Happy New Year everyone!! I hope you had a nice break and some good family time. Our holidays involved travelling, some couch time and lots of family time. I completely unplugged and took a long break from social media and a break from sewing. I have been trying to catch up with my blog reading and instagram drooling over all the fabulous and inspiring makes everyone has been pumping out.
I also have a few blog posts in the queue that I need to get out there, so I may just pump them out in the next couple weeks. I took the photos a few weeks ago and even wrote up the posts, but didn’t think to schedule them… oops! Take this post for example, the photos were taken almost a month ago. My hair has gone fully blond now, so I’d better get this out here before I start confusing everyone with my extreme hair changes. So, let’s jump right in. When City Break capsule wardrobe pattern collection by Sew Over It came out I bought it without giving it a second thought. I am still yet to make a few other items from the collection, but I knew that Molly Top would be my priority. It just seems like such a perfect layering top to have in your closet. It can be made out of jersey knit or heavier sweater knit. Also, it can be lengthened into a dress. It’s a very versatile pattern.
This was my first time sewing with Sew Over It patterns and I quite enjoyed it! The top was very easy to put together. I love sewing sweaters and knit tops as they come together in an hour and if I am organized enough I can whip out a whole bunch of new tops in one night if they all need thread of the same or similar color. It’s amazing.
The fabric for the top came from Style Maker Fabrics. It is a very pretty, thin pointelle knit in a soft cream color. Right up my alley! Unfortunately they don’t have this fabric anymore, but they carry a nice selection of sweater knits. I have not been disappointed by any fabrics I bought there! Although being from Canada, the exchange rate and delivery charges can be a huge bummer. So I only spoil myself occasionally.
I have changed the hem of the top to more of a straight hem. The pattern has a shirttail hem and I just don’t like it as much on myself. It was a very easy change though.
These jeans have been around for a while. They are Morgan’s by Closet Case Patterns and I made them back in the summer. They intended to be a bleaching experiment. Because of that I used a very cheap denim I found on sale at FabricLand. I did not expect the experiment to workout so well! The jeans bleached very evenly and came out looking great.
For anyone who wants to try bleaching, here is what I did:
- I prepped my bath tub. I figured I want my jeans lying in water as flat as possible to make sure they bleach evenly. Using a bathtub also carries a benefit of cleaning it at the same time, as bleach/water solution sits in it for a few hours. Win, win if you ask me.
- I used a measuring bucket to fill the bathtub with warm water and bleach. I used a ratio of 4 parts water to 1 part bleach. I believe I ended up using 4L of water and 1L of bleach. Mix it and stir it really well!
- I read somewhere after I’ve done it that it is better to wet the denim before bleaching it, so I will do it next time. But I just lowered my jeans into the water and made sure they were all equally wet, there were no air bubbles and everything was covered with the bleaching solution.
- I had a timer going off every 45 min or so and I would go and check on my jeans. I used a long stick I found around the house and I would stir the jeans around, flip them over and poke them everywhere. I wanted the bleaching to be even!
- When I thought the jeans reached the color I wanted them to be, I drained the tub and put the jeans into a washing machine. My jeans were in the tub for almost 5 hours. I washed them alone and added bleach to the wash to even out anything that was left.
- Dry and wear them!
It is a pretty easy process, just a bit time consuming. I recommend doing it on a day when you are around the house and can check on jeans regularly and move them around. You can also increase the ratio of bleach to water, and then it should take so long. But in this case I would also check the jeans more often, just to make sure they are bleaching evenly. I just wanted to play it on the safe side.
I thought my best case scenario would be that I end up with a pair of jeans to wear around the house. And that’s what I did at first, but as the denim started to wear in and soften even more I simply fell in love with the jeans. They fit me well and they are the perfect color that I want. So the jeans have been successfully upgraded into a real world wear. I can only imagine that they will get better with wear and may be even some tear.
I have made a few Morgans already and it is a great pattern with amazing instructions. I can not recommend it enough. Heather makes jean making so fun and so doable. I have a bit more denim in my stash and I definitely have more Morgans in my future. I just need to decide if I am going to beach them or not!
What is your take on bleaching jeans?
