Finished Project: Summer Pants

This year has not been a very productive one so far - this is only the third item on my #2017makenine. But still, I'm chipping away at it, slowly!

I don't usually wear this type of looser pants, but I always thought it would be super comfortable, especially in the summer. I can't remember where I bought the pattern from, but it was probably on sale somewhere. As a matter of fact, I can't remember where I got the fabric either, possibly from Gala fabrics before the closed down their South Granville location.

The fabric had been in my stash for a while. It's a medium-weight cotton, which makes it a pretty versatile fabric, suitable for a number of garments. When I first bought the pattern, I didn't remember about this fabric, until i went through my stash and figured it could be a good pairing. I didn't have any sort of emotional attachment to this fabric, so I figured I could treat it as a wearable muslin.

The pattern is Burda 6725 (from the "young" collection). Based on finished measurements on the pattern, I decided to cut the smallest size, size 32. I added about 3cm of length above the knee, and 2.5 cm below

After sewing the patch pockets on the front and back in place, I machine basted the pieces together to get an idea of the fit. It was pretty good right off the bat, but I actually though it might be slightly too snug, especially when sitting. So I decided to only use a 1cm seam allowance instead of 1.5cm. Later I ended up taking about 1 inch at the centre back seam, tapering to nothing at the crotch. So maybe I should have stuck with the original seam allowances...

Construction came together without a hitch, it was all pretty straight forward and instructions were clear. The one thing I had to adjust was the waist band. In the original design, only the right side extended into a tab that overlapped the left side. Somehow my waistband ended up slightly short at centre front, so I extended it by adding an 1"1/2 piece on the left to also overlap with the right side - allowing the button to be a bit more centered too.

The pattern also didn't include a "zipper liner" (not sure that this is the appropriate term), you know that piece of rectangular fabric that sits between the zipper and the skin. Not indispensable I guess, but probably more comfortable and it was super easy to add. All I did was cut a rectangular piece of fabric, folded it in half, and attached it along the zipper seam allowance on one side.

One thing that is tricky about pants (amongst all the other tricky fitting issues) is knowing where the waistband is supposed to fall. Burda magazine patterns often have an indication of where the waistband should fall compared to your natural waist. But when that information is not available (like in this case), I always have a bit of trouble figuring out how tight the waistband should be, so it falls in the right spot, and as a result, knowing if the crotch is deep enough,  if the hips are too big, etc...

So in this case, when I first basted the pants together, they seem to fit well, but after I put all the pieces together for good, it felt like the waistband was a bit loose and maybe hitting lower than it should? Hard to tell. In any case, the result is ok, not perfect but I can live with it. There's a bit of extra fabric below the butt and around the thighs that I would maybe try to get rid of if I sewed this again - which I actually might because these turned out to be very comfortable pants to wear on summer days.

Spring Pants

These pants have been a long time coming. I finished them in the fall but then it was too cold to wear them and I put them away until I got around to photographing them.

The fabric is 100% linen, a bit on the stiff side, grey-ish brown with white pin-stripes. The pattern is BWOF #112-03-2009 (below left), and originally, this was my inspiration (below right):  flowy legs and "papet-back" style waist.

I had to make quite a few adjustments to the pattern between muslin #1 (straight off the pattern) and muslin #2 (altered pattern):

- added 2.5 cm of crotch depth (which in retrospect might not have been necessary? not sure)

- Removed 2.5 cm from the crotch length (I followed this tutorial and this one

- altered the pleats by making the middle pleat 2 cm narrower, moving the side pleat 2cm towards center front, and adding a 3rd pleat closer to cf. This was to both remove some of the volume in the front and spread it out a bit better. I also still had in mind at that time, that the waist band would be pleated for a "paper-bag" effect, and I wanted those pleats to line up with the pants pleat.

-Took in 2cm off the side (and had to move the pockets accordingly)

-I also added 6 cm to the front so that the waistband would sit at the waist and note below, and 4cm to the sides. Apparently this is what you do for a full tummy, which isn't my case but the front just sat really low compared to the back, and the alteration made it feel much better...

 

That was all alterations made to the pattern before muslin #2. I cut muslin #2 and sewed it up and I was actually quite pleased with it, especially all my playing around with pleats in the front turned out pretty good. Two things I did wrong on that muslin though, that affected the final result: 

First I used a fabric that was a lot lighter than my final fabric, more drapy, so it actually concealed some of the flaws that later showed on the final fabric.
Second, to save time I didn't include the full pocket on the second muslin, I just sewed the pocket openings shut so I didn't have to add the lining. As a result, it looked great in the muslin, but on the final garment the pockets wouldn't lay nice and flat and kept sticking out.

 

 

Because of that I had to do quite a few more alterations on the final fabric, including moving the back darts around a bit, playing with their length, adjusting the waistband for sway back, and trying to get these darn pockets to look right. Another mistake was to use white broadcloth as the pocket lining, when I should have gone with brown to match the pants, but that's all I had on hand (i didn't want to use self-fabric as it would have been too stiff). Unfortunatly because the pockets  don't lie nice and flat, the white of the lighting shows a bit... Which I guess is ok, since the pin stripes are also white. In the end I tacked the pockets about down about 3-4 cm from the waistband, which makes the opening smaller, but still useable, and prevents most of the sticking out.

After all that fiddling, I was ready to be done with these pants, and I eventually dropped the idea of a paper-back waist. My fabric was a bit too stiff and my couple of attempts at it didn't look right, so I just went back to the original waist band but made it slightly wider.

In the end, even with all the aterations, I'm still pretty happy with these pants. They actually turned out very comfortable and pretty close to what I had in mind. They are almost too warm for a hot summer day (the linen is somewhat thick), but they will be perfect for spring or a cooler summer day/night as we have so many of here in Vancouver..

 

 

BWOF 7-2008-117A - Summer Pants Turned Winter

As my next sewing project, I wanted to try my hands at pants. But I wanted them simple and fast. I decided on design 117A from BWOF july 2008. Even though the design was intended for linen, and more of a summery style, I made them in a wool blend for winter. I liked the design because it had no complicated pockets, which I didn't yet feel up to making, but the two front pleats gave it some interest as I didn't want the pants to be too boring.

I did lengthen the legs a bit and took a little in on the thighs but it the end the fit was really good. I am actually not sure how I managed it. Maybe for once the pattern was just a good fit for me.
I also added an extra hook at the belt so that it would lay flat(er).

I am really happy with how it turned out and I have been wearing it every winter since...

I went a little crazy on these photos. this was the 6th garment we were shooting on that day and I was looking for yet another shooting set-up idea....and yes those are cat ears that I am wearing, left-over from last year's halloween costume...