Sew Over It Ultimate trousers in stretch denim

During the time that we are all being advised to stay at home, Lisa Comfort has been hosting sewalongs on the Sew Over It YouTube channel. I was trying to catch up and found out the next one was the Ultimate Trousers, which had been on my to do list for over a year, when I was given some stretch denim as a birthday present. I just about managed to get them cut out in time and was able to join in the sewalong, which I thoroughly recommend. Even if you aren't sewing along, there's a lot of tips that come through as Lisa puts the items together, as well as general chat that it's nice to be a part of/listen to. The full Stay Home and Sewalong list is up on the website if you want to join in next week or see what has already been featured. (I'm wearing mine with my Molly top here) 

Fabric

Unfortunately I know very little about this fabric - it arrived as a surprise present for my birthday from my auntie. We go the Spring Knit and Stitch show/Stitch Festival every year and for a while I've been on the search for an indigo stretch denim, which has been elusive. She managed to source this and send it to me, but I don't know where from or how much it cost. It's a medium weight denim so does have structure but also stretch. It's a little thicker than the stretch cotton I used previously for my Ultimate Trousers and out of the two, I would recommend the stretch cotton (just) because of the way creases form when you sit. I was also feeling very unlike myself and up to changing the thread on my overlocker to red, just to have an interesting feature (only I can see it obviously).

Pattern and Instructions

With the change to Stitch School, I seem to have lost my access the the class that I originally purchased (I'll have to chase that up with the admin team - I'm sure there's a way to get to it again). However, I had downloaded the pattern and instructions previously, and had made two pairs before so had a good idea of the adjustments that I might need to make as well as the process. Watching the sewalong on the YouTube channel was my main guide this time - I just made sure to have the instructions to hand so I could double check as I went.
The pattern itself is very simple and therefore easy to construct - only 4 pattern pieces. So long as you can sew in an invisible zip, you should be fine. That said, I did get confused between which was the front and the back so make sure you mark them. As a result, I have my zip installed on the wrong side!

Alterations

I altered the waist darts based on the changes I made on my original trousers. I have a sway back which usually means that there is some alteration in back darts but I needed them at the front too. I also kept a cropped length because the intention of these was to make something similar to Capri trousers. I toyed with the idea of tapering the bottoms for a close fit with regular hem but liked the turn up look (even if I do look like a deck hand, wearing them here in my Stella hoodie). I did have to take these in after I had sewn them by 0.5 cm on each seam as they were too baggy and it showed terribly in the denim. Even now, I think they could have been taken in more throughout the legs, but I need to see how this denim reacts to wearing a but more. In the photo below I'm a little twisted and you can see that the fabric is bunching up around the knees, so this may be taken in even more, if it's comfortable to do so. To be honest, they are more for casual wear in hot weather, so I'm not too fussed! Although I wanted to make mine in this fabric, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it for your first pair unless you want this specific look.