mistake on the pattern.
Toile 2
The second toile only needed some minor adjustments:
- Side seams – I let out the side seams on my hips a little bit to get rid of the horizontal front lines
- I think the back leg lines had to do with the fact that I used a light muslin to toile
In addition, I was using a muslin fabric for my jeans and not a canvas like the final garment. I decided make my Dawn Jeans in the final fabric next because they fit well enough and I wanted to see if the same problems existed with a more rigid fabric.
For my final pair I used ~2.2 meters of black cotton canvas from Minerva.com (UK), this fabric has no stretch. The fabric is nice to work with because it’s not super thick so my machine was able to sew bulky jean seams easily (enough haha). I did use a 90/14 jeans needle and for my waistband I changed to a topstitching needle. For this particular fabric I recommend overlocking after cutting it because it did start fraying the more I handled it.
On my final version there was some final adjustments:
- Remove side seam – I had to take out 6mm from each side at the top. This makes me think I could have done a size 12 waistband from the beginning.
- Buttonhole – I had to make my buttonhole with normal thread and tiny zig zag stitches.
Final Thoughts
Overall I’m really happy that I persevered and completed my jeans. I think they fit really well for a first pair where I learned loads! Although I am quite proud there is still a few things I want to fix:
- The waistband is now a bit big after wearing them for a while. Next time I’ll try a size 12 and keep in mind that they get bigger with wear.
- I will take a bit out of the width of the leg. So, I think they are a bit too wide at the moment so I want to play with making it somewhere between view B and C.
- I will practice making buttonholes more
Do I recommend the pattern? Yes, absolutely. The Dawn Jeans by Megan Nielsen have been very well drafted and I think the instructions are very clear. As a result, I think anyone can make the jeans. It will just take perseverance to make all the necessary changes and toiles.
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