Until next time,
Anya
Ah the Molly Top is the one pattern from that book that I really really want; I’ve held off buying it yet but I’m sure I’ll weaken at some point; I love the sleeves and yours in that fabric is absolutely divine! Very classy. Oh and I’m really looking forward to seeing the blonde!!! X
I m so impressed by you holding off! I have trouble doing that. I wish you could buy just one of the patterns, although all of them do work very well together. I agree, the sleeves are really nice on this pattern and I am a big sucker for neutral white and cream jersey! And thank you very much! xoxo
This outfit is so cute, Anya! Love the colour the jeans ended up after bleaching. Light but not too light. LOL. Just perfect denim colour.
Thank you! I pretty much live in this outfit “formula” on the weekend 🙂 I agree, that’s what I thought too about the color of the jeans. Thank you so much! xox
Oh and I’ve saved your bleaching method! I’m now trying to wear out about five pairs of RTW jeans so I can justify making the Morgan’s!! What percentage stretch did your denim have? They look fab!
I am curious how it will work out for you! I am planning to do more bleaching in the future as well. I generally prefer lighter color denim. I actually used non-stretch denim. But I would think slight stretch fabric would work really well too!
Love this, Anya!! I’m going to be doing some bleach experiments before my next pattern release, so I’m saving this to start!
Thank you, Alina!!! Oh how exciting!! I am thrilled to see what it may be. Just thrilled. I am in love with all your patterns 🙂
i experimented a lot with bleaching denim in fashion school, gel toilet bowl cleaner (with bleach, obviously) works amazingly! although pretty quickly, and stinkily. but i bleached yards of denim once to pure white this way, very effectively. love your outfit, thanks for reminding me to experiment with fabrics!
No way! That sounds pretty cool! I would never have thought of it. That a really great pointer, especially for times when you don’t want actual bleach. Thank you very much! xox
The jeans came out so nicely! I always think of the 80s and acid-washed, when I hear bleached denim, but these are very understated. They look great with the top too.
Thank you, Masha! That’s what I thought too! And also I thought of how my mom was telling me back in the day they used to boil denim or something… So yes, I was very happy with the result. Thank you!!
Your jeans look fabulous! I haven’t experimented with bleaching or dyeing or anything, but I really want to!
Thank you, Meg! It is so fun and easy, though really time consuming 🙂
Great outfit. I think those jeans will be perfect for summer.
Thank you! I agree, I imagine I will pretty much live in them in summer. Hopefully they will start to distress by then too…
You jeans are perfect Anna! I haven’t “faded” jeans for years (maybe 40?) 🙂 and I’m pretty sure I did something similar – in the bathtub. I also love your top. I know this is going to sound odd but I’m rather new to PDF downloading, off to the copy shop and I’m actually getting to rather like it! I live in Victoria BC and Staples was rather great about it. They told me the best way is to bring my USB drive with the pattern and instructions and voila! it came out perfectly. So now that I’m revisiting this whole business of PDF download I might actually go back to looking at that Sew Over It wardrobe basic.
Thank you so much!! It’s so interesting how everything is always coming back, rotating in and out. I’ve always been a fan of lighter denim though and it is so hard to find it in stores.
That’s so good! I myself only discovered PDF downloads a couple years ago and it has been so fun. I’ve done the Staples printing a couple times too and they have always been great. I am so glad you are having fun with PDF patterns! And yay for another Canadian sewer!
Both of these makes are awesome, but those jeans!! Your bleaching worked out so well! I can see why you love them!
Thank you, Heather! I was very, very surprised with how it worked out! I did not expect it at all. Now I want some slight distressing on them like you did on yours. But I am so scared to try it. I may just let them wear out on their own. It is cheap denim afterall, I can’t imagine it will last for a long time.
Your Morgan’s look great! And I love the lighter denim with light coloured tops – I always go for mid to dark denim, but I miss my last pair of light jeans for just that reason. I finally purchased the Ginger pattern, so jeans making should be on the horizon this year again. I’ll keep bleaching in mind!
Thank you, Chloe! (I love your name by the way 🙂 ) I do love that look too! There is something so fresh and light about it. I always have trouble pairing my dark jeans with tops… I am sure it is all mental, but I struggle with it, so I usually go for lighter denim. How exciting! Making jeans is so fun. Bleached skinny jeans are actually a great idea!
So cool! They turned out really well.
The bleaching seems to have worked fantastically! Does it give the jeans a nice sort of patina as well? Like darker areas around the seams? That’s one aspect of rtw jeans I am really keen to try and replicate.
Thank you! It didn’t quite do that. Definitely not to the extend that RTW has. I really like that look too! I was thinking for my next pair to bleach them a little less, may be bleach the fabric first before I put the jeans together.Then manually distress the jeans with sand paper and stuff. That may help with that.