I have pants!

So my pants are finally finished which I'm happy about but I wish I could say I was as happy about the fit but a few weird things happened:

• The waistband is a little too big, which may be due to a change I made to the pattern pieces but not the waistband. I will try to work out what went wrong before I make them again.
• For some reason they are sitting too low but I'm not sure if that's because the waist band is too loose (see above)
• I think I shaped the leg too much and they are too tapered for my body shape. It's not obvious in the pics I posted but it's horribly obvious in the side view (hence why I omitted it!)
• I think this wasn't the best fabric choice but I was desperate for some stretch black pants which is why I made them but I'm beginning to think some non-stretch casual pants are what I need. *sigh* live and learn. At least it's something to consider for my mini SWAP I'm planning (don't worry, I'm working on it and will post soon!)
• There is also some weird drag lines across the side and back (even the front!) which is confusing me. Maybe it's time to muslin again since my original one is a bit snug around the hips/waist.

But on a plus, the button and button hole are awesome, as is the zip insertion - I'm definitely improving!

So, onward and upward. Next project is inspired by Tasia over at sewaholic.net. She has made some awesome versions with this pattern so I tracked it down on ebay! I also think that McCalls 5591 is very similar, if you want to find something that's not OOP in a very similar (maybe the same?) style. No sewing tomorrow night because I will be at work late and I will be completing my Lady Grey muslin on Thursday, so it will probably be the weekend until I start on this but considering it's just the waist that I need to fit and I have my block pattern for that, it should be pretty straight forward (fingers crossed!)


(sorry for the weird photo - I think my camera card is on it's last legs)

Here are all the patterns I picked up from the same seller:

Day 3

So, today has been a pretty good sewing day. I have almost finished another pair of the Simplicity 2860 in a black woven knit from Spotlight. Nothing overly special, just a basic pair of black pants that I'm in desperate need of, as my current black pair are wearing out with little bits of broken elastic strands on the seat of the pants.

The material ended up being shinier than I expected but overall not too bad. I just need to taper the leg a bit because they are a bit too wide (I'm wondering if the Simplicity 2562 or Simplicity 2700 might be a slimmer fit through the leg but I'm not sure. Has anyone tried this patterns? Once the shape is a bit better I'll hem them and post pics - hopefully tomorrow!

I also did some family mending - the pocket of my brothers jacket and a split side seam in his pants. Pretty easy stuff.

I also went out for a family dinner at Cutler & Co and I ordered a delicious dessert:


Image from here. I forgot my camera and the iphone photos were just too dark.

I hope everyone had a good weekend and all the Melbournian's enjoyed the beautiful weather. Bring on more spring weather and summer!

Simplicity 2860 - Amazing Fit? Yes please!

I've made up the Simplicity 2860 pants a few times with varied success but I still love the pattern. I find that the fabric I've used has varied a lot and would explain the different results. I still love these because they are like a block pattern for me and I hope to make them in a wool suiting fabric for work but that's a little while away I think.

I first made a black calico toile and did some minor alterations, including removing some of the bagging just below the derrière. Basically you take a long thin triangle out of the back pattern piece so that the leg pivots every so slightly. It's such a small change but made a big different to my fit. If I can find some photos online to show it I will add them here otherwise I can write a post if anyone's interested.



I've tried this in stretch fabrics but ones with a lot of stretch need to be taken in by a lot (one pair was 2 whole sizes!) but fabric with just a little or no stretch works nicely. The pictures in this post are for a grey pair with a little stretch but not much (from Darn Cheap Fabrics, ~$3.99/m).

The pattern calls for the edge of the waist band that is still visible on the inside to be covered with a bias tape which looks great but I didn't both for this pair. I will try to take photos of a pair that have this, that I'm working on now.





Last but not least, I blind hem the bottoms. I love the way this looks on pants - it's such a crisp and professional finish!