I can’t believe this day has come! I got to make Bunny her very first pair of Dawn jeans and that was such an exciting moment for both of us. Before we left for our trip to Switzerland last year I did an inventory of warm clothing and found some holes. One was that most of Bunny’s long pants were quite light, linen or cotton pants which obviously was not going to be warm enough. Bunny has wanted a pair of Dawns for quite some time, but I had been hesitant as I didn’t know how much growing she still had to do. But it has become apparent that she has stopped growing so the timing felt perfect to make her wish come true.
I had a lovely stash of corduroy and so Bunny had her pick of a range of pretty colours. She gravitated straight away to the two blush pink cords in my stash, one being rigid and the other being stretch. She has a real aversion to anything tight and her vision for her Dawns was something a bit looser than the pattern had been drafted for. We had a little chat about the options for how to make that work – the first being that we could size up and use the rigid corduroy. The second option was cutting her size, but using stretch corduroy.
After trying on my rigid corduroys she decided she would prefer to have the give that comes with stretch, and so that is the option we went with. I get a lot of questions about whether you can use stretch denim with Dawn, and I’m so glad i’m able to show you what it looks like to use a stretch fabric with Dawn. She had already worn these Dawn’s quite a few times before the photos were taken and you can see how they have stretched out a bit and become quite loose. Straight out the wash the go back to size, and then become looser with wear again.
The fabric was original from Potter & Co many years ago when we were sewing Ash jeans samples. I had saved this blush pink for myself, but honestly, I wear a lot of pink and i’m so glad that Bunny could use this fabric. I don’t think Potters have the same corduroy anymore, but i think there are a lot of similar options online.
I think one of the things that’s important to note when using a stretch fabric for Dawn is that you still need to make sure the waistband is rigid. Your waistband should be cut lengthwise and interfaced. Given Corduroy is quite thick and in my option not particularly nice right side to the skin, we decided to do the waistband facing and pocket bags in a contrast cotton. I have been hoarding this gorgeous cotton for years and was pretty excited when Bunny pulled it out as her choice. It’s actually a hand block print that I bought as deadstock from a local designer when i was selling fabric in my old studio. I really enjoyed working with local designers to find a use for their deadstock, but there were definitely a few times like this when i walked away with nothing more than scraps and feeling a bit taken advantage of. This prints was one of those times – it was neatly folded and packed in a clear bag and looked to be uncut yardage. Sadly when i opened it, it was many small pieces of scraps leftover from production and I couldn’t find any use for them. But this fabric was beautiful so i kept it thinking i would use it for facings and pocket bags at some point. I’m so glad it worked out for Bunny to use it!
It’s rare that I get to make something in a straight size – those of us who sew a lot will know that the sewing pattern is always a starting point for you to fit the garment to yourself. But somehow, miraculously, Bunny measured a straight size 8. I almost fell over with joy at how simple this was going to be with no grading. But Bunny really struggled to choose between the wide leg view and the straight leg view. Most of her friends wear very wide jeans, but she tends to wear straighter fits. So the compromise i suggested to her was that we make make something between the straight and wide leg, so wider than a straight leg, but not quite as wide as the wide leg. She loved that idea and this is the result! So in the end I did have to do grading – the lesson here, there’s always an alteration to make in sewing.
Given we were going to be doing a lot of walking in snow, and given her personal preference for shorter pants we cut her the regular length Dawn. This pattern is designed to be slightly cropped and it worked really well for her. When it came to topstitching I did the bare minimum – i hate topstitching on corduroy, i find it annoying as the foot tends to want to follow the wales. I just used a matching thread and i think it turned out well that it all blended in.
The last detail is that Bunny wanted a zipper instead of a button fly. After trying on my Dawns she found the button fly annoying and wanted the simplicity of a zipper. If that’s something you’d like to try too the method is exactly the same as Ash and you can find a tutorial here and I also have a video on Youtube. If however you are the kind of person who likes diagrams, i also have a bonus instruction booklet in the free resources on my website here.
It was so fun taking these photos with Bunny! We were spending the day in Geneva having a wonderful time going to museums and looking at the architecture. All my kids make travel journals when we travel, and have their own Instax cameras to take photos as they go. Even though the photo quality isn’t as good as camera or phone, it’s amazing how they like this medium so much more.
I loved making Bunny her first pair of Dawn jeans – it feels like such a tipping point, like she is moving from kids clothing into something a bit more mature. It’s bittersweet. I’m just so glad she still likes me making her clothing and i just pray that continues for as long as possible!
I hope you enjoyed reading all about Bunny’s stretch Dawn corduroy jeans! If you have any questions about sewing stretch Dawns or Cords let me know in the comments. Happy sewing!
