Tuesday, 15 September 2015

Flowery Ultimate Trousers by Sew over It.

I cut these out in a size 10, as I was between the 8-10. The fabric feels like rayon, and was a gift from a friend who brought it back from Serbia.  I had one meter of it and actually from the start I wanted to make flowered pants (latent wish from an Italian style trend in 2002, seriously.)

And whaddaya know!  Ultimate pants!  The 10 was a good thought because of my massive muscular thighs.  The rayon stuff has a bit of stretch but I am not sure if it's the fabric or a touch of lycra - it doesn't stretch much.  I made no alterations of any kind, and used a recycled Riri zip from the market instead of an invisible zip because I wanted it to be extra strong.  Also the invisible zip I bought was 35 cm which seemed a bit silly.  I should have known this would make the pants rather less sleek on one side, but they are not really sleek anyway.  I used very light interfacing for the zip and it does still stick out a bit. Ah well, I want them to be strong for backpacking in Asia, but I guess they don't need to look perfect.

I sewed the seam allowance on the inseam down for strength, and then zig zagged the rest.  This is the first time I can recall using this technique for sewing pants: where you make the legs then insert one in the other and sew the crotch as a single line.  Quite simple - I am not sure which technique is better. I am used to sewing the crotch first, and then the legs, seems like. 






These took about 3 hours.  Including putting together the PDF.  Happy Sonia. I know I could do loads of things to make them even better - 1 cm pinched out of the front crotch, and maybe tighten up the sides just a bit so they fit more snugly...but I am pretty pleased with them and will only tighten them if they seem likely to fall off. I solicited the advice of the portuguese cleaning ladies at work (they are all very well dressed) and they agreed that the loose style should stay. 

2 comments:

  1. those look great. I am so tempted to try this pattern (always seeking the perfect pants pattern) looks like you have found yours. very nice fit.

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    1. I admit as the days go by they sag more and more so I might attempt a quick fix of removing something from the inner side before I count them in my Asia luggage. But the pattern suited my curves well and because it's simple I am tempted to make it up in linen or something else that won't stretch at all, and force myself to learn the proper adjustments for a really good fit.

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