My first version of these pants got some decent wear (see them here) but had a few issues:
-the fabric colour ughhhh
-They caught on my calves whenever I moved and made me feel like I was going to rip them
-the horrific drama of trying to sew those cuffs
A friend wanted them and so I passed on the love.
For take 2, I went forth with a silk-cotton-linen (?) blend that was definitely a bit too heavy for this pattern. Same size, 4. I lengthened the legs at the lengthen lines, possibly the second time I have EVER lengthened anything... I wanted the calf to be wider for longer so it wouldn't get caught on my muscular calves. I didn't bother flat-felling, as the first go round took forever and looked bad. I just seamed them and topstitched the seams down. I feel more secure this way.
The make was straightforward. The fabric is beautiful though somewhat heavy.
I finally realised why I had problems with the cuffs. The cuff is the same width as the base of the pants - not larger. So obviously you can't put elastic in it and expect it to stretch to be greater than the base of the pants leg! This seems like a total pattern piece fail. There should be a pattern piece that is larger than the opening at the ankle, so that when you add elastic, you are actually shrinking it down to ankle size. Maybe there is such a piece and I never saw it? I know there's a piece for using a KNIT cuff but I didn't see a piece for a woven + elastic cuff.
So, beware of that!
In the end these are way too big. I think in the lightweight silk twill the drape made them fit, but in this more structured fabric they are just too big. I know that Meg has made a tutorial to narrow the legs and I'm keen to try that. I quite like this pattern despite having some issues with it, and having gotten the length right I might do it up in another drapey fabric eventually, but at the moment the look of the narrower fit is interesting.
(I hunted it down -)
The tutorial is a video on Instagram which is a pretty annoying place for it and it involves a LOT of steps...but I do love the result.
-the fabric colour ughhhh
-They caught on my calves whenever I moved and made me feel like I was going to rip them
-the horrific drama of trying to sew those cuffs
A friend wanted them and so I passed on the love.
For take 2, I went forth with a silk-cotton-linen (?) blend that was definitely a bit too heavy for this pattern. Same size, 4. I lengthened the legs at the lengthen lines, possibly the second time I have EVER lengthened anything... I wanted the calf to be wider for longer so it wouldn't get caught on my muscular calves. I didn't bother flat-felling, as the first go round took forever and looked bad. I just seamed them and topstitched the seams down. I feel more secure this way.
The make was straightforward. The fabric is beautiful though somewhat heavy.
I finally realised why I had problems with the cuffs. The cuff is the same width as the base of the pants - not larger. So obviously you can't put elastic in it and expect it to stretch to be greater than the base of the pants leg! This seems like a total pattern piece fail. There should be a pattern piece that is larger than the opening at the ankle, so that when you add elastic, you are actually shrinking it down to ankle size. Maybe there is such a piece and I never saw it? I know there's a piece for using a KNIT cuff but I didn't see a piece for a woven + elastic cuff.
So, beware of that!
In the end these are way too big. I think in the lightweight silk twill the drape made them fit, but in this more structured fabric they are just too big. I know that Meg has made a tutorial to narrow the legs and I'm keen to try that. I quite like this pattern despite having some issues with it, and having gotten the length right I might do it up in another drapey fabric eventually, but at the moment the look of the narrower fit is interesting.
(I hunted it down -)
The tutorial is a video on Instagram which is a pretty annoying place for it and it involves a LOT of steps...but I do love the result.
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