This is the face of a smug, smug person who has pants that fit.
As I mentioned before, I found yards of this denim at SCRAP (a very cool creative reuse store in Portland). I couldn’t believe my luck! I’ve probably got enough left for at least two more projects.
I started these puppies right after my olive linen pants, and I’m happy to say that the welt pockets were perfectly symmetrical. So much was going right until I attached the waistband. I eased it in to the waist too tightly, cut off the back ends and had myself a really tight-waisted pair of pants. And then I just kept on going – I sewed and understitched the waistband lining, added bias binding. Unsurprisingly, none of that made the waistband looser.
So…. I had to remove the whole waistband and start over. A tight waistband is way worse than 15 minutes of seam ripping. It was particularly unpalatable because I’d already graded and clipped all of my seams. But it worked and I breathed a huge sigh of relief (facilitated by the new waist ease).
I suppose I’m grateful for the chance to practice turning nice points and bias-bound inside waistband. The new one does look nicer than the old. And I discovered I’m a big fan of binding instead of turning the inside waistband under – it’s less bulky, looks nice and I get to use a contrasting fabric on an otherwise plain project. I cross-referenced this Coletterie tutorial with a pair of J.Crew pants.
And maybe 10x nicer than the waistband from my first version?
The welts are sewn down to prevent drooping. The pocket bags are also really short, as I never use them, but I think I should have extended them as their outline is faintly visible. Oh, the efforts I will take for fake pockets!
I took the side seams in a bit since the fabric was thicker – 1″ total out of each leg. I think the olive linen is closer to the ideal weight for this fabric, but I still like these pants immensely.
I also made this shirt from Maria of Denmark’s free Kirsten kimono tee. I might lower the neckline a bit next time but otherwise it’s a great little shirt that fits very true to size. I think of this as my Fabric Tragic outfit because I’m totally copying Sarah.
I’d make another pair of the pants when the need for something dressier arises – maybe in a boring black or a in wild print or texture. Now that I’ve altered the pattern beyond recognition (curved waistband, slanted pockets, new leg shape, lowered rise, added fly shield), they’re dream pants!
