Whenever I'm in The Fabric Store I lose track of my original set of plans and get a new set. But after my last move I'm trying to be fluid with my projects and also move slower...less fast fashion! Nonetheless while I was there I fell in love with some liberty cord that had flowers on it. And I decided I needed Chataigne shorts.
But this isn't liberty cord, you cry! Yeah...in the leftovers bin I found a piece of this amazing stretchy sateen - I was totally eyeing it online last year but never bought any. I thought I'd use it for the pockets on my Hampshire pants. But once I got home I decided it would be even better to make practice Chataigne shorts from a stretchy fabric, especially when I realised I had enough original fabric for the Hampshire pants to do the pockets in the same stuff. I'm totally milking the end of summer for all it's worth in my year of always-winter...
I have made this pattern before - in fact I think I bought it because I liked the waist detailing and I wanted to make pants. What I learnt from that experience was that drafting a well fitted, shapely pant leg is not just a matter of extending lines. Here is my Chataigne pants experiment, which I gave to a friend in Switzerland. I didn't love the bagginess, the legs twisted a bit, and the hemp fabric didn't match my hopes but she loved it all.
The size 38 had also been way too big. So I took a big leap and traced the 34 out of my pattern pieces. Also I still had to get an invisible zip foot. And as you see I didn't have enough fabric for the pocket facing or the waist facings so I had to get a scrap from elsewhere for that. At the moment my stash is all future projects, no scraps yet so I didn't have anything lying around that I could use.
I actually french seamed the crotch on these and did some extra top stitching, mainly with the interest of everything lying smoothly. The crotch seam idea is from my Hampshire trousers which will be up on my blog sort of soon...
I had a big hiccup when I was putting the front yoke in, naturally I didn't take it too seriously at first, sewed half of it, got the center V off center, and it was a big hairy mess. The result does have a tiny crimp right in the middle but it's basically invisible so I left things at that.
I hand sewed the waistband down which was not really necessary but meant I could do it in the car. I was literally finishing these at the last minute because I was only given a few hours notice to move out of my temporary housing, but I was so so keen to wear them!
Since then I've been nomadic waiting for May when I take possession of my new space...so things have stalled a bit. I have about 12 projects to do and itchy fingers, mainly because of how I somehow didn't pack any tshirts. (wtf?)
After wearing these I am so so so pleased with them. I'm going to make some teal blue leggings to go with them for winter. But I do think I'll size back up to the 36 for the non-stretchy version because the fit is so perfect I just can't imagine it being ok without stretch. Or? smaller seam allowance? I might start to use this waistband to measure my size because I don't think I have ever had one that fit so well!
But this isn't liberty cord, you cry! Yeah...in the leftovers bin I found a piece of this amazing stretchy sateen - I was totally eyeing it online last year but never bought any. I thought I'd use it for the pockets on my Hampshire pants. But once I got home I decided it would be even better to make practice Chataigne shorts from a stretchy fabric, especially when I realised I had enough original fabric for the Hampshire pants to do the pockets in the same stuff. I'm totally milking the end of summer for all it's worth in my year of always-winter...
I have made this pattern before - in fact I think I bought it because I liked the waist detailing and I wanted to make pants. What I learnt from that experience was that drafting a well fitted, shapely pant leg is not just a matter of extending lines. Here is my Chataigne pants experiment, which I gave to a friend in Switzerland. I didn't love the bagginess, the legs twisted a bit, and the hemp fabric didn't match my hopes but she loved it all.
The size 38 had also been way too big. So I took a big leap and traced the 34 out of my pattern pieces. Also I still had to get an invisible zip foot. And as you see I didn't have enough fabric for the pocket facing or the waist facings so I had to get a scrap from elsewhere for that. At the moment my stash is all future projects, no scraps yet so I didn't have anything lying around that I could use.
I actually french seamed the crotch on these and did some extra top stitching, mainly with the interest of everything lying smoothly. The crotch seam idea is from my Hampshire trousers which will be up on my blog sort of soon...
I had a big hiccup when I was putting the front yoke in, naturally I didn't take it too seriously at first, sewed half of it, got the center V off center, and it was a big hairy mess. The result does have a tiny crimp right in the middle but it's basically invisible so I left things at that.
I hand sewed the waistband down which was not really necessary but meant I could do it in the car. I was literally finishing these at the last minute because I was only given a few hours notice to move out of my temporary housing, but I was so so keen to wear them!
After wearing these I am so so so pleased with them. I'm going to make some teal blue leggings to go with them for winter. But I do think I'll size back up to the 36 for the non-stretchy version because the fit is so perfect I just can't imagine it being ok without stretch. Or? smaller seam allowance? I might start to use this waistband to measure my size because I don't think I have ever had one that fit so well!
Love everything about these - colour, fit, pattern - all of it :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Claire! I feel like I so seldom manage all those things together so it's really nice to have a project work out and be amazing : )
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