Ciao beautiful people!

the big orange zip going in, before I adjust the front panels...

I worked a lot yesterday on my 3-pairs-of-jeans transformation into a coat; there were a lot of challenges, and I managed to resolve most of them! As usual, I'm working completely intuitively, as I don't really have a capacity to follow linear ways of thinking or doing... This might seem very messy in certain phases, but I love how it magically comes together eventually... Even if very slowly and painstakingly!

The beginning of this garment came from the basic feeling that one old waistband would make a good collar... and from there - that core point of reference - I could structure the rest of it.

I did quite a bit of stitch-unpicking at first, too: jeans are VERY well constructed for the most part, and the grommets have to be worked around! I removed a TON of labels too: such a strong element of clothing, especially denim items which historically reference cowboys and herding - and the current use of branding in clothing, which is intimately related to how mainstream folks are herded and owned by corporations. Words have enormous power, and naming of things even more so: I love that there is one grommet, from the G-Star jeans that I salvaged from Sergio's house, which has just the letters GS on, and is very small and subtle: this represents also Gaia Sophia - my chosen name - and so is a little magical re-purposing of branding!

These are the first details which I removed: the pockets ended up being a huge amount of work: re-sewing buttonholes, sewing the tops of the pockets in place to avoid distrortion of the fabric on the front of the garment, and having to unpick multiple layers of tight solid machine-stitching - phew! I now have quite a pile of 'extra bits' - buckles, flaps, hems, buttons, fastenings - which are taken off of the final pieces of fabric I've chosen, to make it less bulky to sew, and less heavy a final coat!

This is the mid-back of the new coat: where the old gusset of one pair sat. I began pinning in an insert...

This is the first part of the insert, lining it up vertically, to sit centrally to the back of the jacket... Both to fill in the space 'between the legs' of the old jeans which make up the back of the new coat, and to create a nice widening effect, as I love a flared coat which accentuates the feminine figure.

Then I pinned another strip into the remaining void in this lower back of the coat... It is nerve-racking as ever, to make a bit addition to any garment, working intuitively and without measurements as reference points: like how I paint, I tend to use the relationship between the starting point and the feeling of the finaly piece, to navigate. Often, the first pinning is quite squew-wiff, but I correct it by eye and by how it feels - the balance of it and the flow of the overall garment shape-colour-texture-form.

Once I got this godet pinned, I felt much better about the whole thing! It's an entirely bigger leap, to then go on and sew the pinning in, but one step at a time, after some lunch and ruminating, I did it! It was very satisfying to cut the extra fabric from behind where I had been sewing the godet strips in.

I also made the big decision at this point to cut up the sides of the original jeans shape which was the core of the garment so far: it needed to be freed up so that I could create more of a curvy form at the sides, and to allow the front panels to sit correctly (still working on that!)

Straight on, excitedly motivated, to the front of the coat. I could see lots of runkling arund the neck and chest, and knew that I was going to have to do much more tailoring - a huge learning curve - to get it so sit right: it wasn't going to be enough to make a coat by just draping an upside-down pair of jeans over the body!

I could see somse listing too, in the front; I want it to be precise - though organic - and the centredness of the big orange zip is important for me!

Similarly, at the back I wanted - even after sewing the godet in - to have a precise centre-line. I repinned a little... and worked on the shoulder seams, which were easier to focus now that the sides had been cut open.

As you can see above, the godet worked out quite nicely: at this point I did start to think, hmmmm, I don't like the contrast of fabrics - I thought it'd be more harmonious, but it's quite storto - as I'd thought about before, I may dye the final piece.

Now, I began to shape the sides... This took a long time; pinning and repinning, changing idea of how the side-seam would run down - then changing it again, and again.

I mostly have it how I want it, and how I feel it sits best. The side-seam is a good example of just letting the old structure dictate for the main.

Once the sides were pinned, it was easier to see how the front could be successfully shaped. Quite exciting at this point, even knowing it's a long long way to go!

There's also the issue of the front finishing at the bottom: I was looking for a second and third waistband, forgetting that I'd already used all 3 in the collar and the two sides of the front zip - oopah... I will construct a couple of strips, using off-cuts - no problemo.

The sleeve holes seem quite a challenging challenge... I went up to the bar (it's our big wine festival this week, and they were doing a sound-check on the main stage) to have a glass of wine and do some revision of sleeves, from my big Reader's Digest Complete Guide To Sewing. It was all stuff I basically had intuitied, but sometimes it helps to just reinforce my confidence in what I already know!

These last snaps were taken with my phone camera, just to show some details: above, the closing of pockets - can you tell which is my line of stitching?

The finishing of one side of the zip: quite intense, sewing over belt loops and big reinforced seams!

And the hand-closing sewing-up of buttonholes; very necessary, to keep the tension of the whole fabric in place.

That's me for now! The first part of my contribution to the challenge is here: @clareartista/needleworkyourjeans-challenge-part-one - and I'll be back with more, once I get onto stage three. I am hugely appreciating this #needleworkyourjeans challenge, as it is helping push myself out of a quite deep hole of not-believing-in-my-skills... It's beautiful to be part of this brilliant community!

LOve!

www.claregaiasophia.com