The last Clyde pants!

 I know I keep saying I won't ever make any more Clyde pants.  Maybe I'm finally done with them?

After my experience with Pietra, I wanted to try some crotch adjustments on pants I've made a few times.  The crotch on these is not satisfactory and the rise is too high so I thought they would be good to work on. 

I shortened the rise by 1" on the front and back, but in order to not mess with the pockets, I shortened the side piece below the pockets.  

I added the Persephone butt and front crotch.  Instead of pinching out fabric, this required adding fabric, and it did feel weird to add when I thought the problem is too much...

The fabric is beautiful textured green suiting from The Fabric Store, it's part of their new stock in now.  Run and get some! It's scrumptious.  

I put these together despite a terrible viral gunge, worse than covid forreal people. 

 

The top with them is a Deer and Doe Givre, I am not planning to blog it elsewhere.  No excitement just a nice tank top.  I might make the pieced dress version soon. 

I definitely see the butt has more definition.  The front crotch really does seem to be better. Ironically, the back rise isn't enough, and I've remembered to make my elastic much looser so the butt feels a bit at risk at present, but the elastic will tighten after I've washed them, and while wearing they are pretty comfortable.  They feel much smaller than my previous ones, probably because there's an inch less fabric hanging in my crotch.  They also seem very short which is, I suppose, because the crotch isn't hanging down and making them longer. 

I guess to sum, I would optimally take that inch out of the front but taper it back in to the back so I have a higher back rise.  I do think the crotch is better.  Can I be done making Clyde pants?  I have given all my previous ones away; I don't have a huge backstash of them.  These seem like they will be nice spring pants so hopefully I'll keep them around, and hopefully I will move on and stop trying to perfect these impossible pants!  It might be worth going back to the Arenite pants, which I mucked around with a bit and then gave up on.  

Peppermint peplum top plus some Clyde pants

Out of the blue I realised the thing I needed in life was a peplum top to wear under my cropped sweaters.  I needed it to be relatively fitted for that purpose.  I hunted around and settled on the Peppermint magazine Peplum top - a free pattern! Win! I made a practice version from some linen scraps.  Smallest size, no modifications except that I self lined the bodice instead of using bias tape.  I prefer this most of the time, however the armpits can sag, so I might try a clever interfacing along the armscye next time I do this.

It was a fun top to make, and easy. However it's not fit for purpose. It's too short to hang out below my sweaters and it hangs too far away from my body.  I considered whether I could introduce a dart into the top but I couldn't figure out how you just add in a dart, and I worried then I would need a zip as well.  I thought in the end I will make the top again and lengthen it, as it is quite short, and see if that's enough. I might decrease the A line shape of it slightly as well.  In the meantime, this is a cute top on its own so I'm not dissatisfied. 

AND I know I'm always talking about how I'll never make any more Clyde pants...but I got this amazing cashmere coating.  And in my defence, in the shop it was nice, thin, lightweight and the most fantastically soft coziness...and I thought it would make great Clyde pants.  Once I washed it it fluffed up and felt kind of ridiculous to be using for pants but I carried on anyway.  And so it does make very cozy Clyde pants and they are rather like wearing a cashmere coat on your legs, and it does feel great but a bit ridiculous.  This is a good pattern for fabric like this which has a lot of body.  I used my usual pattern pieces which are size 4 short.  I had kind of angled the front waistband down previously and I ditched that, as it was harder to get the waistband to fold over.  Just accept a long crotch... 

Elizabeth Suzann Clyde pants 3

 I've made these a few times already.  Here for the first pair.  I didn't even like them that much.  I am not very happy with the pooling of fabric in the front of the crotch.  On the second pair I attempted a cheater fix by angling the front waistband and removing a triangle right below the foldover line, and also shortened the "waist zone" for the elastic to accommodate a smaller elastic.  I'm now kind of surprised to discover I apparently never blogged that second pair which were in a slightly stretchy brown wool suiting (so rare, I really blog almost everything!).  I wore them a few times and liked them ok but felt they would be better off with a friend so I sent them away.  

Now, I had this piece of canvas to ice dye and I wanted some pants and this pattern with its skinny little pieces fit on my fabric...so despite not liking the fit particularly, I committed.

This is again the modified version of the pattern where I angled down the front.  I noted on the previous pair that it's a partial fix, since really I would change the crotch curve to get rid of the extra fabric. The steep angle I've created is a bit tricky while folding the waistband over and for this pair, I used 1" elastic because that was the best fit for my channel.  

 

I ice dyed this fabric first then I cut it. 

I wasn't very happy with that first dye run - not enough dye!  Funny colour pooling.  I basically had cut exactly the right size fabric piece for the pants, because another project in a different set of dye colours is happening later.  So I was constrained as to where the pieces went.  After making the pants, I put them under another lot of the same colour dye which is warm black. Much better after that.  

 

They look a bit like clown pants when they are sitting around, but the fit is as expected.  It has rather reminded me that I am actually NOT very happy with this fit.  I might get around to making more Free Range Slacks this summer, and will almost certainly make more Pomona pants, but not any time soon.  If summer lasts long enough I would like to try the Bisque trousers but I'm moving to a colder clime (soon!) so it will be interesting to see what inspires me after the move.  

Elizabeth Suzann Clyde pants review

I acquired the pattern for the Clyde pants along with various other Elizabeth Suzann patterns around the start of lockdown, when she was requesting people make donations in exchange for the patterns.  They are no longer available, but will eventually be back up on her website in some form.  

  I made these in size 4 short, going by the size chart on the pattern pieces.  

Fabric is an upcycled duvet cover made of a linen rayon blend. (I match my curtain!)

This pattern is remarkably similar to the Arenite pants and to the Papercut palisade pants. 

The Arenite have more fabric gathering to the waist and don't have a narrow version for sale (just instructions on how to make one) and the Papercut pattern has a shockingly high waist and shallower pockets.  However, the construction on this type of trouser is identical.  There are a few tutorials on Instagram as well, but I didn't need them. 

Well above my belly button here.  But a much nicer fit in the crotch.

I put these on and was severely lukewarm.  MEH. 

I did kind of doubt whether I had correctly identified the front once I put them on.  These pants have a lot of extra fabric in the crotch.  Though I experimented for my photos and if I pull the saggy crotch all the way up to my crotch, it goes away.  If I do that, the waist is about 3 cm above my belly button.  Could these be improved by a shortening of the rise? Would that be easy?  Or would I also benefit from a taper of the front waist angle?  I have a lot of stretch sateen fabric.  Not sure I'm inspired yet.  I find it fascinating lately to see how much I benefit from my photos - I don't love taking them but they really help me to understand what I enjoy wearing and what sits well on my body. 

I am also kind of annoyed lately that nothing has a good butt fit.  I'm sort of tired of seeing myself in mirrors out and about with this saggy butt because of my pants.  

End story: people love these, great if you don't have a short rise and do love a high waist, easy to make, but I am not yet sold. 

Elizabeth Suzann Georgia top & dresses

I made the Florence pants first and then this top.  It was a very fast and easy make.

On this I wasn't sure how much ease I would like so I traced the OS (one size) and OSM (one size minus).

I made up the OSM first in a piece of linen I had leftover, from Miss Matabi's online shop.  This linen is oddly textured and shiftier than I expect linen to be.  It is really beautiful but might be a bit lighter than the model version.

Here it is on the model:

And here it is on me:

My first try-on made me think the arms were too tight.  There's a pulling from the neck down the sleeve which I think feels very apparent in my linen.  So I went and made the short version of the dress in OS.  I used a light, almost flannel rayon from Guthrie & Ghani, a soft feeling teal fabric with gold lurex stripes.  It is too big.  I'm not sure it's too big in a bad way.  The fabric has the most beautiful drape but I was moving house and gave it away to a pregnant friend before I could even take photographs so you have to take my word for it.

This was an excuse to now make the midi dress in OSM in a mystery weave from Nepal.  This was loomed in smaller villages, and is either silk, wool or hemp because that's why I bought it, but I don't remember which...it has a kind of sticky feel to it, and is quite gauzy and a relatively light weave. 

I find it totally amazing that a dress which is a sack, and that currently takes me 45 minutes to sew - can be so flattering.  However, the length on this means I can't really walk with my normal stride, so I would shorten it 4" in future.  Other people have added a slit, which seems like the other thing to do.  I ended up taking my seam ripper to this and creating a slit, because I am a strange creature and tend to love my most raggedy creations, I now love this dress.

AND having proven that the OSM was the right size, I shortened the (already rather short) dress pattern by an inch and made one out of this LONG HOARDED piece of light pink Valentino wool crepe.  I'm trying so hard to use up my hoarded fabrics in sensible ways.  This piece of fabric has been not quite large enough for many projects - it was almost...so many different dresses. Or tops.  Etc.  This is the last thing I made prior to moving and my sewing machines are going into hibernation, so it had a lot of meaning attached to it other than the fabric from 2013.  A lesson cropped up: the fabric has travelled around the world with me so many times that it now has holes in it, as you can see by my Fashionable Patch on the back of the dress.  If I need a reminder to use my fabrics and not hoard them, I think this is it.  Initially this textured wool weave had quite a bit of drape...but after washing it's shrunk even smaller and become cozy rather than drapey.  This dress is amazing. The weirdly lit sunset photos may not show it, but it feels like a hug. 

I decided to expand the potential and made the short version in a heavy viscose.  I wanted to see what happened with knits. I don't really like this actual fabric, so this version is for a friend - though I'm really happy with the pairing of the heavy viscose and the short pattern.  It became longer due to the added weight. I stabilised the shoulders with some twill tape in the seam. Next will be to add pockets....

 

Initially I wasn't sure how many Georgia dresses my wardrobe could tolerate (any? lots?).  It seems like I need more long ones